A WA Manufacturer Has Been There for Half a Century: Now He's Leaving, and Here's Why

The Great Sorting is still underway, and the latest of America's economic migrants - and yes, that's what they are - is Tacoma, Washington's Delta Camshaft. Delta Camshaft has been in the Tacoma area for almost half a century, and now they are leaving.

Here's why.

A Washington manufacturer is leaving the state after nearly five decades, with its owner citing rising crime, taxes and a worsening political climate.

Jon Bodwell, whose family founded Delta Camshaft in 1977, said he has been forced to live inside his business because the cost of operating in Washington has become too high.

"A majority of it is the constant battle with the city over the graffiti and the crime stuff here, the constant massive tax increase, everything is increasing," Bodwell told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday. 

Tacoma residents, as Mr. Bodwell points out, are suffering from the same issue that business owners and managers face in major and medium-sized cities alike, all across America, right now: They are asked to pay more, and they get less. Less law enforcement, less in city services. 

The Tacoma municipal government and the Washington state government are, like so many (blue) state and (blue) municipal governments across the land, again failing at their one purpose: Protecting the liberty and property of the citizens. That's why Jon Bodwell is packing up his operation and leaving.

On its website, the company says that it "is not closing," but that "our plan is to relocate the business and continue to serve our customers for years to come." 

"Because crime is running rampant, my insurance policy on the building is skyrocketed," Bodwell said. "You know, quite a substantial amount in the past three to five years. And then, officers that I do speak with about the graffiti stuff like that they'll say it takes longer for them to write the report than it does if they arrest the person," he said, adding that "the criminals basically have more protective rights than I do as the building owner."

Utter failure, in Tacoma and in Olympia.

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Small businesses like this are the backbone of our economy. You used to see them all over: Smith's Leather Goods, Jones' Ball Bearings, Bob's Rainbow Grocery (a real small neighborhood store from my youth), Willow Hardware (a real business just down the road from here), and thousands more just like them. Most of these business owners aren't tycoons. They aren't getting rich. Most of them are solidly middle-class, with middle-class assets and middle-class expectations. 

These people, whose enterprising spirit built America, are literally being driven out of locations that some of them have been in for decades, by incompetent governments that demand more and provide less, every day, every month, every year. 

And more and more of them, like Jon Bodwell, have had enough, and they're leaving. We can scarcely blame them, and those of us who live in saner areas should welcome them and the economic activity they bring with them.

If you're looking to build a motor for your street rod, you can see Delta Camshaft's website here.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.

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