This is the first in a series of articles on two ultra-secret organizations that have been accused repeatedly of dictating the laws that govern the United States, the Illuminati and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Are there one or more secret organizations that exert control over business executives, politicians, state legislatures and governors, even the President, wielding enough power and domination by corporations, to literally run the United States? A very credible organization, The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) says yes.
For the last several months they have been reporting on an organization by the name of American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and their findings are bone-chilling. An ALEC whistleblower recently released records that included copies of 800 model bills approved by corporations you can see here. You will be shocked at the amount of proposed anti-consumer legislation including things like eroding the rights of workers by limiting their union privileges. Favoring banks and predatory lenders over what is good for the consumer.
There’s more. Bills from ALEC corporations and their legislative partners that would privatize Medicare, deregulate health insurers, protect negligent doctors, and cut holes in the safety net. Bills that would decrease the power of the American voter in favor of giving corporations even more power to use their vast financial resources to influence elections in our democracy.
Bills that would have taxpayers subsidizing the profits of the private prison industry by putting more people in for-profit prisons and keeping them in jail for longer. The bills also would put more guns on streets and interfere with local law enforcement decisions about how best to interact with immigrant communities. Bills that would privatize public education, crush teacher's unions, and push American universities to the right.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking ALEC is a lobby or even a front group. It is much more controlling and devious than either. According to CMD, “Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line.” To hell with the consumer. ALEC has its own governing board but “says that corporations do not vote on the board.” However, corporations do fund almost all of ALEC's operations.
Legislators, a majority of which are conservative Republicans, birddog these proposals and introduce them to their state legislatures at home as their own dazzling ideas. No mention is made that ALEC conceived and drafted these laws that are 100 percent pro-business. The CMD says that there are some 1,000 of these bills introduced every year with one in five enacted into law. This means that at least 200 laws are passed annually in this country that originate strictly from the viewpoint of big business.
Although ALEC describes itself as non-partisan, according to CMD, “The facts show that it currently has one Democrat out of 104 legislators in leadership positions. ALEC members, speakers, alumni, and award winners are a “who’s who” of the extreme right.” The organization claims 2,000 legislative members and 300 or more corporate members. Is it legal? CMD says “ALEC’s operating model raises many ethical and legal concerns. Each state has a different set of ethics laws or rules.”
NEXT TIME: More about ALEC and CMD’s drive to dump the organization.
