No Marriage Equality in ALEC's Top 10

Last week ALEC released one of their partisan biased reports and the news jumped all over it.

IMHO - ALEC's report is nothing more than conjecture - based on a biased and skewed data set.

In the past, two separate reports have debunked the validity and reliability of ALEC's annual report of economic benefits - but the mainstream media is too lazy to look for opposing viewpoints and they print the ALEC pablum without reviewing it.  We have to do more about that - cause ALEC is not all that and neither is their biased reports.

Rich States, Poor States purports to provide a recipe of state policies to achieve economic growth and prosperity. These policies entail cutting or eliminating progressive taxes, suppressing wages, and cutting public services. The evidence and arguments cited to support the beneficial effects of these policies range from deeply flawed to nonexistent.

In actuality, the Chapter 8. Policy Conclusion book provides a recipe

for economic inequality and

declining incomes for most citizens and

for depriving state and local governments of the revenue needed to maintain public infrastructure and education systems that are the underpinnings of long-term economic growth.

ALEC’s policy prescriptions don’t work. 

Anyway - - - this morning
I found this short article about the ALEC report - a short paragraph that questioned - what is more important social or economic equality.  IMHO - how can or why would you separate the two?

Two snips from the article

No state with marriage equality made the American Legislative Exchange Council’s ranking of the top 10 states with the best economic outlooks. 

And seven states that do recognize same-sex marriages are among the bottom 10 states with the worst economic outlooks: Maryland (35th), Maine (41st), Connecticut (43rd), Rhode Island (45th), Minnesota (46th), New York (49th) and Vermont (50th).

I consider this analysis - just as valid as any biased report that ALEC distributes.
After all - ALEC reports data that is biased to red-state policies and the seven states noted don't fall into that category. 

BTW - Utah has been #1 on ALEC's list for six years and they have a constitutional amendment forbidding same sex marriage.  Aothher key point - this is the sixth edition of this ALEC biased partisan report and Utah has been on top EVERY year - #1.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm

Coincidence - maybe.  Causal connection - nope.
But then proving causality is not part of what the ALEC reports purports to do - the purpose is to spread biased information.  So why should I have to prove causation?

I don’t think the authors help their credibility by stating their conclusions with such certainty. Can’t the American Legislative Exchange Council hire an economist or political scientist or statistician who can tell them about causal identification?

Why? Cause based on what others have written - ALEC uses biased and possibly questionable data sets and statistics - to further their agenda. So, maybe, just maybe  - hidden in ALEC's biased calculations is a unreported coefficient for marriage equality.

And that is always a possibility.
Based on a report that ALEC released in 2004 - I think it's safe to predict that EVERY state that enacts marriage equality laws could probably end up at the bottom the American Legislative Exchange Council's list.

Why?

A quote about ALEC's 2004 report from extremist Judith Reismann - THE advisor on the ALEC report

AN ANONYMOUS ALEC STAFFER DELETED A SENTENCE PUBLICIZING THE EFFECTS OF KINSEY'S FRAUD ON THE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE DEBATE FROM HAYNES' INTRODUCTION:

"Today Kinsey's "junk science" is the unquestioned foundation for all the legal, legislative and media debate on marriage and civil unions."

NONETHELESS, THE MONOGRAPH IS A POWERFUL DOCUMENT WITH LEGISLATIVE CREDIBILITY AND CLOUT. THIS IS MY COPY OF THE FINAL SO YOU NEED TO CALL ALEC IF YOU WANT COPIES OF THE ORIGINAL. 

Evidently in 2004 - ALEC didn't think that marriage equality would be an issue of the future and didn't need to be included in the report.

Thank goodness that they were wrong.

It would be interesting though to do a survey - just on ALEC members - on their acceptance of marriage equality.  I think it would be an eye-opener.