From 1960 to 2011, the 3rd Congressional District had a Democratic representative, every year except a four-year period in the late ’90s. The district has been deeply blue. Now, Democrats only see urban strongholds as their base. How’d we get here?
Abundant natural resources, and hydroelectric power, brought large employers, our populist roots brought strong unions and living wages. Many of those large employers jumped ship for cheap labor, and less regulation in other countries. Our communities should not depend on boards of large corporations to put people over profit.
In Germany, employees occupy 50 percent of the corporate board seats, in a policy called co-determination that allows employees to direct major decisions. Bernie Sanders, who won the 2020 Democratic primary in multiple rural counties in the 3rd, proposed just that in his campaign platform.
At the start of Democrats’ 50-year leadership in the 3rd, executives had 20 times higher wages than average workers. It has now skyrocketed to 300 times.
