The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

If you’ve never heard of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, you’re not alone. And that’s exactly how they like it.

ALEC is a corporate-funded lobbying group that masquerades as a charitable nonprofit. It exists for one reason: to provide corporations with a direct pipeline into our state legislatures. Through lavish retreats disguised as "conferences," ALEC wines and dines lawmakers, effectively arranging all-expense-paid vacations for them and their families. At the conclusion of these conferences, ALEC hands pre-written, corporate-approved bills to the legislators, who carry them home like souvenirs.

These aren't just any bills. They are carefully crafted blueprints designed to privatize public services, gut worker protections, suppress voting rights, and fuel culture wars that distract citizens from the real looting taking place in the background, out of sight. Once back in their home states, legislators, who are almost exclusively Republicans, introduce these ALEC-generated bills, often without even changing the title.

The most recent conference took place in Denver during the week of July 22 last year. Major topics discussed included a renewed push to privatize education through the “Microschool Education Act,” which would direct public funds into home-based or micro-school setups, undermining public schools. ALEC also promoted corporate-friendly energy policies such as the “Equitable Escalation of Electricity Demand Act,” which attributes rising energy costs to electric vehicles and data centers. They also introduced the “Electricity Trajectory Management Act,” aimed at keeping aging coal and gas plants online. Additionally, social policy proposals like the “Act to Prohibit Anti-Semitism in State K–20 Educational Institutions” were introduced, which would be used to curb free speech on college campuses. Overall, ALEC’s agenda at the Denver meeting highlighted its ongoing mission: to diminish public control and enhance corporate influence in nearly every aspect of American life.

So, what does this mean for you? It means your elected representatives may be more loyal to ALEC than to you. Instead of listening to your needs, they’re listening to the corporations that actively fund ALEC’s operations. These are the companies that see your public schools, prisons, and roads not as essential services but as opportunities for profit.

Here in Missouri, we've seen the fingerprints of ALEC all over bills that push for school privatization, harsher criminal sentencing, and tighter voting restrictions. Many of these bills align perfectly with ALEC's national playbook. That's not a coincidence; it's the game plan.

ALEC doesn’t act alone. Its mission is amplified by sister organizations like the Heritage Foundation and Missouri's own Show-Me Institute. Together, they craft narratives about “school choice” and “free markets” to make privatization sound like empowerment. In reality, it's a Trojan horse for corporate control.

It’s no surprise that ALEC has long opposed public health regulations, historically lobbying against the Affordable Care Act. Healthcare is a multi-trillion dollar industry in the U.S.; ALEC wants to make sure that insurance, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries remain grotesquely profitable on the backs of sick people. They’ve championed anti-immigration laws while boosting the private prison industry that profits from the mass incarceration of illegal immigrants. Now, they’ve taken up the banner of anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion legislation—not out of any sense of moral conviction but because they know that cultural outrage is a powerful tool to keep voters distracted and divided.

It’s little surprise that ALEC's co-founder, Paul Weyrich, openly admitted he didn’t want everyone to vote because high voter turnout hurts extremist conservative causes. That mindset permeates ALEC’s strategy today: suppress the vote, stir up division, and make sure corporations, not people, are in the driver’s seat.

When you pull back the curtain, you see that ALEC isn’t just some far-off policy group; it’s in our backyard, writing our laws and undermining our democracy.

And it gets worse: Across the country, lawmakers who are influenced by ALEC and its network are, at this very moment, pushing anti-protest laws designed to silence dissent. On the surface, it violates our right to free speech, but when corporations write legislation, we should expect such outcomes.

It’s interesting that Republican legislators are being instructed not to attend town halls, effectively cutting off direct communication with the public. Think about that: they’ll take your tax dollars, fly off to corporate-sponsored retreats, and come back with legislation. But they won’t look you in the eye at a public meeting.

This isn’t just corruption. It’s cowardice. It’s authoritarianism. And it’s a test to see if we’re paying attention.

The bottom line is that it’s not enough to simply be aware of ALEC. It’s not enough to grumble online or shake our heads in frustration. We must get mad. We must take it to the streets. This is not an academic exercise. It’s a knife fight for our democracy.

It’s time to take action. Begin by calling your legislator and asking them directly: Are you affiliated with ALEC? Demand a clear response. Organize local forums or town halls and invite your representatives to participate. If they decline, don’t allow their absence to go unnoticed. Make it known. Speak out through letters to the editor, join protests, and raise your voice wherever possible. Support candidates dedicated to representing the people instead of corporations or secretive lobbying networks. Most importantly, remain engaged: show up, speak up, and don’t back down. Take it to the streets!

Because if we let this continue, we’re handing over our future to an unelected network of corporate interests and power-hungry ideologues.

Democracy is not self-sustaining. It lives or dies by our willingness to fight for it. And fight for it we must. History is watching. This is our time. This is our fight.