Mark Schmitt chooses a peculiar way to frame his question of whether progressivism can go on without labor: Given the depth of labor's difficulties, then, perhaps the reason that the answer to the question is "yes" is simply that we can't wait for labor to solve its problems, and maybe labor never will come back in its traditional form. The issue isn't whether the Democratic Party or the left should "wait for for labor to solve its problems." The issue is why the Democratic Party has failed to more aggressively pursue policies which would address the problem which haunts all prospects for sustained electoral or organizing victory: the absence of a robust freedom to form a union and organize collectively for industrial democracy and social change in this country.