I would imagine everyone is familiar with the term “naysayer,” which is used to describe someone who opposes every proposal that comes along, irrespective of its merits.
Well, it is clear to me that there are quite a few people in this community that exhibit a similar form of closed-mindedness, but in the opposite direction. I believe an appropriate term to refer to such people is “yea-sayer.”
There appear to be many suffering from this malady regarding the Columbia River Crossing proposal. Instead of weighing the pros and cons, they simply claim that it is good because “it’s the future.”
The closest thing they come to providing a supporting argument is to say “there were visionary infrastructure projects in the past that faced opposition, hence the CRC must be, too.” Yes, there have been great projects in the past, but there have also been monumental fiascos. This line of reasoning does not contribute in the least toward determining whether a project is advisable or not. The CRC is not an easy question, and there are serious people who have come down on both sides of the issue. But let’s ignore those who do not make a constructive contribution to the debate. That means we need to ignore not only the naysayers but also the yea-sayers.
Lance B. Sjogren