The Koch brothers "... stand for profit-making at the extreme end of Free Market Capitalism"

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If You Are a Fan of the Koch Brothers, Be Warned: Stop Here!
By Lucinda, April 12, 2014

This week as I struggled to get past a cold that won’t go away, I lazed around and watched more TV than usual. I decided one day to watch the Fox channel and see how much they’re telling their people about the Koch Brothers.

My score sheet for all the mentions of the Koch brothers and the things they’re paying for and why they’re doing it, and possibly some history on their past Libertarian efforts is blank. Not one mention. (Note: I did have to sit through some pretty hilarious and obvious extremist lies, though. I’m still laughing at some of them.)

Just in case you’d like a little run-down on the history of the Koch family, I decided to devote the entire blog today to the Koch brothers. I hope they appreciate the free publicity.

Were you aware that in 1980 David Koch ran for Vice President on the Libertarian Party ticket?  Bernie Sanders (1) said that David Koch’s platform included, but was not limited to…

1.  Repeal and demolish any regulations on election financing so that the wealthy, whether citizens of the U.S.A. or anywhere around the world, may put as much money into buying our legislators and our presidents and governors as they want to.
2.  Abolish Medicare and Medicaid programs
3.  Disallow any efforts by our government to help the poor, the ill, and the elderly with healthcare costs.
4.   Allow the medical insurance industry to do whatever it wants, anywhere, anyplace, to anybody.
5.   Abolish Social Security
6.   Abolish the Postal Service
7.   Abolish all income taxes against corporations
8.   In fact, abolish ALL taxes eventually
9.   Abolish minimum wages
10.  Abolish all public schools and universities
11. Do not require that any children go to school at all
12.  Do not tax private for-profit schools in any way (property tax, income tax… whatever)
13. Abolish ALL efforts to make businesses operate in safe ways for the public’s good
14.  In fact, abolish all agencies that are set up to make sure businesses operate in safe ways for the public’s good.
15.  Put all transportation industries in the hands of For-Profit companies, and do not regulate their operations so that they maintain safety on roads, railroads, buses, and airplanes.
16.  Do not require that drivers buckle children up for safety.
17. Abolish all food safety regulations.
18. Abolish ALL help to the poor
19.  Abolish all regulations that assure safe use and distribution of water to agriculture, industry, and households. Put those items in the hands of For-Profit companies.

Is that enough to tell you what the Koch brothers stand for?

In summary, they stand for profit-making at the extreme end of Free Market Capitalism.

They stand for money being so powerful that there is no recourse for citizens who are injured or killed at the whim of someone pursuing a profit.

These are the men who are buying our government leaders in leaps and bounds. Our Supreme Court has continued to give them more and more power to do as they please on that point. There are few limits now on their purchases of our government. In fact, there are NO limits, because any limit can be easily skirted through one or more of the Koch Family Foundations.

“Koch Family Foundations consist of the David H. Koch Foundation, the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation,[1] and the Knowledge and Progress Fund.[2]“  (2)

These Koch Family Foundations launder multi-millions of dollars every year through other groups that are often attributable directly back to these Koch Family Foundations. Some of these groups are:

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC – they create laws for our Republican legislators to pass)
Cato Institute
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Citizens for Congressional Reform Foundation
Heartland Institute
Institute for Policy Innovation
Center of the American Experiment
National Taxpayers Union Foundation
Free Enterprise Institute
Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
National Environmental Policy Institute
American Council for Capital Formation
State Policy Network
Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation
Institute for Objectivist Studies
Americans for Prosperity

Watch for their very expensive commercials, mailings, and billboards that support Governor Brownback and the far right extremist legislators when they begin their next campaigns – In particular, ask yourselves why they’re lying in these commercials. Keep an open mind when viewing this propaganda. Are you willing to sell your government to the highest bidder to men whose families founded the nefarious John Birch Society, and whose very platform when running for office is offensive to Democratic ideals… ideals that this country was founded upon. Are they truly Americans? Or are they just looking for a country to steal and turn into a For-Profit extreme Free Market Capitalistic country?  

(1)  http://www.sanders.senate.gov/koch-brothers
(2)  http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Family_Foundations
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