Nothing will kill an economic recovery more completely than increasing the number of unions in the private sector.

It's union wages, health care and layoff packages, after all, that have brought the American car manufacturing industry to its knees.

Nor have unions done public education or government efficiency any favors.

And yet, Congress is considering a bill that would make it infinitely easier for unions to spread -- and for union bosses to use heavy-handed intimidation to "encourage" workers to join.

The so-called Employee Free Choice Act -- an Orwellian title for a bill if there ever was one -- would allow a company's workers to unionize if only a slim majority sign a card requesting it.

That alone doesn't sound so ominous, but consider the particulars: Workers would be asked to sign the card knowing that union organizers -- who haven't always had a glistening reputation -- will know whether they signed or not.

That's free choice?

The truth is, workers have more of a free choice now, with a secret ballot. But that would be gone under this bill, also known as "card check," and with it would be gone any opportunity for workers to express their true feelings on unionizing in the safety and security of anonymity.

That safety and security of a secret ballot is an American birthright. But Congress -- now in control of a union-friendly majority -- is on the verge of taking it away.

This bill would kill an already crippled U.S. manufacturing base and fundamentally and forever change the American landscape. It would irreparably damage America's ability to compete in an increasingly mechanized and interdependent world.

U.S. manufacturers need lower costs, not higher. The U.S. corporate tax is higher than almost every other industrialized nation. Between regulation, taxation and litigation -- and foolhardy trading practices that give our competitors a steep edge -- U.S. manufacturers already exist on an uneven plane. Increasing costs through a higher incidence of unions could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Georgia's two senators can be counted on to oppose the card check bill. So can conservative Rep. Paul Broun.

Democrat Rep. John Barrow's office says he is still studying the matter. It's possible that, if Barrow concludes the bill will pass the House even without his support, he might vote against it as a show of unity with his constituents, a majority of whom no doubt oppose it.

We would rather Mr. Barrow not wait, and come out forcefully against card check -- both as a defense of the American principle of a secret ballot, and as a statement that he will protect American businesses.

Regardless, this threat to workers' secret ballots and to the U.S. economy must be turned back.