Bill McKibben, author and environmental activist, has written a compelling review of Jane Mayer’s new book about the Koch brothers, titled “Dark Money.”
If you want to learn about the big money that is undermining our democracy, this is a good place to start.
“In this election cycle, for instance, the Kochs have publicly stated that they and their compatriots will spend $889 million, more than either the Republican or Democratic parties spent last time around. According to a recent analysis in Politico, their privatized political network is backed by a group of several hundred extremely rich fellow donors who often meet at off-the-record conclaves organized by the Kochs at desert resorts. It has at least 1,200 full-time staffers in 107 offices nationwide, or three and a half times as many as the Republican National Committee. They may be the most important unelected political figures in American history.”
Their father build the family fortune by building oil refineries for Stalin and Hitler. He was a founder of the John Birch society.
Read this book to understand our political scene today.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Want money out of politics? Feel the Bern!
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Didn’t Justice Scalia die at an all expenses paid desert resort?
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Questions are being raised about the Scalia’s charter plane ride to Texas, also. Unfortunately, Robert’s Court is notorious for ethical lapses. Thomas’ wife’s six-figure employment, by the Heritage Foundation, was brought to light, by an external group, long after his reporting forms, showed omission of the information.
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In my own writing I’ve been showing how Gates and other philanthropies (Zuckerberg, Walton Family)undermine education by using their funds to influence policy making. Reading Mayer’s book shows how wealthy individuals such as the Koch Brothers and neoliberal foundations such as Scaife, Olin, and others work together and use their Foundations to impact environmental, tax, and social policies. The collaborative efforts of the neoliberals and neoconservatives to control the democratic process is alarming. Sometimes conspiracy theories are correct!
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UnKochMyCampus.org, associated with the Center for Media and Democracy, has a map that shows the rapid proliferation of Koch money on college campuses.
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Charles Koch agreed with Bernie Sanders this week in stating that we have a rigged system in which billionaires stack the deck against others. Considering that he and his brother are chief architects of the rigging, this is quite an admission. Either he does not care that people understand what is happening, or he feels above public opinion, insulated by his billions. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-koch-this-is-the-one-issue-where-bernie-sanders-is-right/2016/02/18/cdd2c228-d5c1-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html
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Meyer’s book is brilliant. I defy anyone to read it (not named Koch, Walton, or DeVos) without getting angry at how the game is truly rigged against the 99%.
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Our real shadow government, money and the plutocracy
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In a similar vein but from the “liberal” side, be sure to check out NO SUCH THING AS A FREE GIFT by Lindsey McGooey about the Gates Foundation.
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Thanks for the suggestion, added to my list. Now just need the same kind of book on Zuckerberg. It would virtually write itself…
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This book is also on audible. This book should be required reading for every voting American.
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I showed this documentary to my students when we did a project on the Gilded Age and compared it to today’s economy and society. Jane Mayer and others explain with utter clarity just how the game is rigged. Koch discussion starts at the 26 minute mark.
Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream
http://www.pbs.org/video/2296684923/
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“oil refineries for Stalin and Hitler” That doesn’t sound good.
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“In this election cycle, for instance, the Kochs have publicly stated that they and their compatriots will spend $889 million,”
It’s great to talk about the money they’re spending, but I think the next question is what are they spending it ON.
It’s an industry and it gets bigger every cycle- it’s experts and consultants and pundits and pollsters and marketers and media buys – a lot of people are making a lot of money off our “broken campaign finance system” and I think that’s one of the reasons we won’t fix it until it just falls under its own weight or something. The billionaires are buying more than laws they like- they’re supporting a whole interconnected industry.
“The 2016 presidential election could cost as much as $5 billion, according to top fundraisers and bundlers who are already predicting it will more than double the 2012 campaign’s price tag.”
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Jane Meyer focuses her book on the right-wing foundations, with the Kochs playing a major emphasis. Much of her work here is echoed in the excellent 2014 biography of the Koch brothers–all four of them, not just Charles and David–called “Sons of Wichita.”
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Now, all intellectual educators clearly understanding the so called “a whole interconnected industry.” Let’s see if some educators will offer a solution to BREAK one link or connection among all interconnected industry.
The rich cannot afford time to learn. The academy cannot afford time to do business. The UPPER middle class is smart enough to be SLAVE and SNOBBISH in order to excel to making big money and learning to be top notch through SCAM or BEING PUPPET. There are plenty examples in today’s PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES, like …
Human conscience is the best link BUT weak in all snobbish slaves. Unless educators
can revive human conscience in all learners and workers, there is nothing can be done to break down “a whole interconnected industry.” Back2basic
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Civil disobedience.
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The Koch-ALEC connection, as it relates to the drafts of education legislation, put forth to state representatives and senators, warrants review.
As active as the Kochs are on college campuses (see map at UnKochMyCampus. org), it’s difficult to believe they aren’t in K-!2.
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