Mickey Kaus nails the "card check" quesiton.

Kaus describes his experience in a neighborhood election on the question of instituting parking restrictions. His neighbors strongly supported the proposition, while he opposed it. He was grateful for the secret ballot that allowed him to vote his conscience. As he said, "If we had to vote in public, I would probably have had to support my neighbors."

This explains why unions want "card check" to allow for public balloting whether to require union representation in a business. Physical intimidation isn't required for the results of a public ballot to differ from secret ballot. "All that's required is a desire not to tell your pro-union buddy to his face that you think he's wrong."

Of course, that is precisely why we use a secret ballot in all federal, state and local elections. We can vote our conscience in the privacy of the election booth without fear of what our neighbor may think.