The Koch network — Republican Conservatives nobody can throw “under the bus”

[C_Clayton_Jones]

I've seen some references to Soros in recent days. Ironic how the Koch bros. have cropped up as a diversion. Soros doesn't like being in the spotlight.

Red herring fallacy, failed attempt to deflect.

The thread topic is about Koch.

 

[Oddball]

Excuse me, but the Koch brothers make you seem not so much like a “cafeteria libertarian” — but rather just a “libertarian” street beggar willing to swallow any ideological scraps you can find.

Charles Koch ran as Libertarian Party candidate for Vice President, and with his brother was a founding member of the CATO institute, have helped all the other major Libertarian foundations, and together they funded or published treatises by every major Libertarian thinker in the country.

Here are Wikipedia entries with scores of linked references:

Koch funds and supports libertarian and free-enterprise policy and advocacy organizations.[36] Two works that have been especially influential upon Koch's philosophy are Ludwig Von Mises' Human Action and F. A. Harper's Why Wages Rise. After reading Harper's book, Koch became involved with Harper's Institute for Humane Studies, of which he became a principal supporter. He has been on the board of IHS since 1966. Since the 1980s, IHS has been increasingly interested in aiding the careers of aspiring educators, journalists, and policy professionals with an interest in classical liberal thought. Among other projects, the IHS runs the Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program, which "has supported more than 900 students during eight-week internships at public policy organizations, both in D.C. and around the country."[44] In addition, almost 200 institutions of higher education in the U.S. are funded by the Charles G. Koch Foundation. What all the Koch-funded programs have in common is an interest in studying free societies with an eye to understanding the mechanisms behind the assumption that economic freedom benefits humanity.[44]


The brothers' ideology is libertarian, more specifically the right-libertarian branch most common found in American-style libertarianism.[9] The late David Koch described himself as a social liberal,[10][11] and in the early years of their political activity ran for vice president as the Libertarian Party's candidate.[12]

yawn

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Their hard “turn” against Donald Trump after Jan. 6th 2020

The turn against Trump had everything to do with Trump no longer being a useful idiot to advance the Koch agenda and nothing to do with the fact of Trump’s crimes and corruption.

 

[eagle7-31]

The turn against Trump had everything to do with Trump no longer being a useful idiot to advance the Koch agenda and nothing to do with the fact of Trump’s crimes and corruption.

Biden is a bigger useful idiot for Soros and the Gates tech crowd running the demrats.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

Red herring fallacy, failed attempt to deflect.
The thread topic is about Koch.

Yes, that is true. But I’d like it also to be about what economic Libertarianism under existing capitalist conditions really leads to and looks like in today’s U.S. society.

I laugh when I read comments by some of our USMB “libertarians” — who maybe have two sticks to rub together to start a fire — talking about what real libertarianism is.

My article is meant also to encourage supporters of today’s Trump / Republican Party to take a deeper view of the origin of views they share with corporate conservatives and those they reject, and to ask themselves what ideology — if any besides support to authoritarianism & Donald Trump himself — they will have after they no longer have the support & ideology of billionaire industrial titans who once supported but now oppose Donald Trump.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

Here is a superb recent investigative article from “ProPublica” that highlights the Koch network’s reach. But it also shows how Koch “libertarian” capitalist influence is carried on inside older traditional “Establishment” institutions where joint socializing with Liberal billionaires goes on at the same time.

This is a fascinating glimpse into the Koch family shared “campground” at ultra-private ultra-exclusive “Bohemian Grove” summer gatherings. The article is titled “Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events.*

***

The Koch network is an overlapping set of nonprofits perhaps best known for its work helping cultivate the Tea Party movement in the Obama years. Recently rebranded as Stand Together, the network includes the powerful Americans for Prosperity Action, which spent over $65 million supporting Republican candidates in the last election cycle….

For decades, the Kochs have held deep antipathy to government regulation. When Charles Koch’s brother David ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1980, the party platform called for abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the Food and Drug Administration.

To score an invite to the summit, donors typically have to give at least $100,000 a year. Those who give in the millions receive special treatment, including dinners with Charles Koch and high-profile guests….

In the 15 years since, the Koch network has left a deep imprint on American society. Its advocacy is credited with helping stamp out Republican Party support for combating climate change, once an issue that drew bipartisan concern. The “full weight of the network” was thrown behind passing the 2017 Trump tax cut, securing a windfall for the Kochs and their donors. And the upcoming Supreme Court term could bring the network a victory it has pursued for years: overturning a major legal precedent known as Chevron.

While most Americans aren’t familiar with the 1984 case Chevron v. NRDC, it’s one of the Supreme Court’s most-cited decisions. Legal scholars sometimes mention it in the same breath as Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. In essence, Chevron is about government agencies’ ability to issue regulations. After a law is enacted, it’s generally up to agencies across the government to make detailed rules putting it into effect. The Chevron decision said courts should be hesitant to second-guess the agencies’ determinations. In the years that followed, judges cited Chevron in upholding rules that protect endangered species, speed up the approval process for new cellphone towers and grant benefits to coal miners suffering from black lung.

The Koch network has challenged Chevron in the courts and its lobbyists have pushed Congress to pass a law nullifying the decision. It has also provided millions of dollars in grants to law professors making the case to overturn it.

The network’s position has become increasingly popular in recent years. Once broadly supported by academics and judges on the right, Chevron is now anathema to many in the conservative legal movement. And there’s no more prominent convert than Thomas.

In 2005, Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a case that expanded Chevron’s protections for government agencies. Ten years later, he was openly questioning the doctrine. Then in 2020, Thomas renounced his own earlier decision, writing that he’d determined the doctrine is unconstitutional after all — a rare reversal for a justice with a reputation for being unmovable in his views….

The Supreme Court announced it would take up a case, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which Koch network staff attorneys represent the plaintiffs. If Thomas and his colleagues side with them this coming term, Chevron will be overturned once and for all.

Without Chevron, “any place you would need regulation to address a pressing social problem, it’s going to be more costly to get it, harder to implement it and it’s not going to go as far,” said Noah Rosenblum, a professor at New York University School of Law….

Charles and David Koch’s access to Thomas has gone well beyond his participation in their donor events. For years, the brothers had opportunities to meet privately with Thomas thanks to the justice’s regular trips to the Bohemian Grove, an all-male retreat that attracts some of the nation’s most influential corporate and political figures. Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for 25 years as Harlan Crow’s guest, according to internal documents and interviews with dozens of members, other guests and workers at the retreat….

The Grove is an exclusive, two-week party held in the Sonoma County redwoods every July. A member or his guest can wander from the Grove’s shooting range to a lecture by Blackwater founder Erik Prince, or from a mint julep party to a performance by the Grove’s symphony orchestra. Wine, sometimes at $500 a bottle, flows freely, and late at night, members consume clam chowder and chili by the gallon. More than one attendee recalled walking outside in the morning to find a former cabinet secretary who fell asleep drunk in the grass.

There’s a saying among the Bohemians, as the club’s members call themselves: The only place you should be publicly associated with the Grove is in your obituary. That privacy is paramount, members said, in part to allow the powerful to speak freely — and party — without worrying about showing up in the press. Only designated photographers are allowed to take pictures. Cellphones are strictly forbidden….

Other justices have Grove connections too. The mid-20th-century Chief Justice Earl Warren was a member. Among modern justices, Thomas appears to have been the most frequent guest….

The Grove is broken up into more than 100 “camps,” essentially adult fraternity houses where the same group of men stay together year after year. Hill Billies was George H. W. Bush’s camp. Nancy Pelosi’s husband has been a longtime member of Stowaway. Thomas stays with Crow at a camp called Midway….

One of the ritzier camps, Midway employs a staff of cooks and personal valets and boasts an extensive wine cellar. The men sleep in private cabins that zigzag up a hillside. Known for its Republican leanings, Midway has a string of superrich political donors as members, including an heir to the Coors beer empire and the owner of the New York Jets. Charles Koch is an active member, as was his brother David. It’s not clear if Thomas has ever been the guest of a member other than Crow....

During the annual retreats, the Kochs often discussed political strategy with fellow guests, according to multiple people who’ve spent time with them at Midway….. “Chevron was one of the big things the Koch brothers were interested in”… Thomas and the Kochs developed a bond over their years at the retreat, according to five people who spent time with them there. They discussed politics, business and their families. They often sat together at meals and sat up talking at night at the lodge….

One tradition at Midway is a lecture series, often held beneath the redwoods on the camp’s deck. The weekend Thomas was there in July 2016, the Midway schedule featured a talk from Henry Kissinger and another by Michael Bloomberg…. Thomas spoke that year as well… He talked about his friend Justice Scalia, who had recently died… Scalia, a conservative luminary, had been a prominent advocate for the Chevron doctrine, but Thomas said he believed his colleague was coming around to Thomas’ revised view on it before his death.

***

*The whole long article is behind a paywall, but you can easily sign up for ProPublica’s free weekly newsletter articles sent to your email inbox at: ProPublica.org/newsletters/the-big-story?

 

[eagle7-31]

Here is a superb recent investigative article from “ProPublica” that highlights the Koch network’s reach. But it also shows how Koch “libertarian” capitalist influence is also embedded in other old “Establishment” institutions where joint socializing with LIBERAL billionaires goes on too.

Here is a fascinating glimpse into the Koch family shared “campground” at ultra-private ultra-exclusive “Bohemian Grove” summer gatherings. The article is titled Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events.*

The Koch network is an overlapping set of nonprofits perhaps best known for its work helping cultivate the Tea Party movement in the Obama years. Recently rebranded as Stand Together, the network includes the powerful Americans for Prosperity Action, which spent over $65 million supporting Republican candidates in the last election cycle….

For decades, the Kochs have held deep antipathy to government regulation. When Charles Koch’s brother David ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1980, the party platform called for abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the Food and Drug Administration.

To score an invite to the summit, donors typically have to give at least $100,000 a year. Those who give in the millions receive special treatment, including dinners with Charles Koch and high-profile guests….

In the 15 years since, the Koch network has left a deep imprint on American society. Its advocacy is credited with helping stamp out Republican Party support for combating climate change, once an issue that drew bipartisan concern. The “full weight of the network” was thrown behind passing the 2017 Trump tax cut, securing a windfall for the Kochs and their donors. And the upcoming Supreme Court term could bring the network a victory it has pursued for years: overturning a major legal precedent known as Chevron.

While most Americans aren’t familiar with the 1984 case Chevron v. NRDC, it’s one of the Supreme Court’s most-cited decisions. Legal scholars sometimes mention it in the same breath as Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. In essence, Chevron is about government agencies’ ability to issue regulations. After a law is enacted, it’s generally up to agencies across the government to make detailed rules putting it into effect. The Chevron decision said courts should be hesitant to second-guess the agencies’ determinations. In the years that followed, judges cited Chevron in upholding rules that protect endangered species, speed up the approval process for new cellphone towers and grant benefits to coal miners suffering from black lung.

The Koch network has challenged Chevron in the courts and its lobbyists have pushed Congress to pass a law nullifying the decision. It has also provided millions of dollars in grants to law professors making the case to overturn it.

The network’s position has become increasingly popular in recent years. Once broadly supported by academics and judges on the right, Chevron is now anathema to many in the conservative legal movement. And there’s no more prominent convert than Thomas.

In 2005, Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a case that expanded Chevron’s protections for government agencies. Ten years later, he was openly questioning the doctrine. Then in 2020, Thomas renounced his own earlier decision, writing that he’d determined the doctrine is unconstitutional after all — a rare reversal for a justice with a reputation for being unmovable in his views….

The Supreme Court announced it would take up a case, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which Koch network staff attorneys represent the plaintiffs. If Thomas and his colleagues side with them this coming term, Chevron will be overturned once and for all.

Without Chevron, “any place you would need regulation to address a pressing social problem, it’s going to be more costly to get it, harder to implement it and it’s not going to go as far,” said Noah Rosenblum, a professor at New York University School of Law….

Charles and David Koch’s access to Thomas has gone well beyond his participation in their donor events. For years, the brothers had opportunities to meet privately with Thomas thanks to the justice’s regular trips to the Bohemian Grove, an all-male retreat that attracts some of the nation’s most influential corporate and political figures. Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for 25 years as Harlan Crow’s guest, according to internal documents and interviews with dozens of members, other guests and workers at the retreat….

The Grove is an exclusive, two-week party held in the Sonoma County redwoods every July. A member or his guest can wander from the Grove’s shooting range to a lecture by Blackwater founder Erik Prince, or from a mint julep party to a performance by the Grove’s symphony orchestra. Wine, sometimes at $500 a bottle, flows freely, and late at night, members consume clam chowder and chili by the gallon. More than one attendee recalled walking outside in the morning to find a former cabinet secretary who fell asleep drunk in the grass.

There’s a saying among the Bohemians, as the club’s members call themselves: The only place you should be publicly associated with the Grove is in your obituary. That privacy is paramount, members said, in part to allow the powerful to speak freely — and party — without worrying about showing up in the press. Only designated photographers are allowed to take pictures. Cellphones are strictly forbidden….

Other justices have Grove connections too. The mid-20th-century Chief Justice Earl Warren was a member. Among modern justices, Thomas appears to have been the most frequent guest….

The Grove is broken up into more than 100 “camps,” essentially adult fraternity houses where the same group of men stay together year after year. Hill Billies was George H. W. Bush’s camp. Nancy Pelosi’s husband has been a longtime member of Stowaway. Thomas stays with Crow at a camp called Midway….

One of the ritzier camps, Midway employs a staff of cooks and personal valets and boasts an extensive wine cellar. The men sleep in private cabins that zigzag up a hillside. Known for its Republican leanings, Midway has a string of superrich political donors as members, including an heir to the Coors beer empire and the owner of the New York Jets. Charles Koch is an active member, as was his brother David. It’s not clear if Thomas has ever been the guest of a member other than Crow.?..

During the annual retreats, the Kochs often discussed political strategy with fellow guests, according to multiple people who’ve spent time with them at Midway….. “Chevron was one of the big things the Koch brothers were interested in”… Thomas and the Kochs developed a bond over their years at the retreat, according to five people who spent time with them there. They discussed politics, business and their families. They often sat together at meals and sat up talking at night at the lodge….

One tradition at Midway is a lecture series, often held beneath the redwoods on the camp’s deck. The weekend Thomas was there in July 2016, the Midway schedule featured a talk from Henry Kissinger and another by Michael Bloomberg…. Thomas spoke that year as well… Thomas spoke that year as well. He talked about his friend Justice Scalia, who had recently died… Scalia, a conservative luminary, had been a prominent advocate for the Chevron doctrine, but Thomas said he believed his colleague was coming around to Thomas’ revised view on it before his death.

*The unexcerpted article is behind a paywall, but you can easily sign up for ProPublica’s free weekly newsletter articles sent to your email inbox here: ProPublica.org/newsletters/the-big-story?

You can thank the 1974 so called Campaign Finance reform act and the law suits afterwards. the Democrats diluted the political parties and empowered inside the beltway PACs and soft money.Yes something had to be done after the 72 Nixon committee pulled some stunts but that law was way overboard.

 

[whitehall]

The Koch brothers haven't been around for years but George Soros funds Media Matters and contributes immense funding to local liberal left wing candidates. Where does George Soros stand in the political arena?

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

The Koch brothers haven't been around for years but George Soros funds Media Matters and contributes immense funding to local liberal left wing candidates. Where does George Soros stand in the political arena?

You obviously haven’t read any of my comments or the links in this thread if you think the Koch Network is not still fully active. I grant you David Koch hasn’t been around much lately — he died in 2019!

 

[Billiejeens]

Then don't disingenuously try to claim the libertarian mantle.

There is no viable Libertarian mantle to claim.
They personally have Libertarian views, but real world there is nothing to support.

 

[Billiejeens]

You obviously haven’t read any of my comments or the links in this thread if you think the Koch Network is not still fully active. I grant you David Koch hasn’t been around much lately — he died in 2019!

No one reads your stuff.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

No one reads your stuff.

Yes, I notice your first four comments only responded to other people who were replying to me.

That’s ok. I guess my threads are not meant for you.

I notice that one of our most notable “radical libertarians” at USMB, gipper, also doesn’t read my threads. He says they are too long. I guess for some people it is much wiser — or safer — to ignore those of us who see the real world in all its complexity … and who come to different conclusions about how to “fight back.”

 

[Billiejeens]

Yes, I notice your first four comments only responded to other people who were replying to me.

That’s ok. I guess my threads are not meant for you.

I notice that one of our most notable “radical libertarians” at USMB, gipper, also doesn’t read my threads. He says they are too long. I guess for some people it is much wiser — or safer — to ignore those who see the real world in all its complexity, or who come to different conclusions about how to “fight back.”

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

You can thank the 1974 so called Campaign Finance reform act and the law suits afterwards. the Democrats diluted the political parties and empowered inside the beltway PACs and soft money.Yes something had to be done after the 72 Nixon committee pulled some stunts but that law was way overboard.

I don’t see why you start only with the 1974 Campaign Finance Reform Act. The history of campaign finance reform laws and “law suits afterwards” goes back at least as far as the Tillman Act of 1907 … which was more radical and progressive than any passed since:

“The Tillman Act of 1907 was the first campaign finance law in the United States. The Act prohibited monetary contributions to federal candidates by corporations and nationally chartered (interstate) banks.

“The Act was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt on January 26, 1907, and was named for its sponsor, South Carolina Senator Ben Tillman”

 

[Billiejeens]

I don’t see why you start only with 1974 Campaign Finance Reform Act. The history of campaign finance reform laws and “law suits afterwards” goes back at least as far as the Tillman Act of 1907 … which was far more radical and progressive than any passed since:

“The Tillman Act of 1907 was the first campaign finance law in the United States. The Act prohibited monetary contributions to federal candidates by corporations and nationally chartered (interstate) banks.

“The Act was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt on January 26, 1907, and was named for its sponsor, South Carolina Senator Ben Tillman”

I bet that you were at the signing.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

I bet that you were at the signing.

… and you were born yesterday?

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

Couldn't care less....For example, their wanting taxpayer funds for scools that they approve of over those they don't is as un-libertarian as you get.....That's merely one example of their cafeteria views.

You are here actually slandering the Koch Network’s own “libertarian” program for private Charter Schools, which for savvy political reasons does not advocate any particular kind of teaching to be done in these schools. Rather they merely lobby for families to be given more “choices” to spend education tax dollars … as these families themselves see fit.

Thus, in state after state the Koch network has advocated for laws allowing “family education accounts” and aid to families to pay for some of the costs of private schools. Much of their propaganda is oriented toward poor and especially Hispanic families, and goes on in state legislatures, but they have of course also had success in having close allies like Betsy Devos appointed as Secretary of Education by Trump on the federal level.

The Charter Schools movement of course was seen by liberals primarily as attempts to destroy and defund already underfunded public school systems, and attack teacher’s unions, and sometimes comment was made that they would tend disproportionally to aid religious schools, but the Koch network stayed clear of this issue, so much that it eventually was ignored by most liberal criticism:

How the Kochs are trying to shake up public schools, one state at a time

Of course the Koch Network does push for an alternative agenda for “Social Studies” or American History education, but this they do under completely different programs aimed primarily at the public school system. Here is a not very well-written or convincing, but informative, liberal attack on their efforts:

The Koch Brothers Sneak into School

Perhaps you criticize Betsy Devros or Ron DeSantis for not being libertarian or Conservative enough for your tastes? I’ll leave that for you to explain more in depth … if you want to.

 

[Doc7505]

Democrats have billions of dollars in free advertising from The Democrat Media 24/7/365.

~~~~~~
Indeed, Democrat coffers bulge with funding from foreign sources and nothing is done about it.

 

[Dragonlady]

The huge Koch Industries lobbying network & mega-wealthy political donor groups it leads have been in the news in recent years for a number of reasons worth discussing.

A) they control by far the most influential and well financed donor base in Conservative politics.

B) their powerful influence over the Federalist Society and in particular their grooming of Clarence Thomas has recently exposed long-standing ties between this corporate big money network, judges, state government leaders and industry-captured “regulators.”

C) Their hard “turn” against Donald Trump after Jan. 6th 2020 — though it hardly seems to have had any immediate effect — raises important issues for the future.

The 2nd richest completely private capitalist network of companies in America (Charles Koch died in 2019 leaving David Koch in charge) has been a powerful — but usually discreet — force in shaping “Libertarian” anti-government campaigns for decades. David Koch functions in a very different way than, say, Murdoch or Tesla or some prominent Liberal mega-rich “benefactors.”

Nevertheless, their products are probably in your home at this very moment even without your knowledge — perhaps the very toilet paper you use is sold to you by them! But what of their “libertarian” politics?

The footprint of Koch organization campaigns can be found in everything from Trump’s initial tax breaks and anti-regulation policies, to all of his Supreme Court choices, to earlier Republican support for “Citizen’s United” & “free political speech” as a supposed personhood right for corporations & private capitalists to unlimited & anonymous political contributions.

The Koch family were key advocates of the “private charter school” movement’s right to public education funding, home schooling, etc. Now there is a Koch-sponsored upcoming Supreme Court decision likely to roll back “Chevron” case precedents allowing government agencies the right to issue regulations implementing federal legislation that only specifies broad goals … which will dramatically limit regulations on everything from the environment to consumer protection to banking.

Each of these areas of contention and many more have their own histories, and other well-healed lobbying groups often have counterposed views. But the record of success of the anti-union and “Don’t tax the super wealthy” Koch network clearly corresponds to the success of corporate and oligarchic private wealth accumulation in America over the last decades.

One area not often discussed is that this group has also pushed for decades for a more open border, and indeed its food industry processing plants notoriously manage to get around “e-Verify” regulations, even or especially in the Deep South & Southwest, where local Republican politicians otherwise scream loudly over the border crisis, but on this are strangely silent. Indeed, many of these processing plants, like the agricultural work they rely on, could never proceed so profitably without such labor.

The Koch network has now shifted from pushing abstract libertarian ideological views on the border issue to one more oriented toward trying to get centrist legislation passed. It is now working with the Bush dynasty, and even talking with some Democrats, speaking of “comprehensive immigration reform,” including a road to citizenship for many long-term foreigners living & working productively here without legal documentation. Of course like most political groups, it is easy to talk the talk but harder to walk the walk. The Koch brothers even earlier “claimed” differences with Trump’s MAGA philosophy on immigration, but helped his movement in practice: Koch Data Mining Company Helped Inundate Voters With Anti-Immigrant Messages

Finally, I don’t want to argue that the Koch network is unique in the history of American politics, or even Republican or Conservative politics. Way back in our last Gilded Age there were similar networks.

So, besides screaming that the Koch Brothers were always “RINOs” and never “Libertarians” or “Real Americans,” has anyone anything interesting to say about the role of this most influential network of super-wealthy conservative donors?

In 2020, David Koch refused to support Trump’s Presidential Campaign and instead focused the investment on Senate races and keeping state governors Republican.

One small correction to your outstanding OP, the Koch Foods which has been the subject of multiple ICE raids, is not part of Koch Industries. Different family.

I was about to suggest that Nicki Haley might be their candidate of choice for 2024, and I see they’ve already endorsed her.

Citizens United needs to be tossed. It was and is a bad decision.

Articles of Incorporation always start off with granting rights to the corporation the first of which reads:

“The corporation shall have the same rights as a natural person to acquire and hold property, to enter into contracts and to sue or be sued.”

The SC truncated this Article after the word “person” and agreed that a natural person has the right to participate in politics and to donate money and create PAC’s.

The amount of money being spent on elections is a public obscenity. The Koch’s were spending $50 mill per election. It’s probably more now.

No one person or corporation should have that kind of power or influence.

 

[Dragonlady]

~~~~~~
Indeed, Democrat coffers bulge with funding from foreign sources and nothing is done about it.

Evidence??????