While there is a gridlock in Washington, state lawmakers have been passing bills more than ever. Behind the scenes, there exists a conservative group called ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council which is one of the most powerful interest groups in the country. It was founded 30 years ago by a conservative activist and public choice aficionado Paul Weyrich; he states that the Republican Party benefits from low voter turnout, something we saw in last week's election.
Most importantly Weyrich knows the economic power of regulation, something ALEC excels in. ALEC combines some of the countries most powerful corporate donors with over 2000 state representatives, including a majority of the leaders of the Republican party. ALEC uses this relationship to pass the most influential bills in the country, like bringing Florida's Stand Your Ground law to a over a dozen other states. What makes ALEC significant is that it provides direct communication between lawmakers and their donors, instead of representatives tiptoeing around so they won't offend corporate interests. ALEC even drafts the bills for legislators, so they only have to fill in the blank for their state and push it through to a vote. Because ALEC has almost complete domination over traditional red states, it can push through and pass any kind of legislature it wants.
ALEC is a perfect example to support Olsen's argument of why we should be scared of regulations by interest groups. State legislatures work in near anonymity but wield a tremendous amount of power when deciding our law. Corporations are preying on uninformed American and are secretly pushing through an incredible amount of legislation that hurts our society. Becker would argue that the public would push back and fight against these regulations, but how can society fight back if no one knows ALEC exists?
1 comment:
I agree that this agrees with Olson, but on the additional grounds that since the bill is already drafted it lowers the cost to the donors because they do not have to hire people to come up with these bills themselves. The legislatures too no longer have to work hard to draft these bills as it is easier on therefore lowering their cost as well. Since the cost of organizing is low with ALEC's ready made bills, then the more people behind a cause the higher the majority as the organizational cost does not drag the benefits down as quickly as they normally are.
Adding to your point,while representatives have been called out for using ALEC on the floor, the people who would fight it have not yet been organized enough to bring it down. There's a whole website designed to expose it, but in reality it seems that very few people even acknowledge it's existence despite it's power. Until the opposition can create an organizational cost similar to ALECs or more people petition against the cause there doesn't seem like much of a fight against it.
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