Mickey Kaus On The Failures Of Traditional Coalition Liberalism

Mickey Kaus provides a thorough fisking of Matt Yglesias' romantic clinging to the old FDR Democratic party. The fights that the unions bravely fought in the 30's through the 50's have now been institutionalized in our laws. Unions are shrinking across the board, except in government, where onerous labor contracts make the civil service ineffective and without innovation. At a time when government services in education and economic development are crucial to the essential advance of poor people, Americans no longer believe that government is an efficient tool for solving almost any problems.

Unions are less a part of the solution now. Rather they are part of the problem.