To the Editor:
The primaries are over, which means the election is nearly over. The worst of the corporate yes men have been voted out of office; however, be aware of “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” We may see less industrial and warehouse growth for a while, but you can expect housing additions as fast as they can get them.
Housing developments will justify further industrial needs in the future. Commuting long distance to work is ecologically unsound, so it makes sense, but this circle of growth will not improve our quality of life, it will only add more people. The increase in tax revenue will be consumed on services to mitigate and enable further growth and industry.
Election winners shouldn’t assume they represent the county when most people don’t see a reason to vote. Every political mailer this year was the same; more money for law enforcement in a county with low crime rate, more guns, jobs and houses without much need for them, a few conservative issues, and support for economic growth one way or another.
Why would a conservative county want liberal economic growth? Suburbs vote mostly democrat, and housing discrimination practices can’t identify political affiliation. Are we indoctrinated to believe that unfettered growth is the only way to run a country? Ask the residents of unincorporated areas if they want a population boom in their back yard.
The defining characteristics of economic growth are crowds and pollution. We outsource manufacturing for our disposable goods, thereby keeping vast amounts of pollution overseas, but we are distributors. We compare and model ourselves after economies we don’t want to live in.
The world is getting crowded and hungry, and they’re overflowing into our country. Food security will not be getting easier. Stabilization should be a political issue, not a racial issue. Instead of growth, focus on improving and securing what we already have. Significant public land acquisitions are one way to go. Any good politician should have a bucket list of creative ideas, other than brick facades and fields of tawdry monotonous houses.
Natural resources allowed our country to become strong. Waste, excess and mismanagement can erode that strength. American households are especially consumptive, and they don’t last forever. Nuclear plants are coming for sustainability, but it’s not clean. Anything can be sustainable if not overused. Along with war, we’ll have to worry about radiation, like Chernobyl in Ukraine, which is now a lovely, albeit toxic, wildlife refuge.
Adam Cooper
Greenfield
