[net-gold] UNITED STATES: POLITICS: POLITICAL PARTIES: REPUBLICAN PARTY, TEA PARTY : INDUSTRIES: PETROLEUM INDUSTRY : POLITICS : POLITICS: PRESSURE GROUPS : LAW: LEGISLATION: The Loaded Gun - How a US Lobby Group Wrote the Laws
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Net-Gold -- Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Net-Gold <Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K-12ADMINLIFE <K12ADMIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K12AdminLIFE <K12AdminLIFE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, MediaMentor <mediamentor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Platinum <net-platinum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Sean Grigsby <myarchives1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <NetGold_general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple Gold Discussion Group <TEMPLE-GOLD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple University Net-Gold Archive <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Health Lists -- Health Diet Fitness Recreation Sports Tourism <healthrecsport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Health Diet Fitness Recreation Sports <healthrecsport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, HEALTH-RECREATION-SPORTS-TOURISM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:09:04 -0400 (EDT)
.
.
UNITED STATES: POLITICS: POLITICAL PARTIES: REPUBLICAN PARTY, TEA PARTY :
INDUSTRIES: PETROLEUM INDUSTRY :
POLITICS :
POLITICS: PRESSURE GROUPS :
LAW: LEGISLATION:
The Loaded Gun - How a US Lobby Group Wrote the Laws
.
.
The Loaded Gun - How a US Lobby Group Wrote the Laws
April 21, 2012
The Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/world/the-loaded-gun--how-a-
us-lobby-group-wrote-the-laws-20120420-1xcg5.html
.
A shorter URL for the above link:
.
http://tinyurl.com/bnargzh
.
.
No one had really heard much about ALEC before its most prominent
corporate members started quitting this week.
.
And by the time Coca-Cola and Kraft found themselves linked to the
shooting of Trayvon Martin, it was still hard to get a fix on just what
ALEC did.
.
Depending on who you listened to, the American Legislative Exchange
Council was either just another conservative think tank or a secretive
right-wing political machine using corporate funds to strip minorities of
voting rights, kill environmental protections and spread ''shoot first''
laws.
.
The truth, of course, is somewhere in between.
.
ALEC was founded in 1973 by a handful of conservatives who would go on to
rise through the Republican Party. Prominent among them was Paul Weyrich
who also founded the Heritage Foundation. Its mission was to ''formulate
and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free
enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American
values, and a strong national defence.'' If the Heritage Foundation was
the public face of what became known as the New Right, ALEC was its
underground.
.
While the Heritage Foundation held public forums and published papers
analysing and popularising conservative ideology and strategy, ALEC had no
public profile at all.
.
The veil slipped with an in-depth report in 2010 by National Public Radio,
the American public broadcaster alleged by conservatives to have left-wing
bias. It explained how ALEC works.
.
The organisation has two sets of members - conservative state government
politicians, who at the time of the NPR story paid $US50 a year for
membership, and companies like Kraft, Coca-Cola, Exxon Mobil Corp and
Pfizer Inc, who paid tens of thousands of dollars for their membership.
.
According to the NPR story ALEC's 28 permanent staff hired researchers and
lawyers to write legislation beneficial to its corporate members - either
by stripping regulations, curtailing unions or cutting taxes - and passed
on pre-packaged laws to the politicians at conferences held three times a
year.
.
That way, rather than lobbying state by state, businesses could lobby for
laws to be created, or removed, quickly around the country.
.
The process is far more efficient, and far cheaper, than traditional
lobbying.
.
Further, conservative politicians in state legislatures with limited staff
and finance are saved the bother of researching and writing their own
legislation. And as a recent story by The Atlantic points out, once the
ALEC laws have been adopted in enough states, it is easier to lobby for
them federally. They are a fait accompli.
.
The ALEC system might have continued unmolested by public scrutiny for
longer had it kept to its pro-business roots. But after the election of
Barack Obama and the financial crisis, American politics leaned further
right.
.
Rather than pursuing only traditional libertarian ideals - small
government, low tax - Republicans embraced the Tea Party movement, and a
broader ''cultural conservatism''. To the dismissive progressives, this
was Guns, God and Gritts.
.
Civil rights groups began investigating ALEC for writing and propagating
laws that made it harder for blacks and Latinos to vote. The connection
might not be obvious in Australia, but here the electoral logic is clear.
.
Republican support is strong among older white males, but that demographic
is shrinking. It is easier to keep Republicans in government if fewer
people among minority groups vote. Laws demanding that voters showed ID
appeared suddenly in many states, precluding many blacks and Latinos, who
are less likely to hold or carry identification, from casting their
ballot.
.
.
The complete article may be read at the URL above.
.
.
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxx
http://workface.com/e/daviddillard
Net-Gold
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html
Index: http://tinyurl.com/myxb4w
http://groups.google.com/group/net-gold?hl=en
General Internet & Print Resources
http://guides.temple.edu/general-internet
COUNTRIES
http://guides.temple.edu/general-country-info
EMPLOYMENT
http://guides.temple.edu/EMPLOYMENT
TOURISM
http://guides.temple.edu/tourism
DISABILITIES
http://guides.temple.edu/DISABILITIES
INDOOR GARDENING
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndoorGardeningUrban/
Educator-Gold
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Educator-Gold/
K12ADMINLIFE
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K12AdminLIFE/
The Russell Conwell Learning Center Research Guide:
THE COLLEGE LEARNING CENTER
http://tinyurl.com/yae7w79
Information Literacy
http://guides.temple.edu/content.php?pid=22756&sid=2223487
Nina Dillard's Photographs on Net-Gold
http://tinyurl.com/36qd2o
and also
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neemers/
Twitter: davidpdillard
Bushell, R. & Sheldon, P. (eds),
Wellness and Tourism: Mind, Body, Spirit,
Place, New York: Cognizant Communication Books.
Wellness Tourism: Bibliographic and Webliographic Essay
David P. Dillard
http://tinyurl.com/p63whl
http://tinyurl.com/ou53aw
INDOOR GARDENING
Improve Your Chances for Indoor Gardening Success
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndoorGardeningUrban/
http://groups.google.com/group/indoor-gardening-and-urban-gardening
SPORT-MED
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/sport-med.html
http://groups.google.com/group/sport-med
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sports-med/
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/sport-med.html
HEALTH DIET FITNESS RECREATION SPORTS TOURISM
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/healthrecsport/
http://groups.google.com/group/healthrecsport
http://healthrecsport.jiglu.com/
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/health-recreation-sports-tourism.html
.
.
Please Ignore All Links to JIGLU
in search results for Net-Gold and related lists.
The Net-Gold relationship with JIGLU has
been terminated by JIGLU and these are dead links.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/30664
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/healthrecsport/message/145
.
.
Other related posts:
- » [net-gold] UNITED STATES: POLITICS: POLITICAL PARTIES: REPUBLICAN PARTY, TEA PARTY : INDUSTRIES: PETROLEUM INDUSTRY : POLITICS : POLITICS: PRESSURE GROUPS : LAW: LEGISLATION: The Loaded Gun - How a US Lobby Group Wrote the Laws - David P. Dillard
