To the editor:

Our nation’s political democracy is being chipped away because of a lack of economic democracy. Politicians blame the President, the young people, the LGBTQ+ community, the immigrants, and those on welfare and handouts for all of our problems. Never once has the blame been placed on the corporations and the for-profit management style that disregards people.

It’s a rule that companies do everything in their power to minimize labor costs. But who benefits from that? Not the workers, not the vast majority of the American people. If we want America and the American people to prosper, the workers should have control of the companies. At the very least, empowering unions and demanding a far greater say in the economic activities of America.

Without economic democracy, ie. placing the interests of workers and people first in the economy, political democracy in America is vulnerable. This lack of economic democracy leads to what we are seeing today: The rise of Trump, of far-right rhetoric, and the backsliding of democracy. Think about it, when your status in the dog-eat-dog world is challenged, your immediate reaction is to secure your place in the social hierarchy.

Instead, we need to take a look around us and ask if society needs to be this way. The hard times that befall us aren’t the cause of any “outsider”, they are the cause of the profit-centered system that is in place around us. There must be a better way, an inclusive way, that not only allows others in but also empowers your identity and that path begins with economic democracy.

Lucas Skoglund

New Ulm