How surprised I was to see a touchy feel-good picture in the local media with a lot of people smiling over the completion of The Mount Baker Road project. The problem is that the project is not complete. Just a few days ago I asked Russ Harvey when the speed limit will return to normal. His answer was that they are not done, yet there he is cutting the ribbon.

I come from a culture that strives for excellence. A culture that does not pretend things are better than they are. A culture that does not play fast and loose with the language. Completed is completed, not 98%. The corners have washed out and they do not know what to do about it. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour when it should be 40 on a road that wide.

I won’t burden you with the design problems which were numerous.

The county staff, by any measure, are making big money and if their salaries were half it might be easier to swallow mediocre work. We are only pretending to get big results. I urge you readers to not shoot me the messenger, but consider the possibility that your tax dollars are not being wisely spent.

For two generations we have been telling kids that whatever they do is great, when in most cases it wasn’t. Too many of these “kids” are now county employees.

We have devolved into a mediocre culture with the consequence being that America is not the greatest country on earth anymore and that is reflected in the “The Emperor Has No Clothes” syndrome and the sheer number of high tech foreign workers we “import”.

The debacle in DC where some Republicans are saying default wouldn’t be that bad is more of the same.

Harvey Aldort

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