After having conspiracy-minded left-wingers and their lapdogs in the Old Media dragging his name through the mud for the last week or so, billionaire Charles Koch has spoken up to tell the world what he is on about with his political donations.
The leftist’s boogie man du jour penned an op ed in The Wall Street Journal — that in itself is enough to send the wacky lefties into further paroxysms of hate — on Tuesday, March 1. Koch vowed not to give up his fight to bring a more conservative bent to American government whether federal or state and local.
Pointing out that this year’s deficit will ring in at a hefty $1.6 trillion and that several trillion more in debt will be accumulated by the states, Koch says that it all has “brought us face-to-face with an economic crisis.”
But he vows to fight on even after being “vilified by various groups.”
For many years, I, my family and our company have contributed to a variety of intellectual and political causes working to solve these problems. Because of our activism, we’ve been vilified by various groups. Despite this criticism, we’re determined to keep contributing and standing up for those politicians, like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who are taking these challenges seriously.
But Koch is not just a business-boosting stooge, either. He thinks that the business community has contributed to the fiscal mess in Washington.
Government spending on business only aggravates the problem. Too many businesses have successfully lobbied for special favors and treatment by seeking mandates for their products, subsidies (in the form of cash payments from the government), and regulations or tariffs to keep more efficient competitors at bay.
Crony capitalism is much easier than competing in an open market. But it erodes our overall standard of living and stifles entrepreneurs by rewarding the politically favored rather than those who provide what consumers want.
Koch has some excellent points — if not a bit wonky at that — but what is interesting is that Mr. Koch took the opportunity to explain himself at all.
It shows how the Old Media and the left have hypocritically demonized Koch for legally and openly using his fortune to sway American politics in a conservative direction. Where are all the stories indulging a gnashing of teeth over the billions that left-wing, anti-American George Soros has spent to sway America toward the far, far left? Where are the pundits excoriating left-wing fundraisers for having somehow attacked the American system as they have of the Koch brothers?
Koch lays out his reasoning reasonably. But that he has been attacked so mercilessly by the media and that has forced him to do so, to defend his wholly legal and legitimate actions, is telling.









March 2nd, 2011 at 5:02 am
Good article, Warner! The Koch brothers should be lauded as great Americans. As heroes! They create jobs and prosperity for thousands, if not millions overall. They are not ‘looters’ like the government and corporations like GE and Goldman Sachs are.
Three cheers for the Koch Brothers!!! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
March 2nd, 2011 at 5:20 am
yeah, wait till they are eating you out of house and home and then sending you the bill thru one of their intermediaries to pay for their lifestyle.
March 2nd, 2011 at 6:52 am
“yeah, wait till they are eating you out of house and home and then sending you the bill thru one of their intermediaries to pay for their lifestyle.”
You just described the perfect socialist moocher
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:07 am
Oh the poor, poor Right Wing and their champions are such victims of that nasty media. Oh, the vilification! Oh, the terror! Oh, the horror! The horror! The horror!
I read the article. The word “tax” was not in it. The reason we have such a huge national debt is the tax cuts for the wealthy during the Bush admin., which have yet to be repealed.
These are great times to be rich in America. I’d gladly change places with Charles Koch. Let him live for a while like I and the other members of the Middle Class are having to live these days and maybe he would change his tune.
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:14 am
There haven’t BEEN any “tax cuts,” but nice try.
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:55 am
Oh. I am sorry. Bush did not cut taxes for the wealthy.
I stand corrected. I guess that nullifies what I said! There were no tax cuts for the wealthy. Obama has not struck a deal to extend them. I am so, so sorry for my ignorance.
March 2nd, 2011 at 10:07 am
Klo, did you know the difference between not imposing and cutting ?
March 2nd, 2011 at 11:52 am
Before you folks nominate the Koch brothers for neoconservative sainthood, you might want to recall that in 2000 a federal court jury convicted Koch Industries of 24,000 counts of fraud in stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in oil, much of it from publicly owned federal land. Here’s the link to the 60 Minutes story:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/11/27/60II/main252545.shtml