November 8, 2014 7:51 AM

When you want it all, enough is never enough

As a result of the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, billionaires and large corporations can now spend an unlimited amount of money to influence the political process. Perhaps, the biggest winners of Citizens United are Charles and David Koch, owners of the second-largest privately run business in America Koch Industries. Among other things, the Koch brothers own oil refineries in Texas, Alaska, and Minnesota and control some 4,000 miles of pipeline. According to Forbes Magazine, the Koch brothers are now worth $80 billion, and have increased their wealth by $12 billion since last year alone. For the Koch brothers, $80 billion in wealth, apparently, is not good enough. Owning the second largest private company in America is, apparently, not good enough. It doesn’t appear that they will be satisfied until they are able to control the entire political process.

It’s been said that money is the root of all evil…and anyone looking at the current state of American politics would have a difficult time arguing that assertion. During the most recent election cycle, Charles and David Koch spent close to $190 million to influence voters and elect candidates who’d be beholden to them. In order to wield power, you don’t need to win elections; all you need to is to purchase those who win those elections. Create a class of politicians who owe their sinecure to your largesse…and you’re the silent partner, the power behind the throne. The Kochs are smart enough to understand this and wealthy enough to be willing to invest in democracy…or at least a version favorable to their interests.

No one will deny that our current legal climate allows the Kochs to invest their money as they see fit. Most tycoons invest in things which will allow them to measure return on investment (ROI) in concrete terms. They want to see their portfolio grow with time, which is what most investors are after. The Kochs have a different endgame. While they’re as concerned as anyone with gaining, maintaining, and growing wealth, the Kochs have focused much of their efforts (and money) on political power. The advent of the Tea Party provided the Kochs with a vehicle with which to attempt to remake American governance into something that more closely fit their Libertarian, dog-eat-dog, I-got-mine-you-can-get-your-own worldview.

Most Americans know the Koch brothers as billionaires who want to remake (or yes, buy) the American political system. But what do they want? What sorts of things do they want to see changed? And why are they spending so much money to buy politicians? Not many of us remember that David Koch was the Libertarian Party’s vice-presidential candidate in 1980…and his party’s platform was a frightening expression of a collective desire to turn America into a playground for the greedy, the selfish, and the inhuman. Perusing the 1980 Libertarian Party platform is to look at a terrifying view of an America where compassion has died, greed reigns supreme, and the “have-nots” exist solely for the purpose of serving the interests of the “haves.”

I’ll leave reading the whole thing to you, but here are a few of the lowlights:

  • “We urge the repeal of federal campaign finance laws, and the immediate abolition of the despotic Federal Election Commission.”
  • “We favor the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid programs.”
  • “We oppose any compulsory insurance or tax-supported plan to provide health services, including those which finance abortion services.”
  • “We also favor the deregulation of the medical insurance industry.”
  • “We favor the repeal of the fraudulent, virtually bankrupt, and increasingly oppressive Social Security system. Pending that repeal, participation in Social Security should be made voluntary.”
  • “We propose the abolition of the governmental Postal Service. The present system, in addition to being inefficient, encourages governmental surveillance of private correspondence. Pending abolition, we call for an end to the monopoly system and for allowing free competition in all aspects of postal service.”
  • “We oppose all personal and corporate income taxation, including capital gains taxes.”
  • “We support the eventual repeal of all taxation.”
  • “As an interim measure, all criminal and civil sanctions against tax evasion should be terminated immediately.”
  • “We support repeal of all law which impede the ability of any person to find employment, such as minimum wage laws.”

There’s more- a lot more- but what I’ve spotlighted is enough to demonstrate a worldview that could only fairly be described as inhuman. The social safety net? Minimum wage laws? Health care? Education? The environment? All those destructive Liberal concepts would be wiped away and be replaced by whatever the free market put in its place. The social contract would be replaced by the unalloyed pursuit of the Almighty Dollar. The superrich would be accountable to no one, nor would they be held to have any responsibility to anyone or anything save their own self-aggrandizement and further enrichment.

This list is a primer for the America the Kochs wish to create. Citizens United has made that vision entirely possible. With the Supreme Court on their side, and red states remaking their system of governance to accommodate the Koch vision, we may well be looking at a less compassionate, kind, and united America. We may be looking at the eventual creation of an America with two distinct classes- the super rich…and those who exist primarily to serve the interests of the super rich.

When I talk about Americans voting against their own interests, this is exactly what I mean. The Koch brothers couldn’t buy politicians if Americans didn’t vote for those on the Koch payroll. They have the power and the ability to stand up to corruption and venality…but they’ve chosen not to. They’ve chosen propaganda and character assassination over critical thinking and sober reflection. They’ve chose lies and disinformation over candidates who believe in an America in which the collective good trumps the selfish interests of the individual.

We have exactly the quality of leadership we deserve…because we’ve elected those dedicated to the dismantling of America.

Nice work, y’all.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 8, 2014 7:51 AM.

Be careful what you vote for. You just might get it...and then some. was the previous entry in this blog.

Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from being ridiculed for your speech is the next entry in this blog.

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