A couple of weeks ago I wrote a diary about how ALEC had language on their 990's that stated they supported "limited representative government"
full [ALEC] membership shall be open to persons ... dedicated to "limited representative government
In that diary I brought to the communities attention the fact that ALEC opposes the 17th amendment and they would like to eliminate it. There was a lot of pushback to that statement. People said they wouldn't dare - it couldn't happen - the people would rebel.
In one comment
ALEC is evil (8+ / 0-)
for sure, and it is good to be alerted to this, but this one just ain't gonna fly - 2/3 of each house of congress and then 3/4 of the states must ratify. If the ALEC'ers want to waste their energy tilting this windmill perhaps that will distract them from other wrongdoing.
An Antidote to Hatred
by wilderness voiceon Sat Nov 02, 2013 at 09:39:27 AM PDT
To which I responded:
you're right if they tried to do it (9+ / 0-)
all at once.
But they don't and they won't.
Alec is deviously patient.
They will plan and plan and plan. They will dismantle things one piece at a time. They will use inflammatory rhetoric to get people on their side. And then, they can strike using the ALEC legislators who have dedicated themselves to "limited representative government" ready to wield the final blows.
They did that with the Vote ID bills and this is the new line in the sand that ALEC is drawing and they will try to cross it.
by MNDem999 on Sat Nov 02, 2013 at 09:47:02 AM PDT
Well the planning has started and the dismantling one piece at a time is happening.
That very evening - Sat Nov 02, 2013 at 10:42 pm - I sent out the first of a flurry of emails that ALEC has dropped their agendas for the upcoming meeting in Washington Dc on December 4 - 6 on their webpage.
That night I sat up and read them - and I found the first plan to destroy the 17th Amendment.
It is called the " State's Enfranchisement Act" and can be found in the agenda packet for the "International Relations Task Force Meeting Federal Relations (Federalism) Working Group" (p.7)
I chose not to write about it - in fact, I sent the legislation to the others in the DKos ALEC group and asked them to respond and comment to the proposed legislation for a group post here - but life got in the way, and it didn't happen.
Today on Huffington Post:
ALEC Floats Legislation Chipping Away At The 17th Amendment
The bill would significantly increase the role of the state legislature in the election of U.S. senators, inching back toward the process used prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913
Yes it will.
UC-Davis School of Law Professor Vikram Amar, stressing that it was just his first "gut reaction" to seeing the bill. "By itself, it's not a full-fledged repeal or circumvention of the 17th Amendment ... but it's kind of an encroachment of the vision of the 17th Amendment."
ALEC Director of International and Federal Relations Karla Jones insists that the legislation is not a step toward getting rid of the 17th Amendment.
"Actually, the people on my task force that support it see it more as a way to preserve the good parts of the 17th Amendment," Jones said.
And I'm sure the parts they plan to preserve are not the ones that support a "representative government"
full [ALEC] membership shall be open to persons ... dedicated to "limited representative government"
People said I misinterpreted ALEC's meaning.
Maybe they'll believe in the evil of ALEC a little bit more tonight.
"ALEC tries to pass itself off as a centrist business group, and promised to stop working on elections policies," said John Neurohr, spokesman for ProgressNow. "Now it turns out they lied, and are again looking to roll back the people's right to vote for senators through a fringe-radical piece of legislation. Every new element of transparency just proves ALEC is rotten to the core."
Tonight should not be a restful night for anyone knowing ALEC exists.
I found a quote somewhere that says:
"ALEC has realized by controlling statehouses they can get a lot done-they can gerrymander congressional districts & control the U.S. House.”
Control the state - control the Congress - and they will - unless we stop them.