I’m seeing political ads that say “it’s time for a change.” Those made me wonder if change is always good. Sometimes. But now? I don’t think so.

I like what I have been seeing lately. I like that I see “SOLD” signs on houses in my neighborhood. I like that I see many new “Now Hiring” signs on businesses. I like seeing ferries plying our waters and know they are built in Washington, creating jobs right here. I like traveling Highway 20 knowing there are far fewer deaths because of the rumble strips.

I like knowing that my friend’s granddaughter, who has health issues, can be covered on her parent’s medical insurance until she is 26. I like knowing that children born with congenital health issues will no longer be denied health coverage because of “pre-existing conditions.”

I like knowing that we have elected officials, and candidates for public office, who care about the environment and want to preserve farmland and public spaces.

I like reading on the front page of an Everett newspaper that, according to a recent poll, more than half of Americans consider themselves better off than they were four years ago.

Change? It depends. I want more of what we have: Elected officials who practice bipartisanship, who maintain their principles even when attacked and who are forward thinking. I don’t want to go back to an era when over 50 percent of seniors lived in poverty without Medicare, when women, gays and minorities were second-class citizens and when social services were minimal. I especially don’t want to go back to the policies that created this awful recession in the first place.

Change could mean going backwards. I want to go Forward. That’s why I am voting for Mary Margaret Haugen, Tom Riggs, Angie Homola, Helen Price Johnson, and Aaron Simpson.

DOUG FRIES

president, Camano Island Democrats