Democrats are the party that believes in government, after all. We need to make it work for the majority of citizens. When teachers’ unions force the layoffs of good young teachers because their seniority principle is somehow sacrosanct–well, it’s not only individual public schools that suffer, but the whole idea of public education, as well as the whole idea of the social solidarity, or equality, that institutions like public schools are supposed to reinforce.

The same price is paid when the teachers’ unions prevent the firing of bad teachers–and face it, that’s what’s happening when in a district of 33,000 teachers (L.A.) only a dozen or two are forced out each year. The Republicans needn’t care that much about the resulting mediocre schools–it only makes their call for vouchers more plausible. The rich don’t need to care–their kids don’t go to public schools anymore anyway. It’s the Democrats and the non-rich who take the hit.

Likewise, when illegal immigrants flood the labor market, it’s unskilled workers who take the hit, in the form of lower wages. Even Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a key backer of the “path to citizenship” immigration bill I oppose, admits that immigrant competition bids down wages. That used to be organized labor’s position too. But now, in a pell-mell effort to lock down the Latino vote, Democrats dogmatically insist that every attempt at reforming the immigration system must include a conditional amnesty–the so-called path to citizenship–that would legalize immigrants who are here illegally.