There are two kinds of people who go into government, those who believe there are only two kinds of people, and those who don't. Of the two perspectives, wingnuts, well, you know where their hearts lie. The urge to divvy up the world into us vs. them is irresistible to hard conservatives, probably as a result of their inability to process complexity. If it weren't for the deletery effect of their thinking on the lives of the 308,713,897 Americans who aren't in the 1 percent that wingnuts consider worth considering, I'd pity them their intellectual limitations.
But the obvious implications for policy informed by such a heuristic play about in the heads of the less cognitively challenged among right-thinking fascists in an endless carnival of screw-those-guys caprice. When a powerful person only recognizes two kinds of people, well it only follows that those unfortunate enough to find themselves lumped into the "them" group won't fare well in the offing. Luckily, the same structural deficiencies in the brains of unreconstructed wingnuts that encourage them to destroy the bulk of their country for a failed ideology also limit the creativity and intelligence with which they go about it. In point of fact, your average wingnut politician couldn't sneak one by the American public if they wrapped it in the flag, covered it with apple pie, and paid Toby Keith to lower the ambient IQ of the entire United States by warbling Courtesy of the Red White and Blue through every Clear Channel station in the country.
But here's the thing, no matter how much their efforts to institute their agenda come across more monkey-fucking-a-football than Svengali, all they need is one victory at a time. Because they are patient and opportunistic, and worse yet, they know that while their elected sockpuppets might not endure the consequences of their unpopular actions, their wins willrarely be rolled back.
So, despite their miserable track record, their aggregate success is killing America. All wingnuts really need is a clearing house of bad ideas through which our corporate overlordscan coordinate their ongoing war against democracy in all 50 states.
Wingnut state legislators? Meet ALEC.
Because there is already a DKos Group taking a close look at ALEC's activities, I don't think I need to waste anyone's time rehashing just who they are and what they do. But I do think it's useful to look at some of the various areas of legislation upon which this organization seems particularly fixated. Follow me past the squiggle, won't you?
Vote Suppression
Of all the undesirable characteristics of small d democracy the plutocratic puppetmasters wish they could excise from the America experience, the ability to participate in the fomulation and comportment of government tops the list. Wingnuts and corporatists have long known that the key to a paleoconservative domination of domestic politics is low voter turnout. The only thing the boards of Coca-Cola and AT&T might disagree on is, how to accomplish that. Well....
Of all the undesirable characteristics of small d democracy the plutocratic puppetmasters wish they could excise from the America experience, the ability to participate in the fomulation and comportment of government tops the list. Wingnuts and corporatists have long known that the key to a paleoconservative domination of domestic politics is low voter turnout. The only thing the boards of Coca-Cola and AT&T might disagree on is, how to accomplish that. Well....
Organized Labor
No check upon corporate power exists with the potential and appeal inherent to a strong, consolidated workforce. When ordinary people band together to market their labor as a valuable commodity to corporations more accustomed to getting it cheap, the screams of anguish can be heard from the boardroom all the way to the breakroom. If reserving the vote to the "right" people is the first priority due to its potency at devaluing democracy, busting and neutering the unions must surely run a close second. Surely, as labor is the only reducible cost, no rapacious corporate overseer would pass up the opportunity to reduce its "associates" to the powerless wage slaves that figure in their naughtiest fascist fantasies.
No check upon corporate power exists with the potential and appeal inherent to a strong, consolidated workforce. When ordinary people band together to market their labor as a valuable commodity to corporations more accustomed to getting it cheap, the screams of anguish can be heard from the boardroom all the way to the breakroom. If reserving the vote to the "right" people is the first priority due to its potency at devaluing democracy, busting and neutering the unions must surely run a close second. Surely, as labor is the only reducible cost, no rapacious corporate overseer would pass up the opportunity to reduce its "associates" to the powerless wage slaves that figure in their naughtiest fascist fantasies.
Privatizing Education
None of ALEC's legislative priorities should convince the average American that the corporatocracy is preparing to jump ship -- once its hoovered all the capital out of this country that it can -- like the drive to destroy universal education. The opportunity to receive a cheap, comprehensive public education is the most effective opportunity-enhancing public policy available to a nation struggling to compete against the rising tide of developing nations encroaching on what once was our turf. Furthermore, American businesses, the ones who can't pull up stakes and headquarter in China or Switzerland, rely upon a skilled, educated workforce. The fact that the good string-pullers who fund ALEC are no longer placing a premium on public schools should probably tell the America public a little something about their vision of this country's future.
None of ALEC's legislative priorities should convince the average American that the corporatocracy is preparing to jump ship -- once its hoovered all the capital out of this country that it can -- like the drive to destroy universal education. The opportunity to receive a cheap, comprehensive public education is the most effective opportunity-enhancing public policy available to a nation struggling to compete against the rising tide of developing nations encroaching on what once was our turf. Furthermore, American businesses, the ones who can't pull up stakes and headquarter in China or Switzerland, rely upon a skilled, educated workforce. The fact that the good string-pullers who fund ALEC are no longer placing a premium on public schools should probably tell the America public a little something about their vision of this country's future.
Court Reform
But if limiting the franchise to reliable voters, busting unions to keep labor cheap and plentiful, and ensuring the ignorance and pliability of the American people are crucial elements of maintaining the plutocracy, compromising the one institution in which a citizen can stand toe-to-toe with a megacorporation with an even chance of prevailing on the merits of their injury, now that my friends is what we chess players call endgame. Business interests like tobacco and PhRMA have waged a 30 year guerilla war against lawyers, juries, and courts as a means of convincing Americans that their financial fates are tied to the concept of tort reform to limit injury awards and provide relief to beleaguered corporations that are, after all, the job creators. Unfortunately, while everyone can mockthe poor woman who suffered burns over 22 percent of her body from excessively hot McDonald's coffee, not many people are all that interested in actually knowing her side of the story. So they've got that going for them.
But if limiting the franchise to reliable voters, busting unions to keep labor cheap and plentiful, and ensuring the ignorance and pliability of the American people are crucial elements of maintaining the plutocracy, compromising the one institution in which a citizen can stand toe-to-toe with a megacorporation with an even chance of prevailing on the merits of their injury, now that my friends is what we chess players call endgame. Business interests like tobacco and PhRMA have waged a 30 year guerilla war against lawyers, juries, and courts as a means of convincing Americans that their financial fates are tied to the concept of tort reform to limit injury awards and provide relief to beleaguered corporations that are, after all, the job creators. Unfortunately, while everyone can mockthe poor woman who suffered burns over 22 percent of her body from excessively hot McDonald's coffee, not many people are all that interested in actually knowing her side of the story. So they've got that going for them.
There are plenty of other legislative areas in which ALEC's sponsors and member-legislators are interested, but in my opinion, the four I highlighted are the critical areas that affect the lives of all Americans. The thought that this American organization is nakedly opposed to public education, has repeatedly pushed to strip union workers of their civil rights, has faithfully denigrated the third branch of our government, and will not stop trying to push as many citizens out of the process as possible is chilling. It's even more terrifying to know that some of America's largest and best known corporations participate and fund this group, includingbanks that accepted bailout funds, megacorps that run our prisons, and defense contractors who build military hardware.
Until only recently, ALEC has operated in the dark. As more of the model legislation leaked by ALEC Exposed is scrutinized by experts and ordinary citizens, perhaps the calls for investigations and transparency will gain strength and shame the behemoth corporate "citizens" who operate this profoundly anti-American institution into shutting it down. Please take a moment to scrutinize the list of ALEC Corporations and ALEC Politicians for familiar names. If these people represent you, if these companies produce items you consume, put pen to paper and vocalize your discontent. Democracy in America might very well depend upon the intensity of the backlash we can generate by shedding light on this deeply troubling body of work and the people and institutions that back it.
2:15 AM PT: On this diary's title. I don't have cable, so I didn't know that Keith Olbermann did a set with the same title. But it was a pretty obvious pun, so I didn't think I was doing anything original. Just thought I'd clear that up.
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