It is quite possible that among this horrid sea of ignorance and
willful stupidity infecting America, there are probably more than a
couple of Americans who are aware that the Koch brothers openly boast
about their very substantial investment in Republicans’ political
campaigns. Even Charles Koch admitted that he expects results for the
amount of money he and his brother spend to transform America into a
libertarian society where government is abolished and replaced by an
evangelical fundamentalist CEO and corporate board of directors.
To achieve their goal, the Koch’s secretive network distributes
hundreds-of-millions in funds to rabid
wingnut cabals that do their
bidding as activists, lobbyists, propagandists and staunch Republican
advocates. One of its primary “
networks” affectionately known as the “
Koch brothers’ secret bank,” Freedom Partners, does not have to expose their donors’ names because they register as
501(c)6
tax-exempt non-profit and chamber of commerce; but they do have to file
tax documents. The group is made up of all those wealthy donors who
shell out a minimum $100,000 membership dues annually just to attend the
Kochs’ bi-annual secretive
summits to plot the governments’ demise.
Now, according to a tax filing by “
Freedom Partners chamber of commerce,”
Americans can see which anti-government advocacy groups are getting the
lion’s share of Koch and friends “secretive” millions. Of course they
distributed significant amounts to the usual suspects like
anti-regulation fossil fuel
lobbies,
Americans for Prosperity,
Concerned Veterans for America, some nasty group targeting Latinos, and
a group funding evangelicals; besides the millions to the other
religious war on women crusaders.
What apparently surprised some was that the tax filing showed the Koch cabal handing out millions in “
grants”
to other anti-government groups already affiliated with and funded by
the Kochs through ALEC, but not really included as part of “
the network.” Cabals such as the corporate advocacy group the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, the anti-union lobby Club for Growth, and the fear-mongering
gun manufacturing lobby the National Rifle Association.
To get an idea of the scope of the two billionaires’ influence over
Republicans and control over American politics nationally and the state
level, consider the Club for Growth; a lunatic fringe-wingnut anti-government
political group established in 1999. It was once unknown where the cabal
got its funding, but now it is apparent it is from “
the Kochs’ and extremely wealthy wingnuts intent on severely stripping the nation’s budget” to bankrupt government. In fact, the Club for Growth was “
a key player in Scott Walker’s move to eradicate the state’s organized workers,” and has been working
diligently on “
a national strategy to get newly elected Republican governors to destroy labor and unions;”
likely a step toward the Republican cabal’s intent to return to 1920s America. Club
for Growth works in concert with ALEC and the State Policy Network, both
Koch-funded cabals, at the state level to undermine worker rights,
steal public pensions, and eliminate unions.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a cabal that works against workers as a
lobby for corporations and big business, including advocating for
shipping more Americans’ jobs overseas, is intricately connected to the
Koch brothers through ALEC. A recent revelation is that anti-government
crusader Grover
Norquist,
the Kochs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and ALEC all work closely
together. Besides lobbying and funding Republicans, they regularly use
each other as a “reliable” source of information and data. Data that
Norquist, the Kochs, the Chamber, and ALEC use to get Republican leaders
at the federal, state, and local level jumping to do and say whatever
they dictate. It is why every wingnut at every level of government
reliably spouts the exact same lie, uses the same twisted logic, and
expects the same result that always harms American workers.
Most Americans know the NRA and its very close connection with the
Kochs through their legislative arm ALEC, but their influence on
Republican policy goes beyond arming every man, woman, and child in
America; they are also influencing at least one Texas Republicans’
crusade to prevent even one Syrian refugee from entering his country. Dale is an NRA-backed Republican and noted
guns-everywhere advocate who actually said
on television that refugees cannot come to America, at least not Texas,
because it is too easy to buy guns in his state. Dale even sent an
urgent appeal to Texas’ Cornyn and Cruz, and Texas’
congressmen McCaul and Carter to block Syrian refugees’
entrance to America. Dale letters said;
“
While the Paris attackers used suicide vests and grenades, it is
clear that firearms also killed a large number of innocent victims. Can
you imagine a scenario were (sic) a refugees (sic) is admitted to the
United States, purchases a weapon and executes an attack? Do whatever
you can to stop the Syrian refugee program.”
It is unclear where the Kochs publicly stand on Syrian refugees, but
they are funding compassionless gun-nuts through ALEC and the NRA. They
are also influencing the religious rights’ attack on women, secular
government, equal rights, and the LGBT community through very
substantial funding both directly and through their now not-so-secret
network.
The Kochs claim their only interest is in promoting free markets and
smaller government, but like the Republicans, Chamber of Commerce, ALEC,
the NRA, and fanatical evangelical extremists they are dirty liars. The
Freedom Partners’ tax filing proves they have invested tens-of-millions
of dollars to influence every facet of American society and have
adversely affected every American citizen, and the nation. At least now
Americans may understand that contrary to what Republican man-turned-god
Reagan said, the government is not the source of all of
Americans’ woes; it is the Koch brothers, Republicans, and their dirty
un-American anti-government “network” and now there are official tax
documents to prove it.
