For some time, I have been arguing that the Democratic party has been drifting away from its working class base.   Yesterday's Seattle Times provided more evidence for that argument.

The lead story describes the loss of Boeing jobs and the consequences for those laid off.

In the past six years, this state lost about 100,000 manufacturing jobs, half of them in aerospace.   Since their jobs at Boeing disappeared, longtime factory workers have searched for new ways to support their middle-class lifestyles.

Often without success, as you can see in the sketches here, here, here, and here.   And for those who want some numbers, you can find them in this article.

The loss of Boeing jobs has been going on for years; the drought that has hit the state is new, but it will be almost as devastating in its effects.

Months of below-average precipitation left the Pacific Northwest's mountains largely bare of snow and reduced stream flows to a trickle.  Water managers across the region are calling this the worst drought since 1977, and perhaps the worst ever if spring and summer rains don't arrive in the region's agricultural country.
. . .
In Oregon and Washington, farmers cut back significantly on planting several crops, including wheat and hay.  The planting decisions likely will lead to a drop in farm income this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
. . .
Farm groups contend farmers in the Yakima Valley region could see losses of up to $1 billion.

That's probably too high, because short supplies can lead to higher prices, at least in crops where Washington produces a large share of the national supply, like apples.  However, higher prices won't help the farm workers and those who work in canneries and warehouses much, since their incomes depend more on volume.

So what is Governor Christine Gregoire's main economic program?  Programs to help these laid off Boeing workers, who have supported the Democratic party for so long?  Programs to help the agricultural areas in the dry eastern half of the state, in hope of challenging the near monopoly the Republicans have there?  No.  Her "main economic-development project" is a billion dollar subsidy for biomedical research.

It was a big victory for Gregoire, who has made biotech a signature issue of her first legislative session.  She says the state can become a world leader in health and farm research, finding cures to health problems of its citizens and creating 20,000 or more new high-paying jobs.

"The governor is very pleased," spokesman Steve Pierce said.  "This has been one of her priorities from Day One in terms of what it can do as an engine for economic development."

I don't know enough about this proposal to have an opinion on its value to the state.  But I am struck by the fact that it begins by shoveling money to those who are well off already.   And I am even more struck by the fact that the Democratic governor's "main economic-development project" will do almost nothing, at least in the short run, for laid off union workers in industrial suburbs like Kent, or for farmers and farm workers in places like the Yakima valley.   For many in the Democratic party, those places, and the people who live in them, might as well be invisible.

(Why biomedical research?  In part because some of its possibilities frighten those with traditional religious views.  The program may not produce many jobs, but it has already raised concerns among those who care about the sanctity of life.)

Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics. Posted by Jim Miller at April 18, 2005 07:02 AM | Email This