Lawmakers don’t even bother to write laws, letting special interests do it instead

We elect our lawmakers to, well, make laws. Turns out they are farming that work out to corporations eager to spread their agendas across the country. An analysis by USA Today, The Arizona Republic and the Center for Public Integrity discovered more than 2000 pieces of legislation, written by special interests, then adopted into law by states across the country. These bills are typically disguised as the work of lawmakers, but they are simply copycats of so-called model bills then adopted by one legislature after another. Our lawmakers are simply cutting and pasting our laws. The politicians get credit, and then get big donations from those who actually wrote the bills for their benefit.Those behind the bills, many of them from the American Legislative Exchange Council, funded by the Koch brother, don’t have to show up on campaign finance reports or register as a lobbyist. But clearly they are influencing, and even shaping, legislation across the country. Many of the bills have innocuous titles, making people thing they are doing good. Like The Asbestos Transparency Act. It didn’t help people who were exposed to asbestos. Instead, it was written by corporations who wanted to make it harder for victims to sue for damages. If we’re going to outsource to the special interests, why are we even bothering to elect lawmakers, or pay their salaries?