In an interview shortly before his retirement in 2001, the late Sen. Pat Moynihan (D-N.Y.) issued a warning:

“Never pass major legislation that affects most Americans without real bipartisan support. It opens the door to all kinds of political trouble.”

He said not only will the party that didn’t vote for it feel free to take shots at the resulting program whenever things go wrong, but also a large segment of the public will never accept it unless it is an overwhelming success. Every glitch will be magnified by a loud chorus of partisan opponents saying, “I told you so,” Moynihan said.

So what are Democrats planning to do? Ignore Moynihan’s warning and ram through health care reform as a basically one-party bill, which, under...