Why Are The Brits So Much Better At Rooting Out Right Wing Corruption?
on March 21, 2012 at 3:38 pmFirst there was the collapse of the Murdoch right wing media empire across the Atlantic. Now, the British version of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) known as the Atlantic Bridge has been shut down after its corrupt practices were ferreted out. ALEC has not quite made it into the public’s awareness because it has worked very hard to keep a low profile. That may be changing.
Think Progress reports:
In 2003, Fox and Werritty officially partnered with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to form the Atlantic Bridge nonprofit. The relationship flourished; ALEC supplied staff to the Atlantic Bridge, and Fox and his associates frequently spoke at ALEC events, which are comprised of meetings between American politicians and business lobbyists. But with theimplosion of the Atlantic Bridge, which has already ensnared lobbyists for Pfizer and several defense firms, the controversy has brought ALEC into the limelight.
Essentially, ALEC is a right wing front that writes “model legislation” that corporations and other special interest groups pay to have politicians use to further corporate and conservative agendas. That’s why so many of the same kinds of bills have been appearing all over the country, all at the same time. It’s so blatant that one Floridian politician cut and paste the entire ALEC document. Much hilarity ensued as the ALEC mission statement from the original document was included. Republicans aren’t even reading these bills. They just accept their campaign donations (otherwise known as “bribes”) and sign on the dotted line.
This is not as great a secret as ALEC would hope just as Fox being a propaganda machine is pretty much an accepted fact. Yet, while we here in the US do nothing to curb the abuses of these right wing machines, the British have taken steps to maintain the integrity of their political system. We should take a few lessons from our cousins across the Atlantic.
Thank you for your post. ALEC has just hit my radar. Two things, though: Margaret Thatcher and more like fraternal twins than cousins.
We still have our share of Right wing fools and corruption though (Currently centred around the rallying cry of PRIVITISE), but it mostly stems from the integrity of our press and press laws. Over here FOX news couldn’t be labled a news channel, or broadcast as news, OFCOM (The regulator charged with keeping TV on the straight and narrow) would come down on them like a proverbial ton of bricks if they tried. Opinions like those srpouted on FOX 24/7 are confined to the opinion collums of lesser papers like the Daily Mail in the UK.
Without quality mainstream press & journalists to keep groups in check and ferret out corruption (Something we in the UK seem to be blessed with in the BBC and the Guardian & Independant newspapers) the US has no hope. It’s quality investigative journalism that keeps corruption in check, and with exception of Mother Jones (And Possibly the NYT and WaPo) the US has a severe lack of this, so corruption can continue out of the public eye
ALEC wrote all the anti-union legislation and obviously has also been writing all the anti-abortion legislation. This group needs to be exposed! I knew Republican troglodytes weren’t capable of anything other than “dittoheadhood”…Can you find out the names of people who are involved in this group, cuz I’ve had no luck?…They are very secretive…I assume the Koch Brothers but the rest need to be exposed to the light of day. They meet in the woods in Colorado with very tight security.