BREAK THE KOCH MACHINE
A number of billionaires are flooding our
democracy with their money, drowning out the voices of the rest of us. But
Charles and David Koch are in a class by themselves. They’re using their
fortune – they’re the fifth and sixth richest people in the world — to create
their own political machine designed to protect and advance their financial
interests. The Koch machine includes:
1. Political front groups pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into elections at every level of our democracy, while disguising the sources of the money.
2. Giant advertising campaigns to
convince Americans climate change is a myth, the Affordable Care Act will harm
them, unions are bad, and wealthy people deserve tax cuts.
3. A network of think tanks designed
to come up with findings the Kochs want. For example, over $23 million for
studies arguing we should abolish the minimum wage or keep it where it is
forever.
4. A campaign to suppress the votes of
minorities. In the last presidential election, funding white
“poll-watchers” where minorities vote, leading to complaints of voter
intimidation. And peddling a Voter ID bill to state legislators across the
country, designed to make it harder for many to vote.
5. A nationwide effort to bust unions.
Funding anti-union campaigns in states like Wisconsin, and pushing an
anti-union law that’s been used in dozens of states to undermine workers’
collective bargaining rights.
 |
| For more cartoons by Kevin Siers, click here |
The Koch political machine would be troubling
in any circumstance. But it’s especially dangerous in present-day America, where
wealth is more concentrated than it’s been in over a century and the Supreme
Court has opened the floodgates to big money.
The problem isn’t that the Kochs are so rich,
or their political views are so regressive. The problem is they’re using their
exorbitant wealth to impose those views on the rest of us, undermining our
democracy.
More than 200,000 of you have already signed
my MoveOn petition denouncing the Koch brothers for undermining our democracy.
The Kochs won’t care what we say, but when a
half a million of us stand up to them, politicians will have to think twice
before taking their money. When a million of us stand up to them, their money
will be a political liability.
Standing up to bullies is the hallmark of a
civilized society. Please join our petition — and stand up for our democracy.
The link to the petition is at the end of the video.
Our democracy is not for sale.
ROBERT B. REICH, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at
the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center
for Developing Economies, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration.
Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of
the twentieth century. He has written thirteen books, including the best
sellers “Aftershock" and “The Work of Nations." His latest,
"Beyond Outrage," is now out in paperback. He is also a founding
editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause. His new
film, "Inequality for All," is now available on Netflix, iTunes, DVD,
and On Demand.
