You won’t believe how entertainingly John Oliver loses it over learning state legislatures matter!

That John Oliver video on state legislatures was remarkably bitter, in that highly entertaining ‘I’m going to say things that are funny because the alternative is to cry’ way.  And, indeed, I laughed.  But as many, many people have noted: we have state legislatures for a reason.  And just because Northeastern progressives (and their carefully-trained Motley Fools*) have suddenly discovered that state legislatures matter doesn’t mean that the rest of us haven’t noticed it all along. We also seem to be doing a decent job about doing something about it, as the video in the linked article rather petulantly reveals.  Seventeen minutes’ worth of tantrum would be impressive from my five year old; in a grown man it’s practically epic.

There’s not much else to say here, except: if you were wondering whether the Left really hated ALEC** or not, the video in the above article would confirm it once and for all. And John Oliver gives the game away, kind of inadvertently: it’s not that ALEC promotes and provides support for a consistent political and economic agenda.  It’s that ALEC is actually rather good at it.

Moe Lane

PS: As to individual legislative shenanigans, it was remarkably parochial of Jon Oliver to bring up a fist fight in a state legislature and not reference this Internet classic.  Sure, some of the videos aren’t there anymore, but this video of the South Korean Zombie Party Caucus is still up:

Politics is supposed to be contentious.  And better they brawl in the halls than in the streets.  If only because people inevitably bring automatic weapons to the street brawls.

*I wonder if Oliver has to take special exercises, in order to keep the accent.

**The American Legislative Exchange Council.  In the vast, vast pantheon of Groups That Progressives Officially Hate, ALEC is mostly hated by hipster progressives who started hating it before it was cool.