Democrats on Capitol Hill are paying back those who helped them take back control of Congress this year with the positively Orwellian "Employee Free Choice Act." The bill, which would do away with the secret ballot for certifying union certification, is being carried by the Democrats on behalf of labor unions.

Thursday's San Diego Union-Tribune ran an op-ed piece by David Brody supporting the legislation. Brody is described oddly as "a professor at the University of California Berkeley and a member of the Labor and Working Class History Association, an organization of historians that studies these issues."

You can put two and two together as well as I can.

Brody's argument in favor of the process called "card check" seems to be that because businesses threaten and intimidate employees who are thinking about unionizing, that unions should be able to threaten and intimidate employees too. That somehow makes the playing field level.

President Bush has already vowed to veto this bill -- and there aren't enough votes to overcome it, so this is largely a political show.

However, I'd love to see a cocky Republican offer an amendment to do away with the secret ballot for federal elections. After all, if the secret ballot is no good for union elections, then it's no good for federal elections too.