http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/alec_burns_americans_20110801/?lnALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is a secretive association of corporations and state legislators that has been crafting public policy to suit corporate interests since 1973. The organization is not new, but the opportunity to review approximately 800 of its internal documents, thanks to a leak published by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and The Nation magazine last month, is.
Each of those files contains a piece of model legislation handed to lawmakers in recent decades, documents that were previously available only to the group’s 2,000 legislative and 300 corporate members, and policy experts have been busy analyzing them. They include proposals for laws governing nearly all aspects of social organization, including health care, education and telecommunications.
To get acquainted with the basics of ALEC, read John Nichols’ introduction to The Nation’s reports here. Next, study the Center for Media and Democracy’s FAQ section. Then read Joel Rogers and Laura Dresser’s profile below on how the organization has blunted states’ revenue, pushed for the privatization of public services and savagely attacked labor unions. And if you’re feeling especially ambitious, read this introductory letter from Lisa Graves, the executive director of the CMD, then dive into the files yourself.
If anything like the conspiracy theorists’ Illuminati exists, this is it. —ARK
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