If I were a Democrat, I’d be worried
about what is happening to my party.
Last week saw two seismic events that will have long-term consequences
for the party, one in the primaries and one in the Supreme Court.
In the New York Democratic
primaries, a 28-year old Latina socialist named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
defeated Joe Crowley, the 10-term congressman from Queens, even after he
outspent her 10 to 1. If the 4th
most-powerful member of the Democratic House can be beaten by an unknown
far-left candidate, what does this portend for the soul of the party? If a Democratic blue wave sweeps the
elections in November, will the Republicans, already in disarray, concede that
they are powerless to prevent leftist radicals from leading the country on an
unstoppable stampede over a Socialist cliff?
On the other hand, conservatives can
take heart that the Supreme Court at least is not caving in to the leftward
shift. Four important decisions went
their way this month: one on a cake-maker’s religious freedom, one protecting
the free speech rights of pro-life pregnancy centers, one on the
constitutionality of Trump’s travel ban, and, most importantly, one restricting
the power of organized labor.
Nothing could have been more
devastating to the power of public-employee unions than the Supreme Court’s
decision that a union can no longer collect fees from workers who choose not to
join the union. This decision has pulled
the plug on union power; we are sure to see more and more public employees opt
out of union membership, depleting its resources even further. As a long-time member of a Board of Education
who witnessed firsthand the abuse of union power, I have little sympathy for
the losers in this case.
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