Hey ALEC - We Can See Your Underpants!
Thursday's Edition on Wednesday
One function of underpants is to cover something we would rather keep private. One function of ALEC is to cover something Big Business (Big Underpants) would rather keep private: Corporations are writing our legislation. We the People are to be disengaged and silenced. We the People, they calculate, will become disengaged when we cannot find work and cannot vote. Disengaged citizens will allow our corporate overlords to do as they wish.
They are betting that instead of rising up, we will sit on the couch, eat Doritos, watch internet videos of cute puppies, check our Facebook page, light up, have a cocktail, pop a pill and watch bad TV. We just won't give a F&^% anymore. They are hoping we will go quietly into that dark night. The question is: Are they winning?
ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council claims to be a bi-partisan organization in support of limited government, Federalism & free markets. Why yes, those are bi-partisan, dare I say, Progressive Values...GOP & TParty ala Corporate America - your greedy, anti-democratic underpants are showing!
Some of these august ALEC corporations are:
ALEC provides an environment where Corporate Underpants Pays to Play (though they have a "statement against this") and to get up close and personal with YOUR State legislators, indoctrinate them, do their legislative bill writing for them, to make their lil ol' corporate lives just that much more profitable. ALEC has launched a Corporate take over at both the State and Federal level.
No, sorry, the Blue team doesn't have anything comparable to the size, scope, or reach of ALEC. I believe that doing so would be in fundamental opposition to everything Progressive stand for. Yes, we organize, we lobby, we hold seminars, but we do not do THIS. Do some of the ALEC companies contribute to Democratic legislators and causes? You bet your ass they do - buying influence is buying influence. What we must determine is how those legislators vote and who those decisions are influenced by. Are they voting for their constituents or for ALEC and Big Underpants? We the People must demand transparency and accountability from ALL our legislators on every level of OUR government.
No, sorry, the Blue team doesn't have anything comparable to the size, scope, or reach of ALEC. I believe that doing so would be in fundamental opposition to everything Progressive stand for. Yes, we organize, we lobby, we hold seminars, but we do not do THIS. Do some of the ALEC companies contribute to Democratic legislators and causes? You bet your ass they do - buying influence is buying influence. What we must determine is how those legislators vote and who those decisions are influenced by. Are they voting for their constituents or for ALEC and Big Underpants? We the People must demand transparency and accountability from ALL our legislators on every level of OUR government.
Accountability is critical - when these state legislators "advance" from State to National politics their ALEC-addled brains go with them. YOU the voter, or as they refer to you, "The human non-corporate entity" (who may still have some rights according to the Supreme Court - we're not sure) are, at best, an afterthought.
Today, two ALEC agenda items for your consideration.
JOBS
The right wing hubub on "interesting" legislation that seems contrary to the Nation's big picture needs, specifically JOBS is worth a closer look. Mr. Smith-the-Manchurian-Underpants-Candidate goes to Washington and spends weeks arguing over a "housekeeping" matter and conveniently forgets about the FAA. No jobs legislation before the recess. Children get recess. Our representatives should not get recess, they should get to work when - in corporate-speak - something is an "A-1" priority. Try telling your boss you must stop working because you "have to" go out for recess. Go on vacation (via plane?) when you "forget" to tidy up a little thing like the FAA "dilemma" which is going to cost your "company" a few billion in revenue. Try it. I dare you. I triple dog dare you.
Jobs aren't on the agenda because ALEC doesn't want to create American jobs. It is not in the best interest of the bottom line. Obscene profits, not people, are the key driver. American Workers want *GASP* a living wage. Impossible! How can Big Underpants possibly pay those stock option 7-figure bonuses (subject only to capital gains) to the Executives? To make matters worse - oh the horror - The evil EPA refuses to allow (more!) poison into the environment! Ghastly! These things should be allowed in a Free Market! We must change the Laws! Our will be done.
Sadly, We the People have demanded no change and have given them no incentive to change. We shop at WallyMuerte, drink Diet Coke, take aspirin, are addicted to smartphones, buy insurance, light and cool our homes, unquestioningly talk to our doctor about yet another pill, and fill up the gas tank. As long as we the sheep with cash and credit allow ourselves to be lead to economic slaughter at the hands of these modern Robber Barons, jobs will not be on the ALEC agenda. The exception - when the jobs in question are Public Sector jobs they can privatize, union bust and pay minimum wage for. (e.g. "Prison Reform" or here in Lake County, IL - privatizing Winchester House - a public - not private - nursing home - NURSING HOME)
State level "phenomenon" you say? Nice try. These are neither coincidences nor "grass roots" movements; hell, they aren't even astroturf movements. Why pay to scare people into feigning outrage (Healthcare Reform) when you can write the legislation yourself? Hard right state-level legislation on card check, voting rights, environmental controls, food labeling, etc. are ALEC coordinated efforts. These weren't on the voters' radar - JOBS were. ALEC is, in Trekkie terms, The Borg, and we will be assimilated.
Hey Wisconsin! You have heard the not-so-subtle pitter-patter of Koch Brothers' feet tampering in your state. Remember the protests? Union Busting? Privatizing? Fake Democrats in recall elections? Prank call to Walker? New Voter ID laws? DMV closures in Blue districts?
Yup, go ask ALEC - when they're 10 feet tall. (apologies to Jefferson Airplane)
Yup, go ask ALEC - when they're 10 feet tall. (apologies to Jefferson Airplane)
Ignoring job creation is bad. As alluded to, it gets worse. They don't want you to vote - unless you're voting for team ALEC.
VOTING RIGHTS & The Political Process
The ALEC agenda point at the heart of our Republic is voting rights and our fundamental system of government. Yes, Big Underpants wants to make sure that if you are "likely" to vote for the center or left of center, they are going to make it really damn hard for you to vote. You, the elderly, poor, young, non-drivers, central-city dwellers, rural citizens; you are in the way of their agenda. Knock it off. Straighten up and fly right or stay home.
Yes, you - YOU Pinko, Commie, Bleeding Heart, Hippie-Dippie LIBERALS (come on - say it like Rush would....) elect representatives who stand up to Big Underpants and stand up for us. This is not a plot summary from the next Gordon Gekko Movie; this is real. (See John Nichols - he deserves a Pulitzer for his reporting!) Wisconsin is just one example, a blue print, a laboratory where ALEC is finding out, thankfully, some of the test subjects are fighting back.
Much ado about nothing? Fabrication? Rumor? Misreading the will of the people? Misinformation from the "liberal" media? Nope - from their own website. Really. Go check it out for yourself : ALEC.org. Please see below.
The ones that scare me the most are in red - the others might, too, but I have not been able to gain any additional information on them.
The ones that scare me the most are in red - the others might, too, but I have not been able to gain any additional information on them.
Sure, upon first glance, some of these points sound legit, even good. Then again, the "House Un-American Activities Committee" initially sounded benign too.
Tomorrow:
Your ALEC Legislators & What
We the People Can Do.
oh hell yes - yes we can!
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