TIM CARNEY: Free-market populism opportunity: Resist over-regulation of child care.

The Obama administration, according to Katharine Stevens in the Wall Street Journal, is paving the way for more regulation of child care. This seems like a great place for conservatives to fight for the interests of the poor and working class, against overbearing government.

In other words, it’s an opportunity for free-market populism.

The administration is pushing guidelines for who can get federal grants, but Stevens — who is a fellow research fellow of mine at the American Enterprise Institute — worries that these grant guidelines are a “Trojan horse bearing counterproductive requirements,” on early-childhood educators and daycare providers.

These aren’t rules governing basic health and safety standards, like drinking water, cleanliness or broken glass. Some are micromanaging: “cot placement” for daycare. Others are about requiring credentialing — such as requiring preschool teachers to have bachelor’s degrees. . . .

Excessive regulation of daycare and preschool mostly hurts the poor and working class. For one thing, it makes daycare rarer and more expensive.

Some on the Left will respond and say, “well, let’s just subsidize them more.” That doesn’t address the other problem: curbing work opportunities for women.

More importantly, unnecessary regulation and credentialing requirements take away from many women the best way they could make money: at-home daycare.

The Dems don’t want them to be self-sufficient. They want them to be unionized government employees.