October 29, 2010

So nice to read how conservatives respect democracy

Or hear, in this case, about how the Arizona anti-immigration law was written by private prison companies. And then, of course, written and handed to congressmen to promote in the state house--with no transparency or acknowledgement that that private prison company had paid to wine and dine these people. And no recognition in the public debate that a prison company stood to make a lot of money out of this.

I am seriously giving up on Republicans looking for good public policy. Their definition of that appears to be that it makes someone a lot of money. That is all. If it leads to great profits, it doesn't matter if it harms the environment, or civil liberties, or anything.

1 comment:

steves said...

I heard this on the way into work and came away with similar concerns. Smitty can hopefully comment on this as he works in the lobbying industry. I am interested in how this differs. I certainly don't like the idea of groups/companies writing these bills and I am sure that it happens more often than not, but at least there is some level of transparency.

I remember my class on estate planning and reading about the laws that dealt with who gets paid first out of someone's estate. It was the funeral home. The professor pointed out that this was the result of strong lobbying efforts by the funeral home advocacy group.