Homemade go-kart laws?

Why are the Kock brothers directly writing our laws?

• Is this legal? And why should a conservative group, owned and run by the Koch brothers, write our laws and push them through conservative lawmakers in return for campaign funding? Is ALEC, who is owned by the Koch Brothers, acting legally and in the best interests of the people, by giving money to lawmakers in exchange for passing laws that ALEC wrote? SERIOUS REAL IMPORTANT QUESTION: Who is responsible for writing laws; A) the legislators that are elected and supposed to act in benefit of the people, -or- B) ALEC, the Koch Brothers owned, corporate, unelected conservative think tank who writes these laws and then tells legislators to pass them in exchange for money. Did you know that ALEC wrote the stand your ground law, the Arizona immigration law, the voter ID laws, and many other laws that infringe on people's rights. But more importantly, these laws do not reflect what a state needs, they reflect what the Koch Brothers think all states should do. There is a larger story to the “stand your ground” law, and it’s called ALEC — the American Legislative Exchange Council. This group is funded by the Koch brothers and other large corporations. They are not a lobbying group. They actually write legislation in the form of “model” laws and then push these laws (that have nothing to do with what is needed in our particular state) through conservative legislators who they often support through campaign contributions. In Iowa, House members’ ALEC dues are automatically paid for by taxpayers, according to Iowa House Chief Clerk Charles Smithson. A legislator must opt out of ALEC, rather than opt in. All of the Iowa Democrats in the Iowa House have opted out except for one, Rep. Brian Quirk of New Hampton. As of last session, all Republican House members were ALEC members. Gov. Terry Branstad is a founding member of ALEC. In the Iowa Senate, dues are not automatically paid by taxpayers so there is no way to find out if a senator is a member short of asking individual senators if they are a member of ALEC or through a freedom of information request. I believe if people in Iowa knew where some of these laws are coming from, they might have a different view of whether these laws are appropriate for our state. ALEC is also responsible for pushing the current rash of voter ID laws, union-busting laws and anti-education laws through state legislatures. Citizens need to know when laws are not originating with locally elected representatives and therefore have nothing to do with the needs of that state.

• Answer:

  Because we have a de facto plutocracy.