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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Robyn Blumner
June 1, 2011
I imagine the tycoons Charles and David Koch must have a war room, or more precisely a "war on liberal ideas" room, where plans are laid for well-funded assaults on progressives. Their targets are easy to guess: Democrats, unions, public school teachers, trial lawyers, environmentalists, the judiciary and academia. Like some deranged game of Risk, the brothers strategically deploy their riches to destroy, marginalize, subvert or infiltrate each of these constituent groups, with the result being that poorly funded progressives are overrun as easily as Poland.
The latest bombshell is from
Disgraceful, yes, but this is just the newest revelation in what has been a well-reported mission by the Koch brothers to use their vast wealth, estimated at
If you're reading "tea party" here, you've got that right -- call them the Kochs' boots on the ground. But the Koch brothers know that they can't rely solely on America's angry, gullible know-nothings to change the national direction. Their ultra-conservatism needs a veneer of intellectual credibility, which is why for decades the brothers have lavished resources on a host of think tanks and academic institutions that are willing to make a case for anything a billionaire without a conscience would want.
And it's paid off handsomely. Policies on lowering taxes on wealth, dismantling
This year has been a banner one for the Kochs. We've seen frontal political assaults on their entire enemies list, with Republican governors and legislatures going after public sector unions, the independence of the judiciary, public school teachers, you name it. The brothers have successfully insinuated their extreme brand of libertarianism into Republican DNA.
University economics departments, like FSU's, are part of the mercenary army that gives the Koch brothers legitimizing cover.
At FSU, the newly exposed controversy has put President Eric Barron on the defensive. On Tuesday he sent out a letter to "friends and colleagues" claiming that FSU "did not sell its academic soul," (doth he protest too much?) but promising to "prevent outcomes like this in the future."
Meanwhile the
The Kochs may not like taxes but they sure like to leverage public funds to advance and amplify their own ideological agenda. That agenda leaves the middle class without a government protector in the face of laissez-faire capitalism.
Welcome to the Koch brothers' war. Once America's progressives are fully snuffed out, we will all be its casualties.
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