The 95th Congress has been a disaster for American liberalism. A partial listing of progressive measures that failed to survive the Capitol Hill obstacle course would include any type of welfare reform, tax reform, labor reform, or national health insurance; national no-fault auto insurance; a bill establishing a consumer protection agency; hospital cost containment; and the most important aspects of the Administration’s much heralded urban program. As finally enacted, the Humphrey-Hawkins full-employment bill is an

empty gesture that mocks the hopes of those whom social scientists refer to as the “structurally unemployed.”

The...