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Re:You elected them to write new laws. They’re letting corpo... by tptacek on Thursday April 04, 2019 @07:20PM (#19578110)
Sure, that's the general pattern of diffuse vs concentrated interests, and it's a real problem, but it's orthogonal to model legislation.
Re:You elected them to write new laws. They’re letting corpo... by nothrabannosir on Thursday April 04, 2019 @07:25PM (#19578137)
Don't you think model legislation is a weapon with disproportionate power in the hands of concentrated interests, versus being more lacklustre for the diffuse?

Anything that exacerbates this problem is something we would want to avoid, no?

Re:You elected them to write new laws. They’re letting corpo... by tptacek on Thursday April 04, 2019 @07:30PM (#19578179)
No, I don't think that; I think that, if anything, ALEC marginally reduces the ultimate "potential" power of corporate lobbies, since, again, it's legislation that's submitted in multiple state houses and is at least theoretically traceable.

What I think really alarms people about ALEC is that it represents an uncomfortable level of organization on the part of corporate conservative lobbyists. ALEC is a way of getting a lot done fast. But if there wasn't ALEC and there wasn't model legislation, they'd simply organize in other ways. I think it is generally true that corporatist conservatives out-organize progressives, and I think that is a problem, but I don't think it's realistic or plausible to suggest that the solution is to "de-organize" them.