Progressives Need Their Own ALEC – The Invisible Woman

As LA Progressive Publisher, I talk about ALEC and how they help Republicans win while the Democrats fail to have anything that supports progressives. In fact, the upcoming ADEM elections could be an opportunity to infuse the party with progressives but the ADEM election process, which is pretty confusing, won’t likely result in an infusion of progressives.

What progressives need is an ALEC alternative. Something that works for progressives in some of the ways that the American Legislative Exchange Council works for conservatives.

According to ALEC’s website, ALEC – which is an acronym for The American Legislative Exchange Council – is America’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets, and federalism. That’s what their website states.

However,…

Lisa Graves, an attorney who has devoted decades to putting a spotlight on ALEC and the Koch Brothers, uncovered some of the most egregious ALEC practices, including writing legislation for state lawmakers who then introduce that legislation as if they (the lawmaker) authored it.

But the real problem, aside from the obvious deceit, is that ALEC is run by corporations who benefit from and help to craft the legislation. ALEC claims it works for the benefit of the taxpaying public and is, in fact, a non-profit organization, but Lisa Graves and her watchdog organization, The Center for Media, and Democracy’s PRWatch, have successfully investigated ALEC and revealed their true goal – to erode the integrity of elections and “sap taxpayer dollars away from investments in public infrastructure, education, and healthcare to benefit narrow special interests and global corporations.”

I say, partly tongue in cheek, that progressives need an ALEC. Of course, I don’t mean to suggest that progressives should engage in all of the same tactics ALEC uses – certainly not the corrupt practices – but it would behoove progressives to find a way to gain power so that this country can begin to function in the ways it claims to function.

By the way, if you want to vote in the upcoming ADEM election click here.

To see the full ALEC Rock video, click here.

To learn more about PRWatch click here.

For a list of all of the ADEM candidates click here.

Full disclosure: Wade Kyle is my son. You can hear Wade discuss the ADEM election here.