I read Senator Byron Dorgan’s book when it first came out. I’m a speed reader, and it’s really just a bunch of fluff and feel-good anecdotes wrapped around a singular premise, so it took me very little time. The summation: protectionism and labor unions. Period.

This Boston Globe Op-Ed article has the author scratching his head in bewilderment over Senator Dorgan’s protectionist position. There were some interesting North Dakota stats in here:

– One seventh of North Dakota’s manufacturing jobs are due to exports according to the International Trade Administration;

– Foreign companies employ 8,300 people in our great state;

– 900 of our North Dakota businesses earned combined revenues of $2.8 Billion from export sales in 2008 alone.

I’m scratching my head too, Senator Dorgan. In fact, many of your North Dakota constituents have been doing so for such a long time, its a wonder WE don’t have your hair predicament!