I did a search for diaries about ALEC and most seem to go by the wayside. I joined DK to expose groups like this who have a stranglehold over our legislature as I believe groups like this endanger democracy and our republic.
I am mature enough to understand that this diary too may go by the wayside, but after considering the pros and cons of writing this diary, I concluded if I don't speak out, I only become another too afraid to put my thoughts out there for fear the DK gallery will shoot me down, run back under my rock, lick my wounds and keep to myself. You guys are a force to be reckoned with and while the community does a lot of good, it can be a scary lot the first time out the box.
I am a new member after lurking for 5 years and I simply can't hold my tongue any longer. I and my fellow Americans are like fish in a barrel to these folks, so if you have the appetite to follow me over that orange squiggly thing that follows this intro, let's do this.
For those of you who have never heard of Sabrina Joy Stevens, she is a woman worth getting to know.
Sabrina is an educator and activist who has the guts to take ALEC on and did so. We need to have her back and more of us need to do what this courageous woman did.
She became aware of an ALEC meeting with their Education Task Force and attended. She didn't hold back. She wasn't afraid of confrontation, she spoke out.
For more background on her story, please check out her post:
Inside ALEC's Education Task Force: Private Players Manipulating Public Education
I’m done tolerating this. I refuse to continue living in a society where some people are essentially allowed to lie to the public with impunity, and buy the ability to disempower other people. I know I’m far from the only person who feels this way. But if we want our power back, those of us who share the same interests (which does not necessarily mean the same ideas) must unite and show the tiny group who doesn’t that they can’t trick, divide or hide from us anymore. As I believe I demonstrated, this doesn’t always have to be an ugly process—but yes, it will require some disruption to the powers-that-be.
Sabrina speaks for me and I know I need to have the courage to speak for myself too. This is my first baby step.
ALEC is teamed up with the NRA and after last Friday, which hit me in the most prophetic way, I am determined to see both taken out of the equation on how our laws are made to the detriment of all Americans.
As NRA Hides from Public After Newtown, ALEC Ties Reveal Extensive Lobbying Behind U.S. Gun Laws
I'm done being afraid to speak out. I want to encourage others to speak out. To harness a growing movement of like minded Americans who want to put the government back into the hands of those it was intended, We The People.