Read: Chapter 5 & Chapter 6 - What is political dissent? – Political Parties, Elections & Public Opinion - 2010 Election in California – The 2012 and 2016 election - The impact of national elections – the 2000 election Understanding Citizens United - Social and economic policy in the 20th & 21st century – Hot Button Political Issues – Media, Advocacy, and the role of Interest Groups. Who is A.L.E.C. and why should you care? - Handouts in class -First Draft of Critical Reflective Essay is due Thursday at the start of class – Short Essay: Question given in class by instructor (Thursday) Guiding Questions
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199 Comments
Maleah Mariano
7/15/2014 02:16:42 pm
ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, owns a lot of big name corporations, prisons, etc. The video relates to our course themes of dissent and people power.
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Brandon DeBorba
7/16/2014 01:34:07 pm
Maleah,
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Steven Duong
7/17/2014 04:00:43 am
I also agree that corporate has a negative influence on politics. Coming from a business perspective, it is reasonable for a corporation to think in their own best interest first and maximize their profits. With that said, corporations would pass bills to lessen the regulations to please the companies supporting them rather than receiving less profits for pleasing the public.
Hieu Nguyen
7/17/2014 12:51:04 pm
I agree with the corporate negative influence in the government because after all, ALEC is funded by corporations and businesses and their main purpose is to make money. Most of the time, big businesses do not care about the interest of the people and just focus on the interest of themselves. This weakens America's democratic values and slowly makes America corrupt.
cong cao
7/20/2014 02:33:45 pm
i agree with that corpporate has a negetive influence on politics. the effect of corporate political activity is negative for shareholders of companies that are neither highly regulated nor highly dependent on sales to government.
Petrina Picariello
7/17/2014 03:21:04 pm
I really liked how you used the class theme people power to get your point across. I think the theme people power is an almost perfect example of what is happening in our democracy. For example, people power is shown in our democracy by the people and corporations in out democracy. One theme I also think goes along with this ALEC video is the theme consent because I believe that in a way the people in our democracy are too passive and do not act against these types of organizations.
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Gabriela Iniguez
7/20/2014 04:50:40 am
I agree with you on everythting you said. I strongly believe corporations dont ever think about the people and are very selfish. Corporations dont consider citizens they only look after their own best interests and the money they make.
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Kevin Tran
7/20/2014 08:30:47 am
ALEC has been among us for 40 years now and the class lecture was the first of me hearing about them. It surprises me how there is so much in the world that people dont know about theses type of issues. It has occurred to me before that big corporations have a huge impact on the government but not like this. ALEC pretty much controls the federal government.
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Abrar Khaja
7/20/2014 12:45:02 pm
I agree with you when you stated that people power involves the rights of people expressed in the constitution and organizing/maintaining fairness. Without those rights we would not be able to give power to the people to do actions such as overthrow the government. I also agree with you that corporate influence has a negative effect because their decisions are based on corporate expansion not based on the people's interests.
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Aldrich D'silva
7/20/2014 03:28:00 pm
Maeleah,
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Maleah Mariano
7/20/2014 03:42:30 pm
Aldrich,
Brandon DeBorba
7/16/2014 01:31:37 pm
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is known by many as a company who runs and owns many different companies and government regulated firms. The video relates to the course theme of dissent.
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Philip Chit
7/16/2014 05:01:55 pm
I think that your "there is the possibility of something more powerful....that helped lead to the case of the stock and housing crash of 2008" can be answered by saying "lack of self-regulation." You don't have people self-regulate themselves. That's why this country was created with the idea of checks and balances in the government. You can't have one supreme power because no one is going to be able to keep them in check and make sure that they can't abuse it. However, that is what the big corporations did. Self-regulate. Pay off regulators. Allow people to not have accountability for their actions *cough the people who give AAA ratings cough cough*. We're here with no one regulating big corporations due to fools and con-artists telling us that Laissez-Faire and Keynes are worth believing. Keynes was already proven wrong yet people hail him and his "gov spend more to bail people not spending as much to help economy" idea as the second coming of Jesus (okay not that extreme but they practically worship him). We already had some presidents in the early 1900s trying to break up trusts and monopolies, knowing that they hurt the competitive spirit of America, and yet government is turning a blind eye towards super companies merging and creating monopolies. What I don't get is how would corporate factories and insurance policies help the government, as you said. What purpose would they serve to help the government?
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Khang Do
7/20/2014 10:33:06 am
Hi Brandon ,
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Linda Luong
7/20/2014 02:50:40 pm
Yes, I believe companies can help the economy by creating jobs, but other than that they need strong regulations. Taxes implemented without finding loopholes and these “bonuses” given when they are hundreds of thousands of dollars are not fair. Companies should be entirely left separate from the government decisions because corruptness will then again take place. Companies was the only reason why the recession of 2008 happened and shows the world how powerful companies can become.
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Jaqueline Ramirez
7/20/2014 03:07:26 pm
I agree with the concept that corporations corrupt our government. In a book called Predatory Society the fraud and corruption that small businesses take part on is discussed a swell as the influence of capitalism. I I believe that in ALEC's case we have the same concept. ALEC simply aids in the facilitation of a similar scheme with large corporation. I'm my opinion if this is not halted the people will be soon left so Voiceless that they won't be able to live under the oppression and control of the large corporations.
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Chris Johnson
7/16/2014 02:49:24 pm
The American Legislative Executive Corporation. Is an interest group who is funded by large corporations in return of lobbying legislators in a non traditional way to influence the decisions on bills being passed during those periods if time.Alec ignores traditional lobbying methods by flying legislators over to corparate designated areas where there travels expenses are paid in corporate dime. The legislators stay for a three day period were they are sold on friend corporate ideas which fly legislators back with predetermined ideas on certian bills.
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Philip Chit
7/16/2014 05:09:23 pm
Reading your first paragraph, I feel like you are summarizing parts of the video rather than talking about themes and how they relate to the course themes.
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Chris Johnson
7/18/2014 10:10:22 am
Yes the first part is a summurization leading into my secound point. Brainwash os similiar to programming your mind to what they want us consumer to buy, view on political issue, or shape our lives around
Vivian Gia
7/19/2014 09:13:49 am
I agree with you about corporations. It seems as though money can really buy anything and since corporations can help support senate and house of representatives with keeping them in office, government is basically being run but giant companies rather then people that represent the people and for the people. Brainwashing is similar because they basically dont have a mind of their own but growing up, they teach us to what they think we should learn instead of what we should know.
Gabriela Iniguez
7/20/2014 04:42:47 am
Chris, I totally agree with you. I also believe these corporation weaken democracy and count as the 1%. It is true, people like us will never see so much money in our entire lives and these high rollers get all the profits. Nothing is really done for the benefit the citizens and the government is going to help to improve the situation.
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Philip Chit
7/16/2014 04:47:48 pm
I would say that three possible themes from the video would be that 1) private interests and public interests do not usually agree, 2) private corporations use their vast amounts of wealth to try to either guilt, convince, or obligate politicians to go along with policies geared towards benefiting private interests, and 3) private companies see life as nothing more than profit/loss statements; dropping their ALEC memberships will benefit them more compared to being associated with ALEC.
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Tiffany Do
7/17/2014 01:03:53 pm
I definitely agree with your statement that private interests and public interest conflict. I think this could be tied to the fact that we are in a capitalist society and that to do things for the good of all people would make it hard for corporations to rise in power and profit. Similar to Inside Jobs, these big name corporations are trying to profit despite what it may do to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. I think you also make a really good point when describing the disparity between how a corporation looks when trying to lobby for their cause and how the people look, and how much harder it is for the people to be heard.
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Helia Mohseni
7/17/2014 04:35:34 pm
i think the reason why corporations always act in their best interest is because they are in the top 1%, so they do not understand the majority of people's struggles. like how in the movie "inside job" the CEO of rating agencies did not feel guilty lying how triple A loans.
Jessie Cardoso
7/20/2014 01:24:33 pm
I agree with Helia's statement. Those who control the votes get essentially bribed by the top 1% to vote a certain way, and the rest of the 99% don't get their voices heard because they don't have as much money. The fact that ALEC works with government officials in the White House is a scary thought because that means we don't have a say in how our government is run.
Linda Luong
7/20/2014 03:28:39 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with your statement because even if the top 1% understood the majority of peoples struggles, that would not even factor in their actions. There is a reason why they have schemes and bypass laws and rack in the amount of money they do. They believe in the power of money and want the most of it, so even if they did hear the struggles of the common people, their ideas would remain the same. Finally, remember that our society believes in and breathes capitalism.
Andrew Chen
7/19/2014 05:41:01 pm
Big corporation are most definitely cancerous growths eating away at the democracy that it has sprouted itself from. If the cancer is not stopped, this country's democracy is grave danger.
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Weibo Xing
7/20/2014 02:47:45 pm
The conflict is between big corporations’ interest and major people’s interest. The companies gather together to make up the ALEC in order to have enough power to interfere politics, so it’s very possible their interests are defended. But what happens to the majority? The people will be forgotten group, and they don’t have any back up. Only the people at the the top of the pyramid can get benefits. Democracy will never be achieved under this condition.
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Aldrich D'silva
7/20/2014 03:33:20 pm
Weibo,
Lynh Nguyen
7/16/2014 04:59:09 pm
ALEC is a secretly corporate-funded charitable organization that many large companies and firms gather together with state legislators for support in exchange of special interest lobbying and pushing for model legislation. This relates to the theme dissent.
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Fadri Attamimi
7/17/2014 12:48:40 pm
I agree that corporate influence will weaken our democracy as it bribes the legislators to doing what is best for their corporation. The government will end up acting in the best interest of the corporations instead of the American people. America will be a country for the profit rather than for the people.
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Chris Johnson
7/18/2014 11:38:38 am
Its so eye opening to see how Alec porvide acesses for these corporations to avoid traditional lobbying tactics and take matter into private. It clearly shows these big time corporations are out for thier onw private interest rather than the good for people. The citizens unites case being passed just weakens are democracy even more and i dont see any further changes in the near future
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Vivian Gia
7/19/2014 09:33:35 am
I do agree that Citizens United can help policies happen, but that does not guarantee the policies will benefit the people who are living in the States. I do agree that they are weakening our democracy because of all the bribes going on it is like government is run on money and would only want to listen to people with more money and power.
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Nicholas Yuk
7/19/2014 03:03:26 pm
I don't fully agree to the extreme that ALEC is a secretly corporate-funded charitable organization. Yes I agree they do corporate funded charities hence the C3 charitable status, but they should be viewed upon as more of a corporate funded lobbyist group that tries to pass bill (their main goal). I do agree however that ALEC is pretty much a bribing organization.
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Abrar Khaja
7/20/2014 12:51:23 pm
I agree with you when you stated that what ALEC was doing was not an act of charity because they are working in there own interest of lobbying and pushing for the model legislation. I also agree with you that Alec is supposed to be involved in the minimal amount of lobbying but is participating in impermissible amounts of lobbying.
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Weibo Xing
7/20/2014 03:04:35 pm
The citizens surely get befits in some degree, but the corporations are not doing that purposely. Everything the corporations do is to improved their own benefits, maybe in this process people will be beneficial by accident. I agree that the corporate influence does weaken democracy, because they are not for people, they are for themselves.
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Andrew Tran
7/20/2014 03:37:36 pm
I agree that the corporate influence does ruin democracy by bribing legislators. This doesn’t let people have a choice and they just corporations just do whatever they want and not for the people. They just do things that benefit themselves by making more profit for themselves and not doing anything for the community.
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Jamal Jamal
7/16/2014 06:11:28 pm
Three themes that are from the video that relate to our class topics are, government system, descent, and people power.
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Steven Duong
7/17/2014 04:10:23 am
I agree that corporations do more damage to a democracy than they help. I like how you pointed out that ALEC opposed clean energy because they were less profitable even though clean energy enables society to live in a safer environment. Corporations, like ALEC, only strive to maximize their profits which is one of the reasons why our democracy is damaged.
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Jamal Jamal
7/17/2014 06:44:43 pm
It scares me when I see corporations and organizations like ALEC having this much power. We do not even know who their members are, in the video George bush was speaking in one of their conferences so that means they have way too much power and we know from the reports and the bills that they push is not for the benefits of the people. I just hope people realize who they are and what they can do and hold them accountable for their actions.
Chris Johnson
7/18/2014 01:53:12 pm
Agreed! People power is weakened as Alec regulates pushes more acts, limits renewable energy sources, harms the Enviorment and prevents any situations that take away from their profits as they help corporations gain leadway to legislators by lobbying and pushing thier acts that benifit themselves through pursuasion on politics to have predetermined choices on bill that weaken our democracy and make corporate profit.
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Jamal Jamal
7/18/2014 06:21:16 pm
The more allies they get, the more power they acquire and in the process weaken democracy. To be honest, I never knew who they are before seeing the video and after seen the video, I know now how some awful bills that most people don't agree with gets pushed. I hope people write and talk about them more to expose them but it seems if you have money these days you can walk away from anything.
Giselle Ozuna
7/21/2014 02:28:04 am
I also agree with you Chris and Jamal!
Andrew Chen
7/19/2014 05:39:21 pm
I agree that awareness of the dangers of organizations such as ALEC is very important in this day and age. The fact that they create a direct connection between big corporate money and legislators is very dangerous as it doesn't not include the interest of the country's citizens at all.
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Jamal Jamal
7/19/2014 07:22:30 pm
That is exactly what i thought when I first heard of ALEC. The fact that the have the connection and the power, plus money. This makes me wonder if there are more of ALEC like organizations out there and if they go head to head pushing bills and laws, where it works for them and not the people. What does that mean for people's safety and democracy?
Andrew Tran
7/20/2014 03:42:50 pm
Eileen Javadi
7/21/2014 04:45:33 am
Its unfortunate to see these types of organizations begin to take more control and power than this country needs. Specifically, with such horrific environmental issues occurring right now the last thing we need are groups of people such as ALEC that believe in blocking out clean energy in order to save their profit. The power that these organizations have gotten has resulted in the people not being able to have a voice anymore. Corporations and big organizations have taken priority in big decision making processes and this will ultimately result in the downfall of our society since the people feel as though they cannot express their thoughts anymore.
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David
7/16/2014 07:25:02 pm
One of the first theme is money power. This is related to our course because of how Alec sends money to legislatures in order to convince them to attend one of Alec meetings. In class our topic covers on how private firms are backing up the government with money and twisting it to allow leeway for that particular firm.
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David Huynh
7/16/2014 07:25:50 pm
^^ my full name
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Nicholas Hardy
7/17/2014 03:01:25 pm
I agree with your assessment about dissent because it is very important that we stopped a lot of their bills from passing. The bills are for their private interest rather than public interest and are clouded by income and their profits. It is hard to go against these billionaires because they have more resources and connections than the common American.
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Jaqueline Ramirez
7/20/2014 03:17:59 pm
I agree that in this situation the power of money proves to be overpowering of people power and a form of dissent. The will of the people can not be heard if some of the monetary power of these corporations is not muted.
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Steven Duong
7/17/2014 03:54:55 am
ALEC stands for the American Legislative Exchange Council. As an interest group funded by large corporations, ALEC’s intent in gathering with state legislators is to lobby and push for legislation. Three themes present in the video that relates to our course are corporate interest, dissent, and people power.
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Chungchen Ran
7/20/2014 04:51:20 am
I agree that the people’s power has been lessened because of ALEC. As mentioned in the video, ALEC uses their wealth to get legislators to side with them before the public gets a chance to speak their opinion. I consider this to be indirect bribery, ALEC isn’t paying the legislators directly, but they are still paying for the legislators’ travel expenses. This kind of treatment gets the legislators to like them instantly.
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Jenny Ugale
7/20/2014 05:06:56 am
The power of the people is being taken away because of corporate influence on politics. Legislators are being bought off by these corporations' money and are biased when it comes to listening to the people. Although I agree with Chungchen that ALEC is using bribery, I don't necessarily think it's "indirect." Paying legislators to come out on a mini-vacation--using corporate funding--seems pretty direct to me.
Khang Do
7/17/2014 04:30:37 am
To me ,American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a secret corporation that works secretly. They use the funds from the big companies to help pass the bills which obviously will benefit those big companies , too.
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Khang Do
7/17/2014 04:34:06 am
I would like to end my post that ALEC in my mind is a dangerous hidden source which can destroy our democracy , people power , so ALEC should be given less supports .
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Jamal Jamal
7/17/2014 06:49:30 pm
I agree with your points. I think in class we should change the term people power to " corporation power". ALEC and the likes of them earn millions everyday while people suffer by their actions. What really surprises me is how much support they get but then again all corporations share the same bed and look for the same goal (money for themselves). I feel like they are so deep within the system that they are untouchable.
Maleah Mariano
7/20/2014 03:52:43 pm
I completely agree with you that ALEC is all around bad and can destroy everything we have. Even though it is apparent that they are a source of destruction, the public is not aware of this. I was honestly never aware of ALEC until learning about it in this class. ALEC is so powerful at this point though that even if the general public knew everything about them, it would be hard to make sure they have less power.
Jaqueline Ramirez
7/17/2014 04:40:54 am
Directly taken from the A.l.E.C web page Alec defines itself as, "The American Legislative Exchange Council (who) works to advance limited government, free markets, and federalism at the state level through a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state legislators, members of the private sector and the general public." Although the ALEC definition tells what ALEC looks like on paper the real ALEC hides being diplomacy and omission.
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Chris Bunoan
7/20/2014 01:18:23 am
Your blog was very informative and you brought up very interesting points. I think the number of bills that will be screened by ALEC board members will increase in the future and that's a crazy thought. It's very hard to put an end to these guys because they have such a power network. This class is interesting too at first I didn't like it because it was so depressing,but when we do assignments that directly correlates to present day corruption I can't help but be engaged with interest.
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Khang Do
7/20/2014 09:49:11 am
Hi Jaqueline.
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Shubaan Taheri
7/17/2014 07:03:25 am
• Describe three themes from the video below that relate to the lecture topics from class.
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Frank Martinez
7/17/2014 09:52:26 am
Three themes that were presented in the video that are related to lecture themes in class are making things illegal to legal, open society to closed society, and influences of major corporations in politics. Going back to when we were talking about our forefathers making things illegal legal relates to how ALEC is basically making bribery legal. They are allowing people to take advantage of using nice things, special treatment and money to get them to do things they want to do. The video also talked ALEC making certain things private. This relates to the video we saw End of America by having the society closed off. If at any point you have something that is private then you are leading towards a closed society. Lastly, the theme of influences of major corporations in politics. Industries who support certain things like gay marriage, or anti gay marriage have influence. Example of H&M that was brought up who were not supporters of gay marriage and Ms.Crain stopped shopping there.
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Jameelah Tran
7/17/2014 11:17:37 am
I agree! If this doesn’t change, it won’t be about how many votes anymore. It will be all about how many corporations support the petition. Businesses are already supporting in many conflicts of America, which we don’t know about until we dig up for information. It will definitely be through materialistic gain because they will only support things that will help their company or help them expand.
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Tiffany Do
7/17/2014 01:09:00 pm
I think that you bring up an interesting benefit of the passage of Citizens United. Corporations can try to use all the power they have for good, by rallying for causes that matter to the rest of the people and that benefit more people than just the corporations themselves. I do agree that it is probably unlikely that they will do anything like that because they are too busy trying to make more money. However, even if they could, I don't know if that would be a good thing. I would want to be part of the democratic process and see that any issue I care about gets resolved, not leave it up to the hands of a corporation.
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Nga Ho
7/18/2014 09:24:07 am
In my opinion, the three themes of the video are:
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Nicholas Yuk
7/19/2014 05:31:46 pm
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cong cao
7/20/2014 03:19:21 pm
i agree with what you were talking about, just like what you said, bussiness in the USA have been support by the goverment, the citizens in the US only can get the support when they can let the conpanies or the goverment get some benefits!
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Joshua Kim Cruz
7/20/2014 03:26:44 pm
In your comment of dissent in the video, I would like to see your opinion on how even bigger politicians and government officials are using the same tactic, essential bribery and manipulation, to get their way. This type of manipulation is not limited solely to ALEC but rather used in the entire world. Ultimately I agree with your statement that what they did was wrong and was cheating, but I also would've liked to see your stance on how the same actions are done elsewhere.
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Vivian Gia
7/17/2014 09:53:00 am
ALEC related to the course theme of dissent because it is suppose to be a charity organization, but instead is using that name for possible avoidance of tax. Also, they were more involved with lobbying by trying to get bills to pass that would benefit big companies rather then the people they are suppose to serve. Also, under normal circumstances for a lobbyist, they would only get around 15 minutes with legislators to convince them why this or that is important, but ALEC flies the legislators to some place else, spends 3 days convincing them why they are right which is completely absurd.
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Nicholas Hardy
7/17/2014 03:16:22 pm
I agree with your thoughts about people power and dissent because it is very hard to show either of these things if the corporations are constantly lobbying legislators to have their bills passed. Average Americans cannot consistently go against billionaires with unlimited resources which makes it easier for the corporation to get what they want.
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Chris Bunoan
7/20/2014 01:31:01 am
Very interesting blog post. ALEC is a very corrupt organization and the have enough power to over power peoples views on them. They can pass bills that only ensures their benefit and they are completely ran on greed. They just want what's best for them and who ever is associated with them, but I have one question for you.. If you were apart of ALEC would want to give up millions dollars of property, cars, boats, etc. Would you want to give up all those materialistic assets then live like a regular middle class citizen who's rights are constantly violated and they have no power to fix it? Now that's a hard question..
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Kevin Tran
7/20/2014 08:35:14 am
ALEC is a huge company that I have no nice things to say about. It does amaze me about what people and big corporations would do to get things their way. It shows that money can pretty much buy anything. Being a charity organization, but overall their plan is just not to pay taxes because that would mean loss of money. They are all about profit and nothign else. Public safety, and the environment dont mean much to them if their pockets are full. The general public are the ones that get affected the most on a daily basis compared to these rich folks. It surprises me what companies that they have said to be part of ALEC are, and those are just a few. Big corporations with big money control our nation and that is true.
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Medea Mohseni
7/20/2014 08:35:43 pm
Kevin you are right. I have been carrying this question in my mind for a while about "why paying for charities can take away the responsibility of paying for the taxes. This is a pathway that many cooperation choose mostly, even the smaller ones. In my opinion paying taxes distributes money among the society rather than directly helping the charities and not paying for the taxes because who knows the money that goes for funding a certain plan will have effective ending or not.
Louis Tagum
7/17/2014 10:06:34 am
The video explains three themes that relate to our class topics, such as: corruption, manipulation of the system, and personal gain. Corporations corrupt our legislature to their advantage. They would not listen to the people, but rather the corporations themselves. Also, they are using their power (money), to manipulate the playing field to their advantage. They stated on the video that ALEC bribed state legislatures with fancy accommodations and special treatment in exchange for influence in their decisions. Lastly, they are paying people out of their personal gain. Corporations like ALEC would not a spend a single dime towards anything if it does not give back benefits.
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Jameelah tran
7/17/2014 11:11:54 am
It is wrong for corporations to manipulate the system and bribe legislators to pass a policy that is for their own good. Instead of directly saying that it is a bribe, they called it a “gift,” which makes the legislators blinded by the great hotels, vacations, and money. Money is power in this country and if nothing stops the secret ALEC organization, the country will no longer be for the people.
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Frank Martinez
7/20/2014 02:32:25 am
I agree that the whole special treatment of government officials is wrong but a different perspective came up on my blog post. Someone said that just because they throw these nice things at them doesn't mean the bill is automatically passed. This point of view makes sense͵however͵ it definately tips the scale into their favor. After watching the movies in class how many politicians are out for the greater good rather than benefiting themselves??
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Jameelah Tran
7/17/2014 11:07:42 am
ALEC is a secret organization of state legislators and corporate lobbyists. The organization is funded by large companies to model bills in their interest.
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Won Ho Kim
7/19/2014 10:15:41 pm
I do not know about the reduction in welfare programs. I do agree that, with corporations running things in the background, we have slowly evolved into a country that is only focused on helping the upper echelons of society, but I think the key player in the upcoming political battlefield will be America’s growing middle class. They have the power to affect the most changes… the only question is whether they will wield it.
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Anna Aguilar-Pineda
7/20/2014 01:51:32 pm
I agree it will weaken our democracy as well. Corporations do play an important role in our economic status. They do have the money to influence politicians to make decisions that would best benefit their corporation. Who know how much more corporations will try to get but it will have an impact on everyone especially those of lower class.
Jennifer Zihla
7/17/2014 12:04:53 pm
The video is focused on the actions to ALEC and its extensive lobbying. This is in line of the topic of corporations being granted the same rights as people and having protection under the law. As stated in the video, these corporations have the monetary funds to sway and or law makers that the acts they push for are in the best interest of everyone. And as the video said, by the time the people get to have a say in on what is happening, the people in Washington already have an idea in mind of what needs to happen. This catering if you will ties into the reading on the subject of how in recent years, the government has been making exemptions to big corporations. As mentioned in the text, President Ragan had the notion that if the big corporations had tax exemptions that these benefits would eventually be passed down to the working class. This however has proven to not be the case. In fact corporations became even more powerful in their ability to hobby and push politics that benefits them over the well being of the people.
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Fadri Attamimi
7/17/2014 12:54:59 pm
I like how you mention that corporations are integral to the American economy, however to me it seems that you take the economic health of the country to be more important than its democracy. Shouldn’t these two things work hand in hand with each other to provide its citizens with a better living condition? Having a strong stable economy is important but meaningless if people are constantly being monitored and having miserable lives.
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Kevin Duong
7/17/2014 12:05:46 pm
ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, to me, is known as a secretive nonprofit organization. It is funded by popular and powerful corporations to push for legislation. This video relates to our course themes, political dissent, people power and corporate influence.
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Dustin Van
7/20/2014 01:00:33 pm
The fact that ALEC is rather secretive and creates such an impact on our bills is terrifying. It allows all these big time corporations to act shady at a higher impact. Also I agree with what you said with it not being impossible to show dissent versus a group like ALEC. If we were to all band together and have one voice then we can be heard.
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Jessie Cardoso
7/20/2014 01:16:02 pm
Hi Kevin,
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Jose Tabili
7/20/2014 04:16:20 pm
I agree with your point on People Power and how it is able to stop groups like ALEC who are influenced by big corporations to have laws passed that benefit themselves. Through people power, we should be able to render organizations such as ALEC useless no matter how much money is behind them and who is backing their organization. It is sad that our society today is controlled by wealth, but people power stopping some of ALEC's actions show that we can still do something if we all act as one.
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Nicholas Yuk
7/17/2014 12:09:21 pm
Three key themes that from the video about ALEC were: the ability for large corporations to have the abilities to bypass regular lobbying methods to get their wants across to politicians, the aggressiveness of corporations where money comes first, and the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of the group over its history. These themes relate to all four of the course themes. Consent is given by the general public and the government because everyone knows these type of groups exist but do nothing to stop them. Dissent is evident in how bills are created that opposed the corporations of ALEC, for example the green initiatives that have been hampering many oil ALEC companies. People power also is restricted in the fact that these huge companies with money in a sense get the cut in front of others to get their needs done, leading to how the system is flawed. The benefits are that if corporations actually have a viable agenda that is beneficial to themselves and the state, they can get it done much quicker than usual. This allows for a win win situation. However, as mentioned in the video, if some policies are not in the interest of the states, the bills they propose will not get passed. As a result, their wine and dine strategy may not always sway the state legislators. Corporate influence in politics definitely weakens our democracy because companies want to put their needs ahead of the people because that is what a company does, make money. As a result, in their greedy for more profits, there can be collateral damage to unknowing citizens who had no say against these huge corporations.
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Anand Rao
7/19/2014 05:10:49 am
I agree with the idea that consent is given by the general public, but I don't think that "everyone knows these types of groups exist". ALEC is doing a lot of these transactions with large corporations behind the public's back. The video mentioned that many of these companies are anonymously associated with ALEC to make sure that the public remains unaware with their access to legislators for corporate profit. However, the idea of consent works here because the public chooses to remain unaware of the existence of ALEC and how these large companies are able to work around bills.
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Tal Hod
7/17/2014 12:38:06 pm
Three themes from the video are the Citizens United law, Big corporations funding Alec, and Alec not having to pay taxes.
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Tal Hod
7/17/2014 12:39:17 pm
*our democracy
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Tal Hod
7/17/2014 01:00:37 pm
Wow I'm out of it today. I meant it weakens our democracy. Oops!
Jamal Jamal
7/17/2014 06:52:11 pm
Its a weird website, you cannot even edit your own comment. I will mention this to Dr. Crain, it would be more efficient if we can edit our comments.
cong cao
7/17/2014 12:39:35 pm
ALEC is a conservative nonprofit made up of state legislators and business leaders that writes model bills and resolutions to help businesses and weaken government programs.
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Hieu Nguyen
7/17/2014 12:55:50 pm
I agree that if ALEC continues to help the wealthy 1%, it would create a bigger gap between the poor and rich people. In order to balance things out, big corporations should not be able to lobby and fund things such as ALEC to pass bills that would only benefit themselves. The government should start worrying about the lower and middle class more than the upper class. They put more effort into helping the upper class more than the lower class because the upper class can provide them with money and fund their campaigns and so on.
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Fadri Attamimi
7/17/2014 12:45:03 pm
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a company that runs and owns many government related firms. Many big name corporations such as Coke Industries, Amplify and BP support ALEC. Throughout this video I can see three themes arise: money plays a large part in the bills that are passed, policies will be passed for the benefit of profit and corporations, politicians do not always act in an unbiased manner.
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Jenny Ugale
7/20/2014 04:57:59 am
I also think the passage of Citizens United is potentially a positive benefit for the reasons you pointed out. If corporations were to use the funding to educate and spread exposure to different policies, it could be beneficial for everyone. However, like you mentioned, the corporate funding could also result in candidates being controlled by the corporations.
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Hieu Nguyen
7/17/2014 12:48:51 pm
ALEC is an organization developed to avoid taxes and for a group of state legislators and corporate lobbyists. Their main purpose is to work for big corporations to better aid them in making more money. The wealthiest companies fund ALEC to help pass bills that would ensure their profit margarine would increase. This ties in to the class themes by system, voting, and power.
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Anand Rao
7/19/2014 04:47:47 am
I think that your first point about them avoiding taxes is important. ALEC allows these large corporations to manipulate (environmental, work conditions, etc.) laws that people/lobby groups worked hard to create just to save some money for themselves. ALEC also avoids taxes through its 501c non-profit organization, which makes them eligible for tax deductions. Large corporations and ALEC have created a mutualistic yet corrupt relationship that prevents people's voices from being heard.
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Kevin Duong
7/19/2014 05:32:08 pm
I completely agree with you. ALEC is a company in disguise as a non profit organization. However, this is not the case. ALEC is a company that is being corrupted and manipulated by super wealthy corporations. The corporations fund the organization so they can pass laws that can exempt them from taxes and pass laws that will make their life a lot easier.
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Tiffany Do
7/17/2014 12:58:38 pm
Three themes from the video were the extension of freedom of speech to money, the process of lobbying for a cause, and corporate influence in the democratic process. These themes relate to the course themes of people power and systems. Corporations were able to redefine what it meant to be considered “people” with the Citizens United decision, and with the passage of Citizens United, they were granted rights belonging to actual people. These themes also relate to the course theme of systems because corporations know how to navigate the political system in order to have things go in their favor. They understood that although we are a democratic nation, money can influence how loud one’s voice is within this democracy. By bringing attention to the fact that limiting their spending within the political process seemed unconstitutional, corporations demonstrated that they knew exactly what they were doing and were skillfully navigating the system.
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Petrina Picariello
7/17/2014 03:18:04 pm
I agree with you when you said that corporations benefit from the passage of Citizens united because these corporations are able to do what they want with there money and barely have anyone watching the transactions they are putting forth. Also, I cannot agree more with your last statement. Our democracy is supposed to be for the people but I have noticed that our democracy is not for us people but for the corporations that are "supporting" our democracy.
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Chloe Li
7/20/2014 02:18:15 pm
I also agree with what you wrote about how the corporations benefit from Citizens United. The transactions to "bribe" legislators are catered to corporation interests, not people interest. Adding on to the previous comment, Citizens United goes completely against our democracy "for the people, by the people" since the corporation's decisions do not necessarily complement what the people desire.
Richard Le
7/17/2014 01:01:42 pm
ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) is basically a club for big corporations to get together and push bills on legislators that would benefit their own agenda. They use their money to sway legislators onto their side by flying them out and treating them to high class hotels, food and entertainment. This shows a weakness in our governing systems, in that the people working within these systems are only people and can indeed be swayed with riches. The public interest tends to suffer in this regard (privatization of education, more destruction of environment and changing the standards of renewable energy) should these bills be passed.
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Uyen
7/18/2014 09:35:26 am
I agree with you that corporate influence in politics weakens our democracy. However, it's a bit hard when you said "If the corporations that left ALEC (Amazon etc.) truly cared about the people, they wouldn't have joined in the first place." Because I think a organization as ALEC could be good to help the legislators understand more on some bills that they might not have enough information than the people inside the issue.But only if the organizations be fund by the general citizens or good corporations which willing to help the sake of democracy.
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Shubaan Taheri
7/20/2014 10:49:26 am
The worst aspect of ALEC is that they are allowed to be considered non-profit. Our tax dollars should go back to helping the people, but its clear that ALEC acts in corporations best interest (private education, fighting solar energy, etc.). I agree that the passing of Citizens United weakens our democracy because ordinary people can't compete financially with corporations and the money that ALEC has can be very persuasive.
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Jenny Ugale
7/17/2014 01:11:20 pm
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Uyen
7/18/2014 09:21:56 am
I agree with you that the corporations have the ability and power to strengthen our democracy but more often they force on there own interest than the majority. I think a organization as ALEC could be good to help the legislators understand more on some bills that they might not have enough information than the people inside the issue. But the organizations need to be fund by the general citizens or good corporations which willing to help for the best of democracy.
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Jose Tabili
7/20/2014 03:18:53 pm
I agree with you about ALEC being selfish, as they are run by these companies who are losing profits because of the sudden push for clean and renewable energy. It disgusts me that ALEC is actually trying to fight against having a cleaner energy source; clean energy is beneficial for every living thing on the planet but all they're concerned about is the money they will lose, not caring about the future and attempting to stop progress.
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Weibo Xing
7/17/2014 01:21:34 pm
From the video, the three themes I found relevant to class topics are consent, dissent and people power. The video mentions the money from taxpayers subsidizes the organization, so the people give consent to ALEC by supporting this council; Some companies decided to drop from ALEC as they don’t want public know their brands are associated with ALEC, which is a example of dissent; People power is shown from the nature of ALEC. ALEC is a organization that gather corporations together to push model legislation on state politicians, and it help people participant in the process of decision-making. A single individual or company is too weak to influence the political process.
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Angel Moreno
7/17/2014 02:41:09 pm
I have to disagree with you about whether it is strengthening or weakening our Democracy. I believe it is weakening our Democracy heavily because the peoples vote is having less of an impact. Yes, ALEC doesn't represent the people's idea, but when legislators are being persuaded heavily, then our vote has little effect on what they decide.
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Brian Nichols
7/20/2014 01:07:18 pm
You make an interesting point in that the peoples vote does not matter because of special interest lobbying. However, the people vote in the candidates who are the ones making these kinds of decisions. It should be the case that those same people that put a person in office should be holding those elected officials accountable for their actions?
Nga Ho
7/17/2014 01:53:44 pm
ALEC is an organization whose members are powerful corporations in many fields. The purpose of this organization is to conduct the lobbying with the new approach: members of the organization will compose bills that benefit their company and legislators will attend seminars organized by ALEC at luxury hotels with all expense paid by ALEC members. After attending such conferences, lawmakers will return to their states and become advocates for bills.
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Angel Moreno
7/17/2014 02:27:23 pm
To add on to what you have already discussed, I'm more frightened about how our Democracy is being affected. Not to say what happened with the foreclosure of homes is frightening enough, but when I hear that our vote is not having the same value as it used to have, it scares me more. Our country was built on having the citizens have a vote and when ALEC is clearly twisting it, it can only lead to bad things.
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Angel Moreno
7/17/2014 02:18:01 pm
In relation to the themes discussed in the video and our class themes, people power, consent, dissent were all demonstrated in this video. ALEC was involved through all of these themes. The first course theme, people power, is found when ALEC shrinks the participation of voters with their version of lobbying. a normal lobbyist only discusses their topic for around fifteen minutes. ALEC stretches the lobbying idea by paying for the legislators traveling expenses, bringing them for a three day session about passing corporate friendly bills. This dramatically affects the voters impact on the legislator because by the time the voter puts his opinion, the legislator is already convinced by ALEC. In addition, another corse theme that has been taken advantage of by ALEC is consent. Alec is abusing consent by subsidizing the citizens charitable tax right op, so that we pay for their special interest lobbying.Thus the people are being pushed and tricked into giving consent because they are not knowingly paying for it, when they should know. Lastly, dissent is displayed at the end of the video where groups like Common Cause and Center for Media and Democracy are reporting and sending a letter with the IRS that the scholarship scheme is underreporting scholarships that has been given to state legislators. This is an example of going against the status quo and stopping all of these intolerable acts by ALEC. We have the power to change what is happening.
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Nga Ho
7/17/2014 03:12:45 pm
When that money and lobbyists substitute for the transparency and fairness of our democracy is threatened. It’s important to recognize organizations like ALEC. I think there are also other variants of this organization and they are still shrouded in secrecy. People should ask questions about bills that lawmakers support. Is the bill necessary and who is the most benefit? People must thoroughly use their political power: voting to eliminate lawmakers who do not really represent the interests of the majority.
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Andrea Olivos
7/20/2014 11:34:20 am
I agree when you say that the passage of Citizens United would be a total disadvantage for everyone except the corporations because since they now would have the right to spend as much money as they want in the elections, their voice will become louder. So as their voice gets louder, ours get under heard causing an imbalance which isn't fair.
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Gautam Prabhu
7/20/2014 05:02:44 pm
Many folks wonder why vigilantism and Robin Hood-like characters are immensely popularized in modern media, like movies tv shows, and video games. It is because almost everyone is fully aware of the systematic failures of the system itself to actually serve the people it is supposed to be servicing. In almost all of these media pieces, a completely backwards, inefficient bureaucratic methodology consistently fails to do its job (eg. Dallas Buyer's Club, Royal Pains, etc.). These scenarios are based off of real situations that should not exist.
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Brian Nichols
7/17/2014 02:44:05 pm
There are many themes presented in the video about ALEC that tie in nicely with the class themes. One of them is ALEC lobbying for corporate interests instead of public interests which goes against ALEC's status as a 501c non profit organization. The course theme this connects with is consent. The majority of citizens are giving passive consent by not holding ALEC accountable to the rules that dictate what a 501c should be allowed to do. If the majority of citizens do nothing than it simply says to ALEC that what they are doing is OK.
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Chungchen Ran
7/20/2014 06:38:52 am
I agree that corporations have too much influence over elected officials by using conferences and gifts. Through those officials, corporations have influence over our government. As you may remember from “The History of Stuff” video, corporations had become more powerful than the government. This means that the government will be more likely to listen to the corporations than to the people, which is against the purpose of our country’s democracy.
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Jay Reason
7/17/2014 02:47:15 pm
Sorry for sounding repetitive, but ALEC (from my understanding) is a bill writing machine that is influenced by a handful of powerful cooperations. The bills they pass have a wide range of meaning. They particular included regulations regarding certain business interests the cooperations might want to take advantage of, while limiting the power and rules that the government might have over them.
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Nicholas Hardy
7/17/2014 02:56:50 pm
The organization ALEC is a nonprofit filled with corporations who want to pass bills that benefit them. The 3 themes that stand out to me are dissent, people power, and the simple fact that corporations are corrupt. The group is very secretive and privatized so the public does not know who is a part of the organization and who runs it. This makes it harder for the population to dissent to the actions of ALEC because we do not know who is in it, and what is going on. The policies that ALEC tries to pass have a lot to do with less environmental restrictions which would take a lot of jobs from renewable energy companies. The public expressed people power, which is when Americans make a decision of change together, when the people have stopped some bills from passing. The fight still goes on with ALEC and they are not backing down on the bills that they want to be passed. This brings another idea that corporations are corrupt because they are only looking for the benefit to themselves, not the public. Everything becomes about many and how they can make more instead of them actually focusing on being a nonprofit. These things hurt our democracy because it makes things harder for regular Americans to make decisions if big corporations are making them for us. With ALEC lobbying constantly for these bills to be passed to legislators the legislators already have their minds made up before they even ask the public.
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David Huynh
7/20/2014 03:09:49 pm
I agree that due to the secrecy of Alec it is harder for the public to know what their actual purpose are. The fact is Corporations such as Alec is the one trying to change and makes decisions for the public which alone is prone to a large amount of dissent among the public. Their secrecy spices up the number of dissent as well.
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Jonathan Paulo
7/20/2014 04:29:25 pm
I agree that for profit corporations can be are corrupt. ALEC is a perfect example. I think it's kind of difficult to try and stamp out an issue like this. Especially in a capitalistic society like ours, where for profit is pretty much the name of the game. Also, it's kind of human nature to be greedy.
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chris Bunoan
7/17/2014 03:06:03 pm
This video is very interesting because it is exploiting this corrupt government we have in America. ALEC has so many major corporations working with them the probability of changing regulations to fit their personal standards are more probable to being passed. Even if it is horrible to our environment such as the Keystone XL pipeline. That pipeline proposal is so bad for our environment especially the pollution that it will produce with leaks and other hazards. This corrupt government is in dispirit need of a leader whom isn't addicted to greed. Such as our financial advisors in the White House who are still in charge of finances for this country even though they were major contributors to our recent financial crash in 2008. We need a change this country is so corrupt and ran to only keep the poor poor and get the rich richer. This video makes me think that our democracy really isn't a full democracy. This corruption weakens our democracy by showing us viewers that these major corporations that run this country financially will pass laws and policies only to their benefit and not for the benefit or well being of the American people. A majority of our leaders and politicians participate in fraudulent behavior and we need to educate ourselves and let our voice be heard and advocate change in America because we need help.
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Petrina Picariello
7/17/2014 03:13:27 pm
ALEC was founded in the wary 70s. The ALEC meetings are normally held at the nicest hotels. The people in charge of the meeting are paying for people to come for the meetings. ALEC is usually operated discreetly.
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Lynh Nguyen
7/20/2014 11:24:09 am
It's an interesting point on how ALEC operates only for the benefit and interest of the corporations instead for the people. To try to keep it a secret from the public and trying to take an advantage of the state legislator's power for their benefit, it does, in fact, weaken the democracy. ALEC was meant to be a charitable organization, but they did more lobbying than expected.
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Gautam Prabhu
7/17/2014 03:16:42 pm
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is membership based 501(c)(3) charity that focuses primarily on lobbying through the state level by convincing state legislators of the benefits of certain bills, and throwing money at them.
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aakash Kadakia
7/17/2014 03:34:31 pm
i agree that citizen united is very hypocritical and can not be trusted. However i believe that people as Individuals are better then people who are united because that causes people to never express how they feel and people become more pressured that way
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Jamal Jamal
7/18/2014 06:29:13 pm
I agree with your reasons. The charity money that they receive, feels like they are saying we are above taxes and the law. Money is power these days so the more ALEC gains, the more they can manipulate and help push bills and weaken democracy.
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Brian Nichols
7/20/2014 01:03:13 pm
You have said that this is mass bribery and that is not accurate legally. While I agree with you that it is highly unethical it is not bribery because of the way the laws are written and the fact that the money is not going from the corporations to the legislators. What should be looked at and changed is the interpretation of the laws to prevent these kind of loopholes from existing.
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Gautam Prabhu
7/20/2014 05:06:57 pm
I may not have made it clear in my original statements, and I apologize if that is the case, by I was essentially insinuating the same message that you just expressed.
Gabriela Iniguez
7/17/2014 03:17:38 pm
Alec a private association mainly to recruit conservative law makers. According to Alec"A nonpartisan membership association for conservative state lawmakers who shared a common belief in limited government, free markets, federalism, and individual liberty." Clearly, they lean toward the conservative party because most of the beliefs are the same as the Republican Party. Some of the topics i could relate the video to would be Capitalism because the goal of this association is for a free market and laissez faire. Most of the tactics used by the association are for the benefit of their own best interests. They benefit from being privatized because there is more control over the money they make, how its distrubuted and who gets it.The course themes correlate with the themes because it represents consent- which is by giving permission for associations or corporations especially private ones, to do as they please with their money. They may be committing fraud but who is regualting their actions. Dissent would be the way these private institutions express the disagreement of having a regulation in their bussiness, it does not benefit them in any way or form. People power and systems. Alec has a lot of power and it definitely carries on to the political spectrum. These corporations can make a big difference the lives of many americans but most the time for the bad. Corporations have too much power over the government and unfortunately there is no proper regulation. I believe corporations only care for themselves and how much money is coming in,and from the videos i have watched in class most committ fraud along the way. They want to control every aspect of the citizens lives. As time goes democracy will weaken more. As of today i do not see a democracy but a country who is ran by money and power hungry corporations who wont do anything to benefit the majority of the U.S.
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aakash kadakia
7/17/2014 03:30:42 pm
i completely agree this country only runs on the power of money now. It became the survival of the fittest kind of concept in modern day America. Im really disgusted as to how low these people can actually go for money.
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Aakash Kadakia
7/17/2014 03:26:00 pm
Alec stand for American Legislative Exchange Council, their job is to basically to help corporations pass the laws that they put out to the legislators to pass. They basically appease them by giving them fancy hotels which are all paid for them. the 3 themes according to me that Alec uses is consent dissent and people power They use consent by making the legislative on their sides. Alec uses dissent because the laws passed are not for the people but more for them self. and finally people power in terms of how they lobby. In a normal lobby people usually get to the point and talk about the bills they have but in this case they stretch the process and appease the people they are presenting the bill too. I really think that the only benefit they have is having the product physically with them but the disadvantage is that if people don't like the law, they do not know how to blame since its a very private and secret organization. I think that the cooperation really weaken the process of democracy. the reason is very simple, i believe that they really care about themselves and how much profit they make then the people
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Juan Pablo Hernandez Lopez
7/17/2014 03:26:19 pm
I think that one theme from the video ALEC Turns 40, But Who’s Behind It? Could be consent because they are operating in secret with the public, so Alec members are unknown, and it can relate to Naomi Wolfs of a closed society, which the government hides to people what they are doing. Another theme could be government system because ALEC’s polluter members such ad Chevron, and TransCanada prefer fewer environmental regulations and more drilling and freckling. In other words, our environment will suffer because there will less regulation that will protect our wilderness.
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Uyen
7/17/2014 03:27:05 pm
Three themes of the video relate to the lecture topics is lobbing: how convince a legislator to pass a bill; the people power (the big corporations which have more influence to the government for their private interest); and clean energy, create green job.
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Eileen Javadi
7/17/2014 03:45:03 pm
ALEC is a secretive organization of conservative members who lobby and push for legislations to happen. Major corporations fund ALEC in hopes to continuously be able to work with them and push their policies. The video stated how lobbyists are primarily setting the minds of legislators before the public gets a chance to weigh in, and this ultimately provides a negative effect and weakens our democracy. Corporations have always prioritized their profits over any other important matter and lack the genuine best interest of the people, which is where our government is currently failing the most economically.
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Louis Tagum
7/20/2014 03:32:44 am
I agree with how corporations like ALEC should not be a great influence. In fact, the more we let them do what they do, our society will be shaped and run by corporation standards and norm. Sure we still can vote and fight for what we think is right, but by having power, most likely their large sums of money, corporations still have a large influence that target people like legislatures.for their gain. With that, it is indeed that our democracy is weakening...
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Medea Mohseni
7/20/2014 08:27:00 pm
I agree that democracy can be weakened if unknown groups do great amount of lobbying against certain legislation. Essentially, these types of lobbying violates the first amendment because people's participation in process of politic and decision making faint out, especially when these lobbies are done for the benefit of cooperation rather than for the benefits of people, more specifically the low income people. In every society low incomes pay the most price.
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Julio Valdez
7/17/2014 03:45:17 pm
My themes would be on dissent, money, and United People.
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Gautam Prabhu
7/20/2014 04:54:31 pm
I agree with you in terms of corporate campaign funding. I think almost every average citizen that cares about democracy would rather have a insignificant amount added to his/her taxes, if it were a viable alternative to the systematic corruption of politicians. Krony capitalism is one major reason the nation's views and opinions aren't being incorporated into legislation.
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Medea Mohseni
7/17/2014 03:48:57 pm
ALEC is a conservative nonprofit organization that is ran by state legislator and business leaders that are trying to write regulations in favor of businesses. ALEC’s members are billionaire business owner and basically their actions are opposing to trust and consent that people have gave to government in terms of decision making based on what video is trying to imply. These decisions made by big cooperation never consider people benefits as part of their plans and decisions further people power does not really have any emphasis on the function of society. This result of such action is something like what is happening currently about waste and e-waste production. Cooperations are trying to produce low quality products that needs to be replaced quite oftenly. Further people are purchasing new product constantly and end of with pile of useless product in their houses that ultimately goes to the land fields and third world countries. Besides, most of the natural resources, and primary product is destroyed and consumed on high rate. Be that as it may, the corporation benefits the most from ALEC regulations and people across American and world hurts the most. First world countries become consumers and third world countries become space for trash produced and cheap labor.
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Anna Aguilar-Pineda
7/17/2014 03:50:32 pm
Three themes from the video that can relate to the lecture topics from class are dissent, government system and people power.
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Frank Martinez
7/20/2014 02:46:47 am
I agree with you on the dissent and in my point of view͵ ALEC existing is a form of dissent to me. The huge corporations aren't getting what they want and its not working within the system. However they are using ALEC to work within the system but also the way they do it is basically cheating. They are presenting the bills to the legislatorsbut they also try to tip the scale to their favor. In my eyes that's going against the government and showing dissent of democracy.
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Andrea Olivos
7/20/2014 11:01:55 am
I agree with you that it will weaken our democracy. You would think that the government would respect the peoples needs rather than just automatically siding with big corporations but unfortunately the people don't really end up getting what they want.
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Linda Luong
7/17/2014 03:51:55 pm
This video about ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, relates to themes such as dissent and people power.
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Amanda Ramsey
7/17/2014 03:52:41 pm
What the video talked about relates to the course theme of people power in that it is trying to bypass people power, or the say that the people have in the government and in their own interests. ALEC is going straight to the legislators and is convincing them to pass legislature in the favor of these big companies who are a part of ALEC by basically bribing legislators by paying to fly them there with room and board and all of the amenities. They then convince the legislators over the course of days on how to vote on certain bills and give incentives for voting the way that ALEC wants them to. Legislators are supposed to be representatives of the people and are supposed to represent the people’s interests, but instead they are now representing corporations through ALEC. This takes away the people’s power of dissent because the legislators no longer feel accountable to the people they represent and thus the people’s right of dissent is weakened. At the same time, the people who support the legislators that represent them either passively or actively are giving their consent to the actions of ALEC in bribing the legislators and are giving consent to the bills that ALEC is trying to push through and overall giving consent to the large companies who are a part of ALEC and who are bribing the legislators. This is then undermining the way our representative democratic system works by bypassing the people completely and it is weakening the democratic process because people no longer have a say in issues that matter to them.
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Chloe Li
7/17/2014 03:54:50 pm
The video primarily focuses upon ALEC’s involvement the privatization of public institutions, people power, and corporate involvement within the system.
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Andrew Tran
7/17/2014 03:58:08 pm
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Joshua Kim Cruz
7/17/2014 03:59:58 pm
Themes that can be taken from the video we all saw that exposed ALEC for the system it really is could be People Power, Dissent, and Systems of Government. The corporation actually throws the concept of people power right out the window. They do this by essentially favoring state legislators by treating them to fancy hotels and paying for their fares to simply show them the better side of agreeing with them. By the time public wants to voice their opinion on any certain bill, the legislator has probably already made their mind to pass the said bill. As expressed in the beginning days of class, People Power is about having the free-will and expression to put out ones voice on a certain topic. By essentially cutting out the public from big decisions, the People Power cut off completely. With regards to Dissent, whether it be the trend of seeing the earlier bills passed via courting or simply more people awakening to see how the system set up is wrong is not quite sure, but what is sure is that later on in the video ALEC is reported to have bills failing to be passed. The constitutional right to protest is then very apparent is then seen as people putting their foot down to these absurd bills being laid out with no word of the public. Finally, I believe Systems of Government is a key theme in the video. Buying power is not the same as earning it. By manipulating the outcome of power, the system we try so hard to uphold where one is just is simply torn down.
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Jennine Robancho
7/17/2014 04:05:26 pm
ALEC is American Legislative Exchange Council. It's basically known to companies who own and run different government and company firms.
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Helia Mohseni
7/17/2014 04:32:28 pm
can you explain further why you think that the theme of the video relates to dissent which is our course theme?
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Chloe Li
7/20/2014 01:59:24 pm
I agree with you that the corporate influence in politics weakens democracy and that, as you said, people running companies will take advantage. I would like to expand on that idea; however, that corporate runs on its own best interests, and that these interests sometimes do not coincide with the people's best interests which creates conflict and therefore weakens our democracy even more.
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Maira Sandoval
7/17/2014 04:07:12 pm
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is an organization that brings state legislators and big corporations together in order for the corporations to push policies and legislations on state politicians. The legislations ALEC lobbyists try to pass are predominantly in their own best interest. They have done well in serving as a channel for the corporate agenda and advancing special interest legislations throughout the U.S. A few themes that relate to this video would include, people power and systems.
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Richard Le
7/20/2014 02:26:20 pm
Yeah, if people were more informed about ALEC and how they are manipulating taxpayers for their own privatized agendas, there would be more of an uproar since it affects them directly. People may not care so much about corporations trying to pass their bills since it is a little more complex but knowing that your money is essentially being used against you is easy enough for people to understand and become interested in.
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Jason Jung
7/17/2014 04:11:01 pm
The American Legislative Exchange Council owns a majority of the largest corporations, prisons, and other federal institutions. This video relates to the course themes of dissent and the power of people. Political dissent is the right to express an objection at the state level; however, it is nearly impossible to overrule ALEC's decisions due to the alliances formed between the large corporations and government.
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Dustin Van
7/20/2014 12:55:11 pm
I completely agree with your view of the situation that the American Legislative Exchange Council is too powerful that it makes it impossible to fight against their desires. I think you also bring up a good point that if we were to rally up communities then we could possibly alter the decisions the big corporations make since most of these big corporations are really just made up of people like you and me (like workers at mcdonalds).
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Chungchen Ran
7/17/2014 04:23:11 pm
The three themes in the video relate to three of the course themes.
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Maira Sandoval
7/20/2014 12:55:35 pm
In the beginning you mentioned how the people were made to believe that ALEC was trustworthy organization but in reality people were deceived into giving their consent for ALEC. This is a constant reoccurring theme in our society; people not knowing, or fully comprehending a situation, but consenting to it either way because someone was clever enough to make it sound like a good deal.
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Melanie Antonio
7/20/2014 02:23:59 pm
It's good to see big corporations see past the "non-partisan" facade of ALEC. Once companies found that they weren't involved in any type of policymaking, they gave them the boot.
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Joshua Kim Cruz
7/20/2014 03:23:01 pm
I agree with your first theme of consent being misused, but I'm curious to see your stance on people that knew what ALEC was doing was wrong from the beginning. What they were doing, their manipulation, was not exactly in the dark, but rather some individuals spoke out against their actions and called for the rest of the public to know. I wouldn't say that the public was tricked, but it was more like the legislators were in passing the bills that they did.
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Anand Rao
7/17/2014 04:24:53 pm
The first theme that came to mind from the video was the idea of monetary power and how companies can influence government and politics. A lot of the business who are members of ALEC are big-name institutions like Coca-Cola or BP. Since these are some of the most successful businesses in the world, they have the wealth, unlike smaller businesses, to share with politicians/legislators to push for bills that would aid the growth of their company even more. These bills in turn help the growth of these large corporations even more money, therefore creating a cycle of corruption where both sides (large corporations and ALEC legislators) become wealthier at the expense of people not getting the bills that they want passed/considered.
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Jennifer Zihla
7/20/2014 11:25:42 am
Well said! I love the bit about transparency. It is interesting that some companies feel the need to “hide” their actions and involvement. How does the saying go? “Don’t do anything that would make your mom proud”. I would say feeling the need to hide your actions from the common populous would indicate that they know what they are doing to swaying the outcomes and mind set of the politicians.
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Richard Le
7/20/2014 02:41:16 pm
I've noticed more and more criticisms aimed at bills and politicians mention who exactly is putting the funds behind it, which brings to light what the agenda is and who benefits from it. I'd like to think that more of these activities are being exposed (like it is here) but even if the information is public, if it is not clearly stated then most of the public would not know it. It should be made more obvious who is backing what, then perhaps there would be some change and better decisions be made.
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Helia Mohseni
7/17/2014 04:26:42 pm
The first theme is that private and public interest do not correlate with each other because they have different incentives. The second theme is that the system of convincing politicians by using money, does not work well in a real Democracy society because majority's opinion is not influential, it is rather the amount of money spent by each side that ultimately reflects how the bill/issue would be passed. The third theme is that corporations think how a bill works in their best interest and depending on the importance of it, they spend money toward it.
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Jason Jung
7/20/2014 02:30:52 pm
Helia,
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Andrea Olivos
7/17/2014 04:30:00 pm
The three themes that I noticed from the video were dissent, consent and people power.
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Maira Sandoval
7/20/2014 01:03:47 pm
I agree with your view of dissent in the matter. Though peoples opinions seem to come second when considering which bills should be passed, ALEC was still unsuccessful in passing many of their biased bills. Also, i agree that, with the passing of Citizens United, corporations are basically given a green light to bribe or influence politicians into seeing things their way.
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Anna Aguilar-Pineda
7/20/2014 01:38:23 pm
I agree with you about how we get the short end of the stick, corporations make such an influence on politicians by spending money on them that in end what we say or try to do really won't matter as much.
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Jonathan Paulo
7/20/2014 04:34:12 pm
I agree about corporations like ALEC weakening our democracy. In my opinion, its actions are corrupt and manipulative. Granted lobbying is a common practice, but what they're doing is sort of an unfair thing. Using fancy expensive hotels and gifts, and trips to exotic places to try and persuade politicians is wrong. It also makes me wonder how easily swayed a politician can be. Makes me weary to trust politicians as well.
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Paul Merrill
7/17/2014 04:33:24 pm
Citizens United is a devastating blow to democracy. Democracy should be a government for the people, by the people. Citizens United is not for the people, nor does it give more power to the people. Instead, it gives more power to the rich and the super rich: the executives and board members, those in control of corporations. It gives corporations more influence over politics.
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Shubaan Taheri
7/20/2014 11:49:29 am
You brought up a difficult problem. How do we decide if an action is political or not. This is a big reason why I think we can't stop ALEC from spending money. What we can do is remove their 501c charity label so we as taxpayers aren't helping their funds.
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Paul Merrill
7/20/2014 02:30:31 pm
Well, I hate to break it to you, but Wikipedia says "the 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) categories are for politically active nonprofit organizations." I don't think we'll be able to remove that status from ALEC. I don't think that non-profits should be banned from politics in the first place. But I do think that for-profit institutions should be banned from politics.
Juan Pablo Hernandez Lopez
7/20/2014 11:57:47 am
I agree with you about the Citizens United because the rights of people are taken away by corporations. We live in a democracy, not a communist nation. Sadly, the people are letting it happen because I guess they have other matters to worry about it. I think our founding fathers of this nation will be ashamed on how this country is turning.
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Jeanette Uddenfeldt
7/17/2014 04:37:04 pm
The American Legislative Executive Corporation. An organization that is currently seen as a non-profit organization and therefore people can, as of now, donate money to them and write it off on their taxes. ALEC's main purpose is to get corporations and legislators together and by offering fancy vacations and stays at conferences, they indirectly bribe the senators and legislators to push for their bills.
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Won Ho Kim
7/19/2014 10:43:23 pm
It is interesting how everyone seems to agree that A.L.E.C. is all big and bad (myself, included), but we have to think--the people that are being flown out to these vacationing joints are being convinced. They are weighing the pros and cons in their minds and thinking, "Hey, this does not sound too bad." There must be an iota of merit to some of these suggestions, and they cannot all be rotten eggs.
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Jeanette Uddenfeldt
7/20/2014 01:16:42 pm
It is more of a trade, since they get those fancy things and vacations in exchange for putting their name on the ballot or whatever it is ALEC wants them to do
Paul Merrill
7/20/2014 02:26:08 pm
I wonder if what they primarily do is make things happen. In politics, we all have agendas and goals, but it's often hard to actualize them, to make them happen in real life. Does ALEC help politicians make things happen? Probably, yes. And that's why politicians like them. They make their lives easier and help them achieve their goals.
Jonathan Paulo
7/17/2014 04:40:44 pm
From watching this video, three themes I can think of is corporations with special interests influencing the government, corporations using money for personal gains, and corporations functioning as an entity in order to practice free speech.
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Kevin Duong
7/19/2014 05:29:26 pm
I agree with you. I agree with your point that ALEC is going against consent because ALEC is doing things that the people don't want. ALEC is non profit organization in disguise that is being manipulated by its wealthy sponsors. Billion dollar corporations are funding ALEC so they can push laws that they want and laws that will make their life easier.
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Giselle Ozuna
7/21/2014 02:25:19 am
I agree with you Kevin because ALEC does nothing but thinks of themselves. The people don't have a voice in what they are doing because they are t o busy being manipulated by the wealthy sponsors.
Dustin Van
7/17/2014 04:47:27 pm
The course themes that the video is related to are dissent and people power. The reason for this is because while ALEC is supposed to be a charity organization, it is basically using that title to do all sorts of shady activity. For example, normal lobbyists are given around fifteen minutes to talk with legislators to try and persuade them while ALEC members are given 3 days. The difference between the time to try and convince someone is huge. The way that affects things is massive because these ALEC members are of course going to try and pass bills that are beneficial only to them which in turn leads to more power in corporations. This ties into another guiding question “How can corporate influence in political strengthen or weaken our democracy?” On the first week of class we saw a video on consumerism, capitalism, and the environment in America which explained how our environment is pretty much not going to last us at this rate. Reason for this is because of groups like ALEC that fight against environmentally friendly bills in order to create more jobs to strengthen their own wealth. This gives the corporations too much power over normal everyday people which leads to our democracy getting weaker. There is no “people power” over these huge corporations because they are getting much more of a word in with these legislators due to being rich. This shows how the system really works as money is valued over fairness and humanity.
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Jason Jung
7/20/2014 02:15:55 pm
Dustin,
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Tiajuana Carter
7/17/2014 04:48:56 pm
ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is know to be bourgeois a class of modern Capitalists, that. as ownership of big name corporations and institution prisons, banks etc.
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julio Valdez
7/18/2014 07:13:32 am
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Won Ho Kim
7/17/2014 04:49:35 pm
A.L.E.C. stands for the “American Legislative Exchange Council,” and its goal is to essentially have laws passed that benefit the big companies under its wing. Unfortunately, this and the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision (along with numerous other concessions we, as a people, have been making to big businesses) are resulting in the loss of voice for the average American citizen.
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Louis Tagum
7/20/2014 03:47:34 am
With all the lobbying these corporations are capable of, as well as the people like legislatures who become biased due to these corporate influence, its pretty clear that our society will not be a full democracy, but rather a playground for corporations such as ALEC. If the corporations already influence us through our process of consumption, and now through our government, how can we voice our concerns and ideals, with all of these guys running the playground. The playground is supposed to be for everyone.
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David Huynh
7/20/2014 03:16:25 pm
As powerful as corporations are, they are getting even more power and influence. I will not even be surprised that sometimes in the near future, the government positions will be filled with corporate representative. I agree with your statement that the people are slowly losing power and that even with people's dissent, it still is not a loud voice compared to that of the corporate.
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Giselle Ozuna
7/17/2014 04:56:06 pm
The American Legistlative Exchange Council known as the ALEC is known to own many of the big name corporations. This is the non traditional way to make decisions on bills which are passed in a long period of time.
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Julio Valdez
7/18/2014 06:37:17 am
I agree with what you say about Alec. They get away with not paying taxes, because of their ‘charitable’ contributions. That could be money that can help pay the debt we are in. Corporations should just be separate from the state and federal, just like you can’t connect religion and political affairs. It won’t happen, but it would change the playing field.
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Tiajuana Carter
7/21/2014 10:14:45 am
The Alec is a bull dozer it ran over anything in there way. By these corporation standing together we the people doesn't have a fighting chance. We the people voice and rights are smash mention, but rolled over. No matter how many people are join together we're an match box compared to Brink's armor truck.
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Andrew Chen
7/17/2014 06:23:43 pm
ALEC provides a perfect example of the removal of the people’s power. The organization’s fundamental purpose is the bypassing of the people’s consent and dissent. Without having to bring to light their agendas, the public is not given a chance to scrutinize the intentions and. They are able to operate in a way where they can influence the decisions of the legislators. This provides the corporations with the unfair advantage by creating a bias within the officials. This in turn weakens the democracy because of the crooked mentalities of the legislators. Without the opportunity for the legislation and regulations to be properly examined and assessed, faulty or bad regulations are put in place. The proper way to make sure the system is in working order and working for the people is for the people to vote for the right and ideal guidelines for the system’s operation. ALEC allows the corporations special access to the system to influence it to work for them. Therefore the system is no longer a fully functional democracy. The discretion now belongs to the corporations and their interests become the priority over the peoples. Without the ability to consent or dissent in an educated fashion, the people are left powerless.
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Melanie Antonio
7/18/2014 05:09:32 am
The themes addressed in the video in relation to the course themes are people power and our governing system.
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Jennifer Zihla
7/20/2014 11:13:08 am
I wonder if limiting the time each lobbyist could spend with a politician would help reduce the sway of an organization like ALEC. I mean, it might not necessarily be the paid for flight, room and board that gets politicians to follow ALEC’s lead, but instead the prolonged exposure of a certain mind set (one with the view of a ways that is in the best interest of a corporation or industry instead of the population as a whole). If this is the case, then limiting the amount of time ALEC has with a politician might reduce their success in swaying them.
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Melanie Antonio
7/20/2014 03:24:00 pm
Hey Jennifer, I agree with you. I mean ten minutes with the public interest groups compared to three days with ALEC makes a HUGE difference in influencing politicians.
Eileen Javadi
7/21/2014 04:51:52 am
I agree with the point you made about wealthier people having more power than the middle and lower class individuals because the corporations are now in charge. This is unfortunate since this country is mainly consisted of individuals of a lower class and they have a right to have their voice heard. By giving the wealthy and the corporations the main influence in our governing system there isn’t a sense of equality and proper reasoning when big decisions are being made because not everyone on the financial spectrum is being considered.
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Kevin Tran
7/18/2014 10:08:43 am
As we all know, the American Legislative Exchange Counsel (ALEC) is ran buy a bunch of head members of huge corporations. ALEC has numerous members that are unknown, but we do know some of the companies that are involved with ALEC. The themes of this video relate to consent, dissent, systems and people power in various ways. As citizens, we give them consent to try and persuade politicians by being ignorant. Not knowing about these issue, and not knowing how to prevent these type of actions from taking place. Dissent when group of protesters gather together and try to defeat this powerful company with all their money. Systems show that big corporations are the ones that really run this country. You hear that money talks, well that is true. ALEC which is a group of rich corporations and politicians always gathering together and trying to figure out what is best for them, how to profit the most without the citizens in mind. ALEC and US citizens show the affects of people power. People power in 2 ways, good and bad. ALEC shows that the number of rich corporations coming together with similar goals in mind, shows that with numbers together and money, they can do what they want and they can persuade politicians to passing bills that benefit corporations. People power as for US citizens is when we protest, which should be showing that there is a great deal of us who are concerned about their nation. When comparing ALEC to US citizens, we stand no chance. It shows that our nation and head politicians are corrupt.
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Juan Pablo Hernandez Lopez
7/20/2014 11:14:35 am
I agree with you that we have a corrupt nation, and do not forget that corruption may get worse if we, the people, do not stop them from getting power. We voted for them because they promised us a better society, but after elections they forget about their promises and are just focused on getting more rich. Well, we gave them power, so I think we can take that power away if they do not keep their promise. Do not forget we can stand a change against ALEC because if the people who voted for them work together we can take their power away.
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Aldrich D'silva
7/20/2014 03:19:54 pm
In this video, there some themes relating to our lecture topics are as follows. Firstly, the dichotomy of public interest and private interest can never truly hold similarity in goals. Secondly, the system of democracy in place today is more affected by the expenditure of money than the true opinion of the majority. Thirdly, corporations may lobby legislators to advance laws that further their own interest. These themes relate to the discussed topics: consent, dissent, and people power.
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