Until
recently, Charles and David Koch were just a couple of anonymous billionaires.
For years they've been financing a vast right-wing network dedicated to
establishing a laissez-faire corporate utopia in America, operated in the
shadows of politics, thus avoiding public scrutiny.
But –
peekaboo, Kochs – we see you
now!
Their fortune
is derived from Koch Industries, the second-largest privately held corporation
in our country and (not coincidentally) an infamous contaminator of our air,
water, land and climate. The brothers tout themselves as champions of the "free
market" – but by "free," they mean a corporation's freedom to pollute for
profit.
It's dirty
work they do, but the pay is great. Each of them has $21.5 billion in personal
wealth – up $5 billion each in just the last two years. Both brothers are among
the ten richest
Americans.
Yet, the Kochs
are also among the sourest of Americans. Despite taking more than their share of
benefits from our great country, they constantly grump about public policies
that, as Charles puts it, "threatens to erode our economic freedom." It's all
about them, you see – they want to be free of anti-pollution regulations, labor
laws, corporate taxes, and other policies that serve the common good. The public
be
damned.
So, for years,
these grumpy billionaires have secretly been financing right-wing candidates and
front groups (now including Tea Parties) in a personal crusade to crush
government's ability to rein in corporate avarice and arrogance. But as their
political network has risen in prominence, the superrich, self-serving brothers
are now being exposed to public view – and they're not a pretty
sight.
After all, the
higher the monkey climbs, the more you see of its ugly side. Keep your eyes on
these two.
Sources:
"As Tea Party
Koch Brothers Earned An Extra $11 Billion In Recent Years, They Laid Off
Thousands," www.alternet.org, February 1,
2011.
