ALEC, the anti-democratic and secretive organisation funded by big business to cement the primacy of profit over the interests of citizens and taxpayers has been proposing to penalize homeowners who install solar panels. This is part of an offensive against renewable energy on behalf electricity generators. ALEC aims to block all efforts to promote wind and solar power on the premise that homeowners (who are compensated for feeding surplus energy into the grid) don’t have to pay anything for the electricity distribution network. The group draws up model bills and resolutions that its State legislator members then ram through their legislative bodies. This is but one of many such moves. Wherever a big corporation or lobby (e.g guns) has an issue ALEC will make sure that the corporation gets its way, regardless of the interests of the

The good news is that ALEC (which pays no tax because it is a “non- profit” operation, could now be in trouble, because it’s political activity is in contradiction to its legal status. It also lost several key corporations and 400 state legislators last year as a result of the appalling Trayvon Martin murder and the NRA sponsored Wild West “stand your ground” law. Walmart, CocaCola and others resigned, leaving it in financial straits.

Epicurus might have argued that it had no business being in existence. It stands for everything that Americans have abhorred for many years: secrecy, support for monopoly, the undermining of democratic and human rights, and the seduction of state legislators with money.