Deb Simon for Congress: Fascism In America: The American Legislative Exchange Council & Prison Labor

August 5th, 2011 · · Hotlist, Politics & Government

Fascism is a very powerful word which evokes many strong feelings. People may think that the term cannot be applied to modern day America. However, as Benito Mussolini once summed it up: “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.” In the early 1900s, the Italians who invented the term Fascism also described it as “estato corporativo,” meaning: the corporate state.

Very few Americans would argue the fact that corporations now control our government and have the dominant role in our society. In fact, through a system of legalized bribery – campaign finance, lobbying and the revolving door between Washington and corporations – the most power global corporations dominant the legislative and political process like never before. Senator Huey Long had it right when he warned: “When fascism comes to America, it will come in the form of democracy.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt once described Fascism this way: “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes strong than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”

The most blatant modern example of this was the bailout of Wall Street, when the “too big to fail” banks got politicians to promptly hand out trillions of tax dollars in support and subsidies to the very people who caused the crisis, without any of them being held accountable.

Another shocking example of how far we have descended into Fascism is the American Legislative Exchange Council, which is a group of corporate executives who literally write governmental legislation, as you will see in the two videos from Democracy Now below. They have gone as far as setting up a system that imprisons people and then puts them to work, instead of paying living wages to non-imprisoned workers. Make no mistake, this is a modern system of slavery unfolding before our eyes.

The Hidden History of ALEC & Prison Labor
Many of the toughest sentencing laws responsible for the explosion of the U.S. population were drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which helps corporations write model legislation. Now a new exposé reveals ALEC has paved the way for states and corporations to replace unionized workers with prison labor. Democracy Now! interviews Mike Elk, contributing labor reporter at The Nation magazine, whose latest article is called, “The Hidden History of ALEC & Prison Labor.” He says ALEC and private prison companies, “put a massive amount of people in jail and created a situation where they could exploit that.” Elk notes that in 2005 more than 40 million pounds of beef infected with rat feces processed by inmates were not recalled in order to drawing attention to how many products are made by prison labor.

Read Mike Elk’s report, “The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor.”

Exposing the Powerful Influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council
Hundreds of state legislators from all 50 states have gathered in New Orleans for the annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC. Critics say the Washington-based organization plays a key role in helping corporations secretly draft model pro-business legislation that has been used by state lawmakers across the country. Unlike many other organizations, ALEC’s membership includes both state lawmakers and corporate executives who gather behind closed doors to discuss and vote on model legislation. In recent months, ALEC has come under increasing scrutiny for its role in drafting bills to attack workers’ rights, roll back environmental regulations, privatize education, deregulate major industries and passing voter ID laws. Nonetheless, this year’s annual ALEC meeting boasts the largest attendance in five years with nearly 2,000 guests in attendance. Democracy Now! interviews Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy. Last month, her organization released 800 model bills approved by companies and lawmakers at recent ALEC meetings.