It pays to be a member of the US corporatocracy

The group Common Cause is out with a full list of corporate members belonging to the American Legislative Exchange Council – known as ALEC. 

It turns out, the nation’s four largest oil companies – Shell, BP, Chevron, and ExxonMobil – are all members of ALEC – and sit on ALEC taskforces to write legislation to benefit their own interests – like eliminating EPA regulations and giving away public lands for drilling and fracking.  These four oil corporations raked in a combined $30 billion in profits in just the first three months of this year. 

If corporations like ExxonMobile are writing our laws – and not our elected representatives – then you can kiss American democracy as we know it – goodbye.