The Koch Brothers, pronounced “coke”, privately own the second largest company in the nation, Koch Industries specializing in, well – everything from oil to finance (yes I picked the two most despised and potentially megalomaniacal sectors of the economy for effect).
On the side, the brothers lavishly support various “conservative” and “libertarian” (delineate them properly!) groups and causes, e.g. the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Reason Foundation, Americans for Prosperity (the Tea Party support apparatus which garners the consistent ire of liberals), etc. The brothers also give directly through their PAC to politicians and it is through this mechanism, which they have received so much opprobrium from the left recently.
Regardless of the Koch brothers’ stoical disposition or lack thereof or whether they are the bane of our national existence or not, both are moot points as Greenwald submits:
“I mostly regard them as little more than a symbol of the death of democratic values in the U.S. -- the way in which the possession of vast financial resources is an absolute prerequisite to making any impact on the national political process, and conversely, how those without such resources are politically inconsequential and impotent (short of their fomenting serious social unrest).”
Really, a “symbol of the death of democratic values?” If you can excuse Greenwald’s melodrama for a moment, when can you remember a time when money and influence didn’t have an effect in American politics? What past democratic utopia is Greenwald referring to? I love this country as much as the next guy, but I would charge Mr. Greenwald with finding me that part of our history when American leaders sat down with the poor and disenfranchised and allowed their opinion to drive the political process.
This democracy, what was once referred to more often as a Republic, is not some jukebox everyone simply puts their two cents into and gets to hear their favorite song. Our Republic was crafted as a safe deposit box, as it were, for those rights and liberties, which had been trounced and smothered throughout history. “Democracy” was rightly subdued through the 10th and 17th Amendments, an independent judiciary, bicameral legislative process, etc. for the same reasons a monarchy was rejected – they both in their purest forms result in tyranny.
The best way of looking at unbridled democracy is through mass psychology, ten heads is not necessarily better than one. This is why screaming “fire!” in a crowded room is frowned upon and many times illegal, why economic bubbles are created, and why any “gold rush” favors the guy selling the pick and shovel versus the miner. America has its own sordid history with mass hysteria from the Salem Witch Trials to The Second Red Scare and that is why the Founders attempted to design the Constitution the way it was. A model of government with a determined balance of orders or powers blended together with a differentiation of functions, repeatedly devolved to the states, and ultimately enshrined in a simple and unambiguous form requiring only the impulse of popular consent to lend it life and the private ambitions of its citizens and the public accountability of its representatives to keep it in motion.
This is why Americans traditionally are not very political or prone to identify themselves with groups rather than as individuals, why George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had a distaste for political parties, and this is why we used to sincerely refer to our politicians as “civil servants” as it was supposed to be a simple job (standing guard for liberty), as boring as jury duty, and something all of us might one day fulfill. We all know now the halls of Congress are a very different place.
…In the same article Greenwald lambasts the Koch brothers for calling Obama a “dedicated egalitarian” (a nice way of calling him a socialist) when apparently he surrounds himself with “pro business” elements. In my next post “Why Obama is Both a Corporatist and a Socialist” I’ll explain why the two are many times inextricable…
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