Paul Krugman has a must-read piece up on the influence of the shadowy corporate-sponsored group, American Legislative Exchange Council (“ALEC”), on state legislatures.
For one thing, the “shoot first, avoid arrest” bill that has allowed Trayvon Martin’s killer to avoid charges was drafted by ALEC. ALEC has also provided multiple state legislatures with voter ID bills intended to suppress the votes of minorities, the poor, and the elderly. It should be a surprise to no one that many members of ALEC are the corporations that are bring us the privatized prison-industrial complex, and who are also bringing us privatized, for-profit schools that are bringing profits to its members at the expense of actual education.
We are looking at a very, very bleak future for the vast majority of our citizens if ALEC continues to write our state’s laws unchecked.
Equivalence Principle 
March 28th, 2012 at 11:04 am
What I worry is that the national conversation on the subject of what happened to Trayvon will miss these key components. Hopefully, with commentators such as Krugman bringing this background to light more Americans will begin talking about it. It really seems like something straight out of a Margaret Atwood novel.