What is ALEC and how is it currently affecting our politics?

1. 84

   peoplepower73posted 3 years ago

   Every person who has an interest in today's politics should understand what ALEC is and how it affects our lives.
   
   The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a national policy organization that was co-founded by Paul Weyrich, Henry Hyde, who later became a U.S. congressman, and Lou Barnett, who later became national political director for Ronald Reagan.
   
   Its purpose is to provide a forum for state legislators, corporations, and private sector leaders to discuss and exchange state-level public policy issues.
   
   ALEC members, including state legislators and corporate representatives, meet in secret task forces on specific issue areas (i.e., environment and energy, worker’s rights, etc.) and collaborate to write model legislation.
   
   Once the task force completes a model bill it is approved by the ALEC membership and governing board. Once bills clear those hurdles, they become official ALEC “model policies,” which are disseminated to state legislators and further are presented to congress where many of them have become law that affects you and me.
   
   In some sense, it is a case of the "tail wagging the dog." Here is a sampling of the types of bills that are passed on to state legislatures:
   •    Stand Your Ground laws
   •    Voter identification and suppression
   •    Immigration
   •    Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act
   •    Criminal sentencing and prison management
   •    Energy and the environment
   •    Telecommunications and information technology
   •    Health care
   •    Privatization of Education
   
   Below is a comparison of a model bill submitted to the State of Wisconsin. Notice to the right is the ALEC bill and to the left is the state of Wisconsin bill. They are essentially identical. The only thing that is different is the letter head and the capitalization of the word "Department."
   
   
   
   ALEC is still active today.  Here is a site that has exposed what ALEC is really about. It is worth the time to read to understand what powerful influence ALEC has in today's politics.
   
   https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

   replyreport
   1. 87

      Sharlee01posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I had a look at ALEC website. It appears to be an organization that pushes Conservative ideologies.  This is America, they have a right to. As you have the right to disagree with them.

      replyreport
      1. 84

         peoplepower73posted 3 years agoin reply to this

         Sharlee:  But did you look at the ALEC exposed website or are you afraid to go there?  Here is the website address.
         
         https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

         replyreport
         1. 87

            Sharlee01posted 3 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, I found that the info on your link was spin. I did a bit of research on the organization.
            
            The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States. ...
            
            Its funds come from --- Funding. As of 2011, corporation, think tank, and trade group members accounted for almost 99% of ALEC's $7 million budget. Legislators pay $100 in biennial membership dues, or $50 per year, while non-legislators pay $7,000 to $25,000 to join, and more to participate in the task forces.
            
            It would seem the Democrats don't like the group due to they push back very hard, and are listened to by legislators. 
            
            No there - there.

            replyreport
   2. 89

      MizBejabbersposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I really don't have time right now to research ALEC and discuss it, but I want to discuss your paragraph about the identical state and ALEC model bills. I was a legal editor of 30 years, so I'd like to clarify what a model bill is. I am not advocating nor criticizing them, just explaining them. A model bill is written with the idea in mind that every state that passes it conforms to the others that do. When I worked model acts for the State of Arkansas, we did not change anything in the act except things that applied to our state, like conforming its cites to the Arkansas Code and conforming names, for instance, counties or parishes or titles of officials mentioned. Every word in the text of the act was kept identical to that in the model act, including capitalization and punctuation. That is how a model act works. Some of them passed, and some of them did not.
      
      If your examples make it to Arkansas, the difference in capitalization won't happen under our code system.
      
      There are some very good model acts that become model bills to be passed. These are public concerns like child welfare, corporate laws, and stuff of legitimate public interest, nonpolitical that is. That way a family who moves from California to Iowa that has the same model acts in force can expect to be treated as they were in their home state. In most cases this is a good thing, but I do understand your concern over ALEC and its model acts.  Hopefully, I will find time to go to your site because I need to be more educated about them before I comment further.

      replyreport
      1. 84

         peoplepower73posted 3 years agoin reply to this

         MizBejabbers: Please do go to the website.  My background is technical writing. What they call model bills, we used to call boiler plate, where you just fill in the blanks.  If you go to the website, I think they have many bills that show how the blanks were filled in to depending on the state and the circumstances
         
         Thanks for dropping by.

         replyreport
         1. 84

            peoplepower73posted 3 years agoin reply to this

            MizBejabbers: Sorry, I wrote my reply at 11 p.m. Boiler plate was used when a portion of text was used more than once.  This was in the old days, where real cutting and pasting was done with scissors and glue.  The internet had not yet been invented.  The other device we used was a template where blanks were to be filled in like a form.

            replyreport
            1. 89

               MizBejabbersposted 3 years agoin reply to this

               Still trying to find time to go to the website when I can digest what they are saying. I am aware of what these people are attempting to do.
               Yes, boiler plate is still used in many legislative bills and acts. Some of it is actually required by law to make them legal. There are also bills sponsored by the NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures). While those are really model acts, they are treated more strictly in Arkansas than non-NCSL model acts, but both of them have fill in the parentheses (blanks) in them.

               replyreport
2. 96

   Rupert Taylorposted 3 years ago

   Mike - I admire your courage in taking on the MAGA folks. But I would offer the advice of my father when it comes to political discussions: "Save your breath to cool your porridge."
   
   Trump followers are impervious to any rational argument. Proven and documented facts are written off as Communist propaganda. You cannot penetrate the silo in which they live with any evidence that counters the cult members' beliefs.
   
   But, kudos for trying.

   replyreport