My dad had a saying for moments like this: you can't get blood from a turnip. No amount of squeezing gets you something that isn't there. I think about that every day now, because most of us can feel it — we're being squeezed. The cost of living keeps climbing, neighbors are leaving, homelessness and addiction are visible in ways they didn't used to be, and the younger generation is running out of hope — and out of state. Every day I talk to people who have nothing left to give — and see institutions that keep asking anyway.
Our system of government is built on balance — good policy comes from the friction of genuine disagreement. When that friction disappears, policy becomes lopsided: built to satisfy an agenda instead of the people who must carry it.
And carrying it is exactly what we're doing. Look at the pattern. The Climate Commitment Act was designed with real environmental goals in mind — and it has driven energy costs to levels Washingtonians can't keep absorbing, with more increases still to come. The Home Energy Score was meant to help buyers make informed choices — instead it adds another cost and another hurdle for buyers and sellers already stretched thin. And just this month, as Olympia restarted its affordability work plan, one of the ideas on the table was hiring a new full-time city employee — another salary paid by the same taxpayers the plan is meant to relieve.
Good intentions don't change the math. Every new fee, program, and position is another expense the same families and small business owners — already stretched thin — have to absorb. Families are working harder for less ground gained. Small business owners struggle to keep up. My kids, both in their early 20s, tell me there's no path to homeownership here — no path to independence in the state they've called home their entire lives — and they're right. The average first-time homebuyer in Washington is 40 years old. The turnip has been squeezed to bits, and the answer to every problem is yet another squeeze. Before government asks families and businesses for more, shouldn't it first prove that what it's already collecting is delivering what was promised?
I think many Washingtonians live in the middle — independent thinkers who want practical outcomes. A home you can afford. A safe neighborhood. Schools that work. A government that spends our tax dollars like they are a precious resource, not an infinite one. A brighter future for the next generation.
Those outcomes come from balanced policy that weighs our aspirations against our reality. Environmental progress *and* affordability people can live with. Ambitious goals *and* reasonable price tags. Accountability *and* compassion.
Balance doesn't happen on its own — people have to show up and insist on it. The problem isn't that the middle doesn't exist; it's that the middle is quiet, and a quiet middle is easy for a lopsided system to talk over.
It doesn't have to be this way.
Evergreen Growing exists to change that. We host listening sessions and a website where neighbors talk across party lines about what's actually squeezing them. We dig into public records to find out what is happening with our tax dollars when things don’t add up. And we show up where decisions get made — so that the middle stops being an afterthought and starts being a constituency no one can afford to ignore.
Republican, Democrat, Independent, or someone who's given up on voting entirely: I welcome you. I'm not asking you to change what you believe — the best policy is built from different perspectives. I'm asking you to stand with your neighbors and insist on balance in all levels of government.
Washington is worth fighting for. But we can't keep squeezing the turnip and hoping for a miracle. It's time to stop asking more of people who have nothing left to give — and start growing something new instead. Connect with me at evergreengrowing.org, and let's find our balance and voice again — together.
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Amalie O'Connor is a longtime Olympia resident, mother, former educator and federal budget analyst, and the founder of Evergreen Growing. She believes Washington's best days are ahead — if we're honest enough to earn them.
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