As one of the most effective obstacles to social and economic progress in the U.S., the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has introduced a range of reactionary bills in the nation’s state legislatures, which bash immigrants, suppress voting rights, gut social programs and meddle with women’s reproductive rights, to name a few of their priorities. Regretfully, many of these bills have become law.
A number of progressive organizations have opposed these measures and fought against ALEC’s initiatives with mixed success. Unfortunately, millions of people have suffered because of ALEC-sponsored laws. What has been needed is a concerted effort, a coalition of progressive groups, working together to defend their hard-won legislative gains and put an end to ALEC’s reign. As Katrina vanden Heuval reports in her WaPo op-ed “Deepening the progressive bench.”:
While conservatives are skilled puppeteers, progressives are great at mobilizing people and channeling energy for the big fights, whether it’s putting the crisis of income inequality at center stage, or even electing a progressive president. But ALEC’s astonishing influence exposes the progressive Achilles’ heel: a lack of a similarly entrenched, nationwide infrastructure of state and local policymakers and advocates that can create and support lasting change.
…The progressive movement needs to build a bench that can play offense at the grassroots, local, state and national levels, and one that is positioned to pull every lever of power in our multi-layered political system. Without that, for every big union busting bill defeated, or every progressive president elected, there still will be hundreds of right-wing initiatives percolating through the political system, eroding our rights and unraveling our hard-earned progress.
Despite the ongoing threat of ALEC’s efforts to repeal and reverse progressive legislative gains at the state level, there is now reason for hope, as vanden Heuval explains:
“People are now looking to do what the right has done so effectively — coordinating ideas, narratives, legislators and activists to really push in a progressive direction,” says New York City councilman and Progressive Caucus co-chair Brad Lander. The good news is that this is already happening, resulting in key wins on paid sick leave, the minimum wage and gay and lesbian equality at the state and local levels…
It was in this spirit that Lander met earlier this month with other progressive city leaders from across the country, key allies and groups like Progressive States Network, New Bottom Line and PolicyLink, to discuss the creation of a national network focused on promoting local progressive action by sharing and spreading great legislative ideas. This budding network joins established organizations like the Center for American Progress, Working Families Party, Progressive Majority, and Center on Wisconsin Strategy.
At the same time, Progressive Majority director Gloria Totten and a range of allies are pursuing a complementary project called the Elected Officials Alliance to coordinate state lawmakers across issue and organizational lines. Ultimately, the goal is to link state and local officials to policy organizations, like the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN). All of these groups are aiming to build a counterforce to ALEC.
On the policy front, the centerpiece of the effort is an initiative called the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange (ALICE), started by Center on Wisconsin Strategy director Joel Rogers. ALICE would offer model laws for both state and local legislators and support citizen-directed efforts like ballot initiatives, all based on the values of equity, sustainability and responsible government.
Once again it’s people power vs. right-wing money, and progressives are today launching a new initiative, “the 99 Percent Spring, a new movement led by a huge coalition of progressive organizations — from MoveOn.org to the UAW” planning to train 100,000 people in nonviolent action “to tell the true story of how the one percent’s financial excess and political abuse destroyed our economy.”
As vanden Heuval concludes “…Political leaders move to where the energy is. If we want to see lasting progressive change, we need to inject that energy, driven by ideas and strategy, into every level of the process. That’s what the growing networks of progressive legislators and the 99 Percent Spring are positioned to do.”
To find out more about the ’99 % Spring,’ click here.