Forum: Voters, don’t repeat mistakes of Seattle, King County
Published 1:30 am Saturday, October 7, 2023
By Brian Redford / Herald Forum
Over the past 34 years I have had the displeasure of observing how the policies of the Seattle City Council and King County have devolved into a disservice to its residents and economy, creating an exodus to outlying areas.
Unfortunately, this migration brings with it the same political polarities that created the unpalatable conditions its former residents are fleeing.
To our regret the evidence of this is revealing itself with the recent trend of increasing homeless encampments and drug use in our region, as well as others that neighbor the Seattle-King County region. Whenever those officials decide it is time to clean up their area for a high-visibility event or political appearances they sweep their streets, pushing the unsightly dysfunctional crime-ridden encampments and indigents out and to neighboring areas.
These actions deliver to its neighbor’s communities an increase in crime and illegal drug activity pressuring their limited resources to respond and compromises the safety of neighborhoods. They are making the results of their ineffective efforts the problem of others. They then wash their hands, saying the problem is solved, when all they have done is diverted their problems to other areas.
Along with this, they are exporting their policies, campaign dollars and officials with the same ideologies seeking positions in our local governing bodies. Their methods are not working in King County or other liberal enclaves, so what makes them think they will work here? They won’t, never have and never will. Our country is littered with areas that were once thriving and functional, and then turned into, in some cases, what looks like war zones. They were crushed into nothingness by incompetent politicians, their failed policies, broken promises and then punctuated with lame excuses.
There have been and will be candidates for positions in Snohomish County whose previous experience, influence or sponsorship is derived from the King County area or other liberally inclined areas. With their application for these positions, they bring with them the policies and ideology that incubated the maladies of King County, but is not reflected in their resume. Careful review of a candidate’s policy orientations indicates direction tendencies.
How we mitigate this and prevent a similar trend in our area is a question that should be in the forefront of the voting public’s mind before marking their ballot this election. I strongly suggest we exercise extreme caution when considering the employment of someone in our state, city or county governing bodies. Especially when their positions have matured through the influence of and incorporation of failed liberal policies.
Their voting record, achievements, results, endorsements, sources of campaign funds and sponsorships needs to be carefully scrutinized and considered by everyone to help make a cautious educated ballot selection.
The history that permeates from the King County area reflects their appetite for deficiency. It has been this region’s epicenter of increased taxes, increased crime, rent control, disempowered and diminished law enforcement, prosecutorial reluctance, adversarial business relationships, crumbling infrastructure, etc. and will have a ripple effect on the surrounding areas. Learning from their failures and recognizing their poor results should help us to decisively steer clear of the same mistakes. Making healthy choices now will put in place the barriers we need to prevent the same disasters from happening here.
This can happen with the voting public configuring our local governing bodies and law enforcement with strong leaders with proven policies.
I understand that neither political polarity is perfect. But looking back at recent and distant liberal policy history should provide enough data and evidence to justifiably hypothesize that there may very well be an approaching storm. So, when making critical voter decisions pertaining to candidates or measures it should inspire us to observe which ones have worked in the best interest of the average working citizen in the past and which ones have a reputation of consistent expensive failures.
Duplicating liberal decisions in our future elections will be costly, compromise the quality of life we enjoy and one we need to vigorously protect and preserve.
Brian Redford lives in Arlington.
