Saturday, June 14, 2003

From the Comments to Tresy's post, SullyWatch adds this important insight:

What's really funny about this is that AEI, the Federalist Society and all the other Scaife-spawn have had exactly the sort of effect on the US that they now fret about "NGOs" (and which NGOs are they talking about?) having on other countries.

To quote from their website:

NGOs have created their own rules and regulations and demanded that governments and corporations abide by those rules. Many nations’ legal systems encourage NGOs to use the courts-or the specter of the courts-to compel compliance. Politicians and corporate leaders are often forced to respond to the NGO media machine, and the resources of taxpayers and shareholders are used in support of ends they did not intend to sanction.

Some of the paper titles deserve to be republished here as well:

"The NGO Challenge: Whose Democracy Is It Anyway?" Gary Johns, Institute of Public Affairs, Australia

"Increasing NGO Openness and Accountability" David Riggs, Capital Research Center

This gets better when you go over to NGOwatch:

Do NGOs influence international organizations like the World Trade Organization? What is their agenda? Who runs these groups? Who funds them? And to whom are they accountable?

[...]

This site will, without prejudice, compile factual data about non-governmental organizations. It will include analysis of relevant issues, treaties, and international organizations where NGOs are active.

[...]

Non-governmental organizations are a time-honored tradition, in the United States and throughout the world. With greater transparency for NGOs, there will be greater accountability, and with that, we hope, greater responsibility and effectiveness for the many who are engaged in great work.



Lessee ... this from the same general crew that got the courts to seal the results of the conflict-of-interest investigation in the Hiatt Steele trial and the Arkansas Project investigation (itself the result of a case study in non-profit opacity).

The site begs for suggestions. We’re sure they wouldn’t mind hearing from us, would they?

Oh, and lastly, the irony of conservative groups complaining about misuse of the private sector by groups when government can’t do the job is just ... well, Alanis Morrisette couldn’t do it justice.

This kind of attack, accusing all attempts to extend democracy of being elitist, has a long, dishonorable history in the Republican Party, two classics being Reagan's attempts, from Governor to President, to get rid of the Legal Resources Corp., and the on-going conservative, through-the-looking-glass arguments, from Bork to Wm Pryor, against one man, one vote.