Ghostwriters of the Law

Who writes our laws? ALEC does. American Legislative Exchange Council. AKA the 1%. Surprise!

The American Legislative Exchange Council
Is so creative when they’re through our towns’ll be
Shells of their former selves
It’ll be as if old Santa had downsized all his elves
How so you say?
Listen, I pray thee
To a sad and sorry tale
Prepare to shed tears in a vale

Just who are these smart operators, you ask
Well, I read the whole internet so I’m up to the task
On the board there are just three cokes
The drink people quit, leaving the brother Koch blokes

Telecoms, big banks, and really big insurance
Assuring the ongoing corporate crime endurance
If you’re mom and pop well you just don’t rate
At the intersection of business and state

They’ve got a lot of energy, they’ve got Texaco
Chevron, Enron, Exxon, also Amoco

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Ghostwriters of the law

It’s a corporate bill mill, they like to meet
Behind closed doors at a swank retreat
The NRA wrote stand your ground
More and more black youth are not around
Privatizing schools and prisons and social security
Selling of the wealth to the wealthy
Lease it back to the public, that ain’t healthy
For me, or you, but

Smart ALEC knows the score,
Smart ALEC knows what for
Gives all the money so it’s hard to trace
Finds its way to a friendly face
That’s more like arsenic than old lace
Before you know it they’ve taken their place
In the white house, state house, every other great house
They change the rules, play us for fools
And legislators are their tools

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Ghostwriters of the law

They don’t even try to influence legislation
They promote love between government and corporation
They’re rarely seen in the lobby
But writing laws is their favorite hobby

They help thwart corporate taxes by hiding their wealth
And if we even try to expose how they destroy our health
They would love to silence us or even arrest us
Nearly as much as they love asbestos

Smart-ALEC knows what to do
To keep me and you in deep doo-doo
Writes legislation to ruin the nation
And lower the station of the 99 percent
Straighten your seat backs for our final descent

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Ghostwriters of the law

They throw a smokescreen round those who try to sting them
For defending Big Tobacco, they love the plant kingdom
And besides the evil weed these guys are deeply pharmaceutical
With the Glaxo gang lawmakers are downright cahootical

Yippie-eye-ay
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Ghostwriters of the law