Charles and
David Koch have a plan: They want to give the US a conservative makeover and
are reportedly interested in buying some of the country’s biggest newspapers.
What makes the billionaire brothers tick?
What do the
Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, the Independent Women's
Forum and the Washington Legal Foundation have in common?
They, like
dozens of other groups that make up the ever expanding universe of Koch-aligned
organizations across the United States, received money from the billionaire
brothers.
While some
of them like the Cato Institute, Americans for Prosperity and the Heritage
Foundation are known beyond their immediate libertarian-conservative ecosystem
others like the Property and Environment Research Center or the now defunct
Environment Literacy Council aren't. However, all of them regardless of their
size and scope share a strong disdain for government coupled with a fervent
belief in unfettered markets and their connection to the Koch brothers.
Men with a
plan
"The
Koch brothers have a multifaceted approach," explains Joseph Aistrup,
professor of political science at Kansas State University, the home state of
Koch Industries, the brothers' conglomerate. Unlike some other rich financiers
of the political left and right in the US, the Kochs do not just write checks
for candidates or causes in an election season, but have a long-term strategy.
 |
| The Cato Institute is a Koch-connected think tank |
Their
funding is continuous and spans across what could be called the entire
ideological supply chain, from research at universities to think tanks and
policy organizations to grass roots and legislative affairs groups at the state
and national level.
For the
2012 election campaign, the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity alone spent
$36 million - according to political money tracker Open Secrets - almost all of
it to defeat Barack Obama.
Since the
Kochs conduct most of their political operations via so-called shadow money
outfits that do not have to reveal their funders, it is impossible to fully
know how much exactly they dished out. But given that Charles Koch had called
the 2012 election a fight "for the life and death of this country" in
a secret audiotape obtained by Mother Jones magazine, the $400 million-figure
that Koch-connected organizations reportedly were planning to spend according
to a Politico article from last May seems entirely possible.
Healthy
finances
That's
because for the Koch brothers who control the US' second largest private
company and rank number six in this year's Forbes list of the world's richest
billionaires with a net worth of $34 billion each, money is not an issue. But
despite their great wealth and their large political role the brothers try to
avoid the public spotlight. "My guess is is probably most people wouldn’t
know them if they saw them out on the street", say Aistrup.
And yet
their spending prowess coupled with the dedication and determination to shape
America's political landscape makes them "the most significant
conservative financiers of the 21st century," says Alan Lichtman, a
history professor at American University in Washington, DC:
"Their
political influence has been immense and it cannot be overemphasized."
 |
| Koch Industries is the second largest private US firm |
And it goes
back to at least 1980 when David Koch ran as the vice presidential candidate
for the Libertarian Party outflanking Ronald Reagan on the right by vowing to
essentially shutting down large parts of the US government by abolishing the
Federal Reserve, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and a host of other programs like social security
should the ticket get elected.
"They
are anti-government activists, indeed extremists," says Kert Davies,
research director of Greenpeace USA who tracks the political activity of the
Koch brothers. "They were running for president to close the government
which is a fairly extreme point of view."
Shift to
the right
The Kochs
soon realized however that in the US two-party system, the Republican Party was
a much more promising entity to popularize their ideas than the fledgling
Libertarian Party and that leading political campaigns from behind can be as -
if not more - effective than running on the ticket. As a consequence they
essentially built their intellectual and ideological network from scratch to
promote their cause.
"And
over the course of time the country as a whole in terms of its politics has
drifted toward them," notes Aistrup. "And as the Republican Party has
become increasingly rightward-driven and Libertarian perspectives have really
become a more dominant aspect of the Republican Party, the Koch Brothers have
really seen their efforts bear fruit."
While their
strategy has changed over time, their positions have not.
"They
truly believe when it comes to economic matters in a minimal government that
taxes very little, that doesn’t regulate industry," says Lichtman. "I
think they are true believers in their opposition to unions." That’s why
they recently supported the controversial efforts of Governor Scott Walker in
Wisconsin to undermine public employee unions and why they were instrumental into
turning the Tea Party movement into a nationwide force, adds Lichtman.
Climate
change
The Koch
brothers' anti-regulation and anti-government stance culminated in a widely
reported climate change denial campaign for which they have spent at least $67
million since 1997, according to a Greenpeace expose from 2012. And while their
political activism is clearly aligned with the corporate interests of Koch
Industries, a major oil and gas company that owns pipelines and refineries,
that is not what makes them tick.
 |
| The tea party was Koch-supported |
"I
don’t think it’s merely about profit," says Aistrup, who has observed how
the Koch brothers "purged the Republican Party of the moderate
element" in their home state of Kansas. "The story goes the entire
Koch family became more politicized because their dad had worked in the Soviet
Union and had basically been cheated out of some money by the Communist
government there."
In any
case, adds Aistrup, "there is a lot more going on than simply trying to
line their own pockets. Anybody who thinks that the Koch Brothers do not
fervently believe in their cause, does not really understand them."
"I
think they are true believers," says Lichtman, who like Aistrup is not
surprised by their reported interest to buy the newspaper arm of the
Chicago-based Tribune company that includes some of the country’s biggest
dailies including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.
"If
they go after these media outlets, primarily newspapers, that just adds on more
pieces to making sure that their particular perspective is reported on in the
news and is reflected more positively in the broader mass media," notes
Aistrup.
"Buying
the media would obviously in their eyes be the strongest remedy to the alleged
liberal bias of the media," says Lichtman.
No comment
 |
| The Tribune group owns nine English and three Spanish dailies |
The Koch
brothers were not available for an interview for this article. Koch Industries
referred to their previously released statement that the company does "not
comment on deals or rumors of deals we may or may not be exploring."
Regardless
of the outcome of their alleged interest in buying the Tribune newspapers, the
Koch brothers will keep trying to grow their political influence in the US, say
the experts.
Their goal,
explains Lichtman, is an even more conservative government that taxes wealth
even more lightly than the current government, that virtually eliminates any
control or regulation over business and that snuffs out the last remaining
remnants of the union movement and substantially cuts down social programs like
social security.
"It’s
in essence in many ways turning back the clock to the conservatism of the
1920s, of Calvin Coolidge and Warren Harding."
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