Irony illustrated.

The recession is taking a toll on union jobs, which are disappearing in California at a faster rate than anywhere else in the country, according to a UCLA study published Monday.

In the 12 months ending in June, the union membership rate dropped from 18.3% to 17.6% in California and from 12.4% to 12.1% nationwide, the study found. The drop was most acute in the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange, Ventura and San Bernardino, where unionization rates fell from 17.5% to 16.5%.

At some point, even the most Kool-Aid drunk amongst the liberals are going to have to start noticing that the states where unions have the biggest strangleholds also have the most impossible-to-sustain economic situations. We’re well past the point where anyone needs special economic knowledge to connect these dots.

Big Labor and the Democratic party have been dancing arm-in-arm towards this toilet for decades. The Dems roll over like underachieving dogs for anything Big Labor wants and the unions devote money that could be spent on their members to elect politicians who will eventually implement policies that destroy jobs. It’s an infinity loop of stupid that is now reaching it’s logical (an unknown concept to liberals) conclusion.

The last “Don’t break up with me!” gasp in this sickly dysfunctional relationship will be the thoroughly frightening expansion of government jobs that this administration has demonstrated is the only thing it knows how to do. It makes sure that economic sleight of hand creates enough union jobs to keep the family together, whether it’s good for the kids or not.

The losses have been particularly acute in private sector industries such as residential construction and manufacturing. For the first time, the number of union members nationwide is greater in the public sector than in the private sector: 7.76 million compared with 7.19 million, the study found.

Of course, explaining that the private sector taxes are necessary to fund the federal behemoth and keep it in existence to a liberal is slightly more difficult than getting your toddler to replace your transmission. The “no private sector, no money for the bureaucracy” argument does nothing but create even blanker stares on the Left.

The power of the myth is strong on the other side of the aisle. We can only hope that one or two prominent voices over there emerge from the fog and get a peek at reality.

Or we can win elections.