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So what's all this scandal-mongering about libertarian billionaire business owners David and Charles Koch supporting libertarian causes?
Republican billionaire business owners support Republican causes. Is that a scandal?
Democrat billionaire business owners support Democrat causes. Is that a scandal?
Yet because the Kochs advocate freedom (libertarianism) they're reviled by the likes of CommonDreams, calling them "The Money Behind the Hate: The Kochtopus" alongside the "Wanted for Climate Crimes" poster on their website.
The New Yorker started the current Big Flap over the Kochs in August with their article "Covert Operations," a phrase strongly implying that there's something deceitful about wealthy libertarians backing libertarian causes, even though ThinkProgress already branded the billionaire brothers with the now hackneyed "hate" word back in '09.
The New Yorker "outing" of the Kochs began with a straightforward bio and then noted "The Kochs are longtime libertarians," thereby introducing a tsunami of nefarious anti-progressive deeds such as "funding organizations that aim to push the country in a libertarian direction."
These organizations include Americans for Prosperity Foundation, Cato Institute, Mercatus Center, Institute for Humane Studies, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Institute for Justice, Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment, and others.
Think of the horror experienced by progressives and conservatives alike. Billionaires promoting freedom! As though no rich Republican or silver-spooned Democrat would ever dream of funding organizations that pushed their political agendas.
ThinkProgress called the brothers "the Billionaires Behind the Hate" because the Kochs have funded the Tea Parties. So who funds ThinkProgress, some lefty billionaires who hate real freedom? Progressivism, after all, absolutely requires a criminal government that robs from productive people and gives to its favorite politically connected pets. Why isn't that defined as hate?
The Googlesphere, including blogs funded by left and right moneywads, is littered with spittle-dripping rage against the Kochs, including the Greenpeace Conspiracy Theory titled "Koch Industries Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine" (pdf).
Libertarians can write their own riposte to that one.
Or, since ExxonMobil is equally excoriated in the account, libertarians can just agree with a Mens News Daily headline, "Greenpeace Report: Koch brothers and Exxon deserve medals."
Anyone, rich or poor or otherwise economically endowed who promotes freedom, as opposed to progressivism or conservatism or other forms of collectivism, deserves a medal.
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Comments
Soros is the money behind the democrat hate and he's a real Nazi and convicted criminal as well.
Dems don't care, they assume they will all be criminals.
Oh and 'big oil' and 'big banks' are the ones funding and promoting the enviro-mental movement.
Just look at the 350.org --- funded by the Rockefeller Bros! And the deRothschilds are pushing it and so is Maurice Strong.
they have been owned.
You deserve a medal for pointing this out so clearly. Keep it up. We need more folks to clear up the confusion the Democrats and Republicans intentionally give the general public.
Have we reached the point where even thinking about donating to libertarian causes and candidates will be considered a thought crime or form of serious sin?
Hats off to the Koches for supporting freedom, but the organizations listed that the Koch's support are really pretty moderate.
To quote from the article: "These organizations include Americans for Prosperity Foundation, Cato Institute, Mercatus Center, Institute for Humane Studies, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Institute for Justice, Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment, and others."
I am not familiar with all of these, but the ones I know are really very moderate compared to the Ludwig von Mises Institute (which I believe is the best source of knowledge of free market economics on the planet, and which I proudly support), lewrockwell.com, FreedomsPhoenix.com, infowars.com and others.
But, to reiterate, I am eternally glad that someone with some wealth is in our camp. They are few and far between, while the left is crawling with celebrities and other rich, and the neo-con side is also pretty well endowed.
It should not be a surprise that our movement is generally poor because so many of the rich got that way through government and not through hard work. If we had a free market, these poor souls would have to *work*.
The Koches are an exception. They apparently obtained their wealth the old fashioned way: They *earned* it.
And since when was promoting freedom in any way a bad thing? Is America no longer the "land of the free and home of the brave"? Has that big statue in New York harbor suddenly become the Statue of Equality?
Freedom and liberty used to be the words people used to describe America. What direction do we want to go here?
Good for them! Where you put your money shows what kind of person you are. Funding libertarian causes shows you are probably a decent person who values the individual. Funding authoritarian causes of the "left" or "right" shows you hate individuals and want them crushed beneath life-killing coercion and "laws".
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