GOPocrisy at it finest

Lee Fang has a great piece up at The Nation this week detailing new evidence of the unrelenting hypocrisy of Republican legislators on the Affordable Care Act. After spending four years demonizing it, many of them continue reap the political gains from the benefits it brings to their communities.

Click through for more.

“I hope that people start thinking about campaign finance in a completely different way”

NOTE: This is part two of a two-part post on Lee Fang’s new book “The Machine: A Field Guide to the Resurgent Right”. My review of the book can be found HERE.

After reading Lee Fang’s new book The Machine, I was interested in asking some questions about his research and his thoughts on a number of issues related to the rise of the corporatist conservative movement that so dominates our politics and our government today. I spoke with him on Saturday and our conversation ranged from the beliefs of the average Tea Party adherent to what the left is doing wrong in the battle for public opinion.

Enjoy (after the jump.)

Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it

This past week, journalist Lee Fang’s new book The Machine: A Field Guide to the Resurgent Right was released. Fang is a reporting fellow with the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute and a contributing writer at The Nation and the book represents the culmination of several years of researching and writing about the intersection of conservative politics with corporate influence on our government. The book is, at its core, a history book, showing us how America arrived at a place where a relatively small number of wealthy individuals and corporate entities have shaped the national dialog, our elections, national policy, and even the laws of our land to their own benefit, privatizing wealth while socializing risk.

Click through for my review of this important new book.

“Chalk one up for the good guys”

Last week, I posted a piece titled “Lee Fang exposes the State Policy Network & corporate domination of public policy”. In that piece, I wrote about The Nation journalist and investigative reporter Lee Fang’s work to show how the State Policy Network (SPN) was waging a multi-pronged war to influence legislation, policy and public opinion at the state level across the country. One of the things that Fang reveals is that SPN affiliates have started their own wire services to bring their skewed version of the news to readers all over America. Here in Michigan, SPN affiliate Mackinac Center for Public Policy has done just that.

Thanks to my pals at Progress Michigan, however, today SPN and Mackinac Center lost a round in the battle to sway public opinion and government policy.

It’s much worse than you think

I was recently contacted by journalist Lee Fang and asked to review his new book The Machine: A Field Guide to the Resurgent Right. I received the book yesterday and hope to have a full review out in the next couple of weeks.

As a lead-up to the April 24th release of his book, Fang has published a stunning piece at The Nation titled “The Right Leans In”. I call it stunning because it shows just how much power the corporate-funded right has amassed in shaping public policy in America, operating primarily at the state level. If you thought our biggest problem was the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), you are quite wrong. ALEC is simply one piece of an intricate network formed to push the conservative agenda and turn it into laws and public policy across the country. Fang’s piece is essential reading for every progressive in the country.

Click through for much more.