AARP’s Retreat From Conservative Forum Part of ‘Great Silencing’
The decision by the seniors group AARP to drop its membership in an influential legislative reform group is the latest example of the left’s successful pressure on corporations and other organizations to disown the group.
Since December, according to the liberal website SourceWatch.org, “at least 108 corporations and 19 nonprofits” have announced cutting ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Among those listed as parting ways with ALEC: Coca-Cola Co., Blue Cross Blue Shield, Johnson & Johnson, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, and Hewlett-Packard Co.
“A great silencing is taking place across America,” ALEC spokesman Bill Meierling told The Daily Signal. “All people should be deeply concerned when any group believes solutions come from intimidation rather than discussion.”
Of all the organizations in the conservative movement that have antagonized the left during the Obama presidency, this one stands out.
The American Legislative Exchange Council is a nonprofit, nonpartisan network of state lawmakers, policy analysts, and private sector leaders that advances model legislation with an eye toward free market policy solutions.
The organization that became known as ALEC grew out of informal meetings of conservative activists in Chicago during autumn 1973. Forty-three years later, the exchange council includes “nearly one-quarter of the country’s state legislators and stakeholders from across the …read more