There are a lot of people out there who know all about ALEC, and recently, the fact that the Koch brothers have been laying a lot of money on them, and that the organization does, indeed, influence a lot of politicians and law makers.

But—

There are other, similar organizations, on both ends, and along the whole span of the spectrum, and there have been for a very long time. They come and they go. ALEC doesn't show up regularly on the six o'clock news, but many internet newsletters carry stories of their latest doings, and I'm expecting a "60 Minutes" segment on them any day now.

They would undoubtedly like to be a deep, dark, all-powerful conspiracy group, but there is one helluva lot of competition in that field, and they all want different—and mutually exclusive—things.

Don Firth