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| Charles Koch |
Et tu, Charles?
The Politico headline reads, "Koch network pledges to shun lawmakers tied to Capitol riots."
In a statement to Politico, Emily Seidel, CEO of Americans for Prosperity, the main Koch super PAC, said, “Lawmakers’ actions leading up to and during last week’s insurrection will weigh heavy in our evaluation of future support. And we will continue to look for ways to support those policymakers who reject the politics of division and work together to move our country forward.”
While the statement is a bit more ambiguous than the headline, there is clearly no support by the Koch network for any views expressed outside of establishment parameters.
Whatever one thinks of Trump, it is a true sign of weakness to line up with the distortions currently being promoted by the Democrats and lefty media.
Charles, of all people, has to know how the Left operates and how they will use any opportunity to advance their cause.
Hell, I have Murray Rothbard's unpublished paper delivered at a Charles Koch sponsored strategy event where Rothbard explained the entire damn thing. Indeed, in the paper, he even quotes Charles on shock tactics:
In his strategy paper, Charles Koch asks: "Under what conditions should radical ideas be introduced gradually and tactfully, and when should they be advanced starkly for shock value."
Charles Koch is 85 years old and worth over $50 billion. If he really isn't going to let it rip at this age when he has a near-infinite amount of FU money, I really wonder why he got into the liberty movement at all.
Charles, the country is in crisis, go out with a bang. Let it rip, for liberty.
Or has liberty never been the goal?
-RW
It seems to me that any self-identified libertarian who was offended by the events of January 6 ought to re-think his self-labeling. This was not really a violent event, but merely an affront to the religious fervor that underlies the state. We should generally applaud non-violent efforts to undermine the perceived holiness of the state, and the federal government in particular, and to further illustrate the hypocrisy that is part of being a statist.
ReplyDeleteExcellent argument, RW. As most of us know, Charles sponsored all sorts of Austrian/Libertarian seminars, conferences and events in the early years. I remember writing (actually ghost-writing) a petroleum op/ed for him in 1977 where I criticized government regulation and called for more competition and liberty. When he got the draft he called me on the phone and proceeded to tell me that the piece wasn't hard-hitting enough (!) and that it should be more radical in tone and recommendations. O.K. Charles, you are paying so if that's what you want... We all respected Charles's courage, including Murray, because he put considerable money and his reputation where his mouth and beliefs were. It's no exaggeration to say that he kept the liberty movement alive (in the 1979s and 1980s) and allowed liberty ideas to grow and become reasonably respectable in the academy and even in some parts of the media. Never really understood why that movement enthusiasm vanished ( was he threatened or punished politically and in business for his spending?) or why the funds were not channeled into some mega-media enterprise that would have had substantial influence on opinion makers. One of life's many mysteries...
ReplyDeleteThe Koch Brothers are tragic figures in the liberty moment. Perhaps, no billionaires in history have spent so much money for absolutely nothing in return. If all these think tanks had been worth anything, we might have been saved from all this corona nonsense in 2020. If you create a parallel and the Koch Brothers never exist, the country is probably no different. They have had ZERO impact on anything.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to say this now. It's a shame that they didn't go to Hollywood and start a movie and television studio, as well as a record company and book publisher. That could not have possibly had any less impact than all of their worthless think tanks. Cato is actually more worthless than the LP, and it's probably wasted even more money over the years.
One tool of political control is take one's family hostage by threat of blackmail rather than a threat to life or limb. The scandalous weapon need not be true merely plausible and impossible to defeat as libel.
ReplyDeleteI do not know such is the case with Charles, but wealthy families are never as private as the hope to be.