Why 14(b) Wasn’t Repealed

Senator Everett Dirksen’s victory in the struggle over Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act contains many glad portents for conservatives.

Retention of the clause permitting the several states to adopt right-to-work laws if they so choose was a triumph on several levels at once: for individual freedom of choice, for the reserved powers of the states, for the majority sentiment of the nation, and for the embattled legions of the American Right.