There is little I can add to what you'll learn from Lisa in this video interview. It is also important that this interview by Democracy Now was an interview given by Lisa from Madison Wisconsin, where this exposure of ALEC exploded through the manipulations of ALEC Alum, Governor Scott Walker earlier this year when he pushed the Koch agenda through Model Legislation introduced and passed by other ALEC members within the Wisconsin General Assembly. Now all of us can understand the impact of the walkout by the Wisconsin Democrats - and why it was so important for them to do so in an attempt to stifle this stranglehold upon us by ALEC and their Koch corporate masters.
Kudos to those brave legislators in Wisconsin and Indiana who fled their states to prevent the implementation of the Koch agenda upon their constituents. If not for their courageous actions back then, it could be far worse and possibly the whistleblower who turned over the ALEC documents to members of Exposing ALEC in April might not have come forward. As I said in my last diary, the Anti-ALEC Protest in Cincinnati on April 29th, 2011 will forever be a moment in our country's history that will be remembered as the day Americans began to wrest their country and government away from the likes of Charles and David Koch and their huge insidious empire. The real power behind ALEC...
Watch, save and spread this video across the nation and the world, Kossacks. This is what you helped expose and bring to the light of day. Make this the mark of what Progressives can do when they put their mind to it and come together to say, "Hell no, you can't!"
If that doesn't describe a clear picture of a democracy on the edge, I'll kiss Ol' Chucky and Davy Boy's asses! What is described in this interview by Lisa Graves has been seen in world history before in countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany just to name those not associated with S. America. None of those events of the past turned out well, and now we're faced with it here at home - eating away at America and democracy from within, like some unstoppable terminal disease.
Many have asked how you can help or become involved in assisting us to clean the political landscape of this vermin and their ilk. We at Exposing ALEC have a couple of suggestions: 1) send an email to or pick up the phone and call your state Representatives. Ask them point blank, "Are you a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council? If they are not, ask them to please help us call out those who are. Keep in mind that there are some Dem's who are also members of ALEC, such as Rep. Peggy Welch here in my home state of Indiana. Just because your Rep is a Dem does not mean they are not an ALEC member.
If the Rep responds with a "Yes" answer - regardless if it's followed by disclaimers like, "I'm an affiliate"...or "I'm a member but not active," tell them they should be ashamed for introducing ALEC's pro-corporate model legislation. Call them out and then pass along the information to us here at Exposing ALEC so we can add them to our list.
2) Write or call your local paper about ALEC and their secretive agenda. Ask them to look closely at any legislation proposed by ALEC Representatives in your state to see if oppressive laws proposed by those members are possibly cut and paste Model Legislation supplied to lawmakers by ALEC. Ask your local media to examine the use of public and private funding used to pay for membership of ALEC members, their travel and expenses to and from ALEC events.
3) When you go shopping, avoid buying products made by Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods or Georgia Pacific (Koch). Each of these companies have seats on ALEC's Private Enterprise Board and are responsible for voting "Yea" on Voter ID, privatization, healthcare, ending collective bargaining and other initiatives harmful to our society and the communities where we live and work. Send them the same message: "Hell no, You CAN'T!"
4) Help make the Protest against ALEC in New Orleans on August 5th a huge success and trap ALEC's members inside a self-imposed jail at the Marriott! Continue to donate to the event, add your moral support to those making huge time and personal contributions to this effort. You can help! Visit Protestalec.org and see what you can do to assist us.
It really is that simple and from your home or office you can assist in bringing this horrid chapter in American democracy to an end. Knowledge is what we continue to seek to stop this cabal in it's tracks. For you readers who wonder why I continuously refer to ALEC and their members, corporate benefactors and major contributors as a "Cabal", please read this definition of a Cabal from Wikipedia - that pretty much says it all after watching the Lisa Graves video above:
"A cabal is a group of people united in some close design together, usually to promote their private views and/or interests in a church, state, or other community, often by intrigue. Cabals are sometimes secret societies composed of a few designing persons, and at other times are manifestations of emergent behavior in society or governance on the part of a community of persons who have well established public affiliation or kinship. The term can also be used to refer to the designs of such persons or to the practical consequences of their emergent behavior, and also holds a general meaning of intrigue and conspiracy. The use of this term usually carries strong connotations of shadowy corners, back rooms and insidious influence; a cabal is more evil and selective than, say, a faction, which is simply selfish; because of this negative connotation, few organizations use the term to refer to themselves or their internal subdivisions. Amongst the exceptions is Discordianism, in which the term is used to refer to an identifiable group within the Discordian religion."
Stay tuned as this story continues to evolve and ALEC begins to crumble. They are already scrubbing their site of any reference to the Koch name...legislative members are beginning to deny membership and more and more stories about ALEC's nefarious legislation being passed off as citizen beneficial laws are being discovered. Here is but one story from Tennessee: "Lawmaker used lobbyist template Bill clearing way for online school based on model"
In closing remember what was revealed about Koch and ALEC in the video above and take another look at these charts - depicting merely 1/10th of the "relationships" involving this cabal - (click on the chart to see it at Flikr full size)
This is a chart showing David H. Koch's relationships to conservative organizations, think tanks, individuals and groups:
This last chart is composed of simply one of David H. Koch's "Foundations" (Heritage) and the relationships it has to others...a truly insidious and cancerous blight on America and Democracy itself.
More later as this story continues to wind it's way throughout our society and the political arena...
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