Shadow Government

[This was submitted to Hampshire Review, but will not be printed this week, therefore will not make it before the special gubernatorial election on Tuesday.]

Shadow Government.  Fearful words.   Straight out of a political thriller, no doubt.  Smacking of conspiracy theory.  Or, perhaps, conspiracy itself. 

If one can envision, parallel and secret to the elected government, a highly organized entity that seeks to wrest control from that government by subverting the process whereby that government operates, then you can envision a Shadow Government.    An entity which sets at naught the democratic process,  and makes a mockery of popular elections.  An entity that holds secret conferences to which it invites elected legislators, state and federal, and elected governors, as well as candidates for those positions, a conference which is conducted by corporate leaders who present the invitees with their agenda for vital legislation, where then a consensus is reached as to which items are essential to bring before legislatures, at which point the corporate leaders write the legislation, complete with necessary legalese, and hand it out to the legislators for them to present to their own legislatures back home as their own work.  Shadow Government indeed.  Millions of dollars invested, billions of dollars gained.  The efforts of this entity do not stop at subverting government in this covert manner.  They also aim to mold the views of the public to their ends, investing millions of dollars directly to conservative think tanks and individuals who will perpetrate misleading information through massive public relations campaigns to guide citizen voters to their way of thinking.

There is such an entity as herein described:  The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).   This entity with the innocuous sounding name is funded by major corporations such as Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, and others.   With about 2000 legislators and 300 corporations active, model legislation has been crafted to restrict voting rights, by demanding photo IDs and proof of citizenship of even long-time voters; to limit workers’ rights by eliminating collective bargaining of public workers, cutting wages and benefits, firing teachers and other public workers to a total of half-a-million nationwide; to limit consumers rights, including their rights to sue for egregious physical or financial injury—you will hear the mantra “tort reform…litigation…trial lawyers…malpractice suits..junk, frivolous lawsuits…”; to cut taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals, while reducing programs and services for the middle class and the poor.    On the national as well as state level you will see Shadow Government behind efforts to privatize education and schools, to further deregulate major industries and banking system, to roll back environmental regulations, to oppose health care reform.  More than a dozen states with Republican governors and Republican controlled-legislatures have passed practically identically worded bills on these issues.   As well, ALEC associate Grover Norquist persuaded 238 Representatives and 41 Senators in the U. S. Congress , all but three of them Republicans, to sign a pledge promising never to vote to raise taxes.   Signers include U. S. Representatives Shelley Moore Capito and David McKinley, both of WV, as well as 19 WV legislators, including Sen Clark Barnes and Delegates Ruth Rowan and Jonathan Miller.    For more see www.alecexposed.org  .