Wondering why Florida has a “License to Kill” law that contributed to
the death of Trayvon Martin? Or where tough-on-immigration laws like Arizona’s
SB 1070 come from? There is this thing you should know about. It’s called the
American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, and it’s the closest thing to
pure evil that I’ve been able to identify in national U.S. politics.
Okay, that might be an exaggeration. But not a big one. ALEC is a place
for industry and special interest groups to come together with legislators and
draft model legislation. Corporations pay large sums of money to become
members, and legislators who have a cause they’re working on (say, cracking
down on immigration) can team up with corporate lobbyists to draft a piece of
legislation. This is what happened with Arizona’s SB 1070, the bill that
allowed law enforcement to stop anyone who they thought looked “illegal” and
demand proof of legal residency in the United States. That bill was based on a
model piece of legislation drafted by the ALEC Public Safety and Elections
Committee at a time when both the National Rifle Association and the
Corrections Corporation of America were members of the committee. Corrections
Corp has since dropped their ALEC membership, but I’m sure they’re making out
nicely with all the new immigration detainees that Arizona’s largely privatized
prison system has to take care of.
I could list dozens of examples like this, but the wonderful folks at
the Center for Media and Democracy have set up an ALEC Exposed Wiki, so I don’t
have to. Check it out. Read up on the way ALEC works at the Nation. See what Paul Krugman thinks. This is a
hugely important shadowy underground anti-democratic machine of evil. At the
very least, you should know what they’re up to.
No comments:
Post a Comment