General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOK...can we agree to fight ALEC, the Koch bros. and the Tea Party?
they are out to destroy all that is good, and that is not an exaggeration!
we HAVE to get the vote out!!!
ALEC Goes Hyper Local With New Nationwide Network
March 7, 2014
The American Legislative Exchange Council ALEC has had quite a bit of success writing model bills that advance the interests of its corporate backers and then wining and dining friendly state lawmakers to grease the wheels for their passage. Now, the organization is looking to replicate that success on the local level with a new sister organization, according to a report by Ed Pilkington in The Guardian.
Pilkington writes:
The American Legislative Exchange Council, founded in 1973, has become one of the most pervasive advocacy operations in the nation. It brings elected officials together with representatives of major corporations, giving those companies a direct channel into legislation in the form of ALEC model bills.
Critics have decried the network as a corporate bill mill that has spread uniformly-drafted rightwing legislation from state to state. ALEC has been seminal, for instance, in the replication of Floridas controversial stand-your-ground gun law in more than 20 states.
Now the council is looking to take its blueprint for influence over statewide lawmaking and drill it down to the local level. It has already quietly set up, and is making plans for the public launch of, an offshoot called the American City County Exchange (ACCE) that will target policymakers from villages, towns, cities and counties.
The new organization will offer corporate America a direct conduit into the policy making process of city councils and municipalities. Lobbyists acting on behalf of major businesses will be able to propose resolutions and argue for new profit-enhancing legislation in front of elected city officials, who will then return to their council chambers and seek to implement the proposals.
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
genwah
(574 posts)got to fight the Kock ground game. The DCCC is basically benching themselves, because...wait, why?
Nevermind, it's tome to get going.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)G_j
(40,366 posts)yes
Scuba
(53,475 posts)G_j
(40,366 posts)from: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2013/04/02/the-wrecking-ball-keeps-pounding/
Heres a challenge for you. Try to explain what is happening in North Carolina these days to someone who doesnt follow politics or government and limit yourself to a minute or even two.
You cant do it. The damage being inflicted on the state by this radical and reactionary General Assembly is too vast and is happening too quickly to even catalogue, much less explain.
Lawmakers, who have only been in session a little over two months, have already refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, denying health care to 500,000 low-income adults even though the federal government would pick up the full cost of the expansion for three years and 90 percent of the cost after that.
<snip>.
All bets are off on public education too. There are bills to divert public school money to home schoolers and turn teachers into glorified temps in the classroom. Senate leaders are trying to remove whats left of accountability for charter schools by setting up a parallel and likely unconstitutional governance system to oversee them. A sweeping voucher scheme is coming soon.
Exhausted yet? Theres more. Predatory payday lending has surfaced again backed by faux research by the think tanks on Right Wing Avenue. And the consumer finance industry is back pushing for more exorbitant interest rates to charge people when they most vulnerable.
..more..
G_j
(40,366 posts)you had no response to my comment.
TheKentuckian
(24,934 posts)If it is just the labels and not the ideas then I have to say that fighting shadows is essentially fighting your self. Good to get into shape, poor for actually stopping and advancing agendas.
Sorry, the "big tent" theory only goes so far, eventually either no one is represented or somebody takes control and dominates. Too much of the reaction to this combined with the TeaPubliKlan run to the Bircher/reactionary far right has been deep, blood freezing fear among Democrats to the point they are willing to become Reaganites minus the southern strategy shit in order to hold some line against the radical regressives.
I just cannot go there, we morph into the very core of what we opposed for a lifetime and excuse it by sanding down the exterior rough edges. The shit they used to rile the rubes and battles in a national history long slog to gain franchise, forgetting the point of franchise is to be included in the actual decision making process, to be represented in our mutual affairs not a game show or a popularity contest to distract us from being looted and locked down.
G_j
(40,366 posts)they are destroying it in every way they can. I'm sorry, I'm seeing it on the ground, people cut off from Medicare, unemployment, food stamps, coal ash poisoning the rivers, attacking women's health, long fought for environmental protections gutted. The most restrictive voter suppression laws in the nation! Can anything be worse?
Frankly, third way "democrats" fall into the real POS category for me, yet I'm not a fool, and voting isn't that big a deal for most of us, like going to the store.
Principle is an abstract when they are burning down your freakin' house. The GOP is hugely influenced by ALEC here, if any Dems get channeled funds from the dark side, it couldn't hold a candle to Art Pope and his gang of Orcs.
SO FUCK YES I'M VOTING!
fascisthunter
(29,381 posts)GOTV
wandy
(3,539 posts)Democrat does not necessarily equal Angel.
Stone me if ya gotta but a bad Democrat is probably better than a good..........
Forget it. There ain't no such critter as a good Teapublican.
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)I about fell out of my chair when I first saw them.
I thought it a good sign.
G_j
(40,366 posts)Last edited Fri Mar 28, 2014, 10:21 PM - Edit history (1)
The Koch brothers had long tried to stay in the background. They are being exposed. I don't think they wanted that.
It's too late now, their name is becoming a household item.
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)were why I got inspired to follow politics in the first place. Of course I'll join the fight against them.