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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAn Open Letter Response to Charles Koch-
Dear Mr. Koch,
When I read your letter to the American people in the Wall Street Journal, I felt I had to respond. I am not doing this because I think you will actually read these words or that, in the end, this letter will make that much of a difference to you if you do. I had to point out the insult in your opinion piece. I had to do this because, in this age where money now equates to speech, I had to throw as much free speech into this conversation as I could.
You, your brother, and others like you represent a huge, ever widening divide in America. In a land whose origins rested on equality and stories of individuals pulling themselves up by their bootstraps to become successful, you represent an affront to the American dream.
In your opinion piece, you reference Thomas Jefferson as a historical perspective to support your views on limited government, in justification of your efforts for a free America." I offer my counter. On the subject of wealth inequalities, Jefferson wrote;
I am conscious that an equal division of property is impracticable. But the consequences of this enormous inequality producing so much misery to the bulk of mankind, legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property, only taking care to let their subdivisions go hand in hand with the natural affections of the human mind. Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise. Whenever there is in any country, uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right. The earth is given as a common stock for man to labor and live on. Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, was writing to James Madison about the gross inequalities of wealth he observed in pre-Revolution France. His observations there led him to realize that the massive accumulation of wealth and gross inequality of its distribution represented a danger to the American people.
You are worth roughly $40 billion, 26,666 times more than the average American. You and your brother were born into wealth from your fathers oil company and your grandfathers railroad and newspaper businesses. Through the efforts of organizations like the CATO institute, the Heritage Fund, and Americans for Prosperity, you hold immense political power and influence. You even hold enough sway that you can illicit the exact type of political mandate on things like climate taxes that you rail against in your op-ed.
The reach of your political network extends to push for massive, ecologically damaging projects for your own benefit like the XL Keystone Pipeline, and derailing mass transit efforts. You are also connected to efforts to limit voting rights, and even corruption. Instead of going into depth on these subjects like I have in the past, I really want you to understand one thing.
In your piece you hail the tenets of, among other things, equality before the law but the truth is that there is no equality in America. Those who hold unfathomably massive wealth also hold far more influence on, and have access to, unequal levels of our political infrastructure.
You and your brother are so far removed from the actual American experience that you represent what is wrong with our country and where it is headed. A government run for the interests of the wealthy and the corporations in which they have interest. This Plutocracy that represents your vision of a future filled with freedom is so far from the American dream that it is a disgusting insult when you try to press your vision on the rest of us by twisting the words of a founding father.
The Koch name will go down in history as a warning against the oily, slimy influence that corporatists can have on our country. The more the American people become aware of your influence, and the influence of those who have gained from Citizens United and subsequent rulings, the more we will fight you and fight for our future. We will fight for future for all of the American people and not just the 1%.
http://www.thegreenprogressive.com/2014/04/an-open-letter-response-to-charles-koch.html
Laelth
(32,017 posts)Reposted here for my own records:
Progressive taxation was dreamed of long before we amended the Constitution to allow it. I suppose there's hope for us yet. We have to keep dreaming and advocating for sane policy.
-Laelth
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)spent 40 years of his life building a huge-ass house for himself (with the aid of said slaves labor), raped at least one of his slaves, and only freed two out of his hundreds of slaves during his lifetime.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)Amazing
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Laelth
(32,017 posts)If I were in his position (able to see the problem but unable to personally do much about it), I might run for office too and try to get our collective power (the government) to address these issues. That's what Jefferson did. Though the effectiveness of his policies may be debatable, it appears to me that his heart was in the right place.
btw ... of what value is it, really, to bash Jefferson or to dismiss everything he ever had to say as a result of supposed character flaws or hypocrisy? I am not suggesting that you do this (or that you have ever done this), but lots of people do. I don't get it.
-Laelth
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)He was like that brother-in-law who just has to have a bigger house and spends every penny in pursuit of that. He squandered his liquid assets but taking into account the value of his hundreds of slaves his net worth was probably quite high.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)No I don't...... but hate is hate.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)JackInGreen
(2,975 posts)but how exactly does this add to the conversation here? I'm quite certain that yes, Jefferson may have been a hypocrite, but I'm not seeing how using the source that Koch cited to counter him is worth the derailment of OPs point. So what's the score here? What's your angle?
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)fasttense
(17,301 posts)as was Jesus.
I use Jefferson as my example to never allow an established system to blind me to the horrors of that system.
Yet the Jefferson was able to see the horrors of royalty and feudalism. And Jesus was able to see the horrors of poverty.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)Thank you. I am dismayed when thinkers such as Jefferson--whose ideas may enlighten us all--are now dismissed out of hand. These thinkers were human, with often very few other qualities to recommend them (not true in Jefferson's case). But that does not make their words or ideas any less true. If someone more socially responsible had come along and said the same thing or better, we would no longer be quoting Jefferson. But there it is. I am a person of color, and while I have not and will never defend his position on slavery, I will not dismiss his ideas.
fasttense
(17,301 posts)Well, put.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)gtar100
(4,192 posts)a couple of horders justifying their actions by twisting the words of one of our founding fathers. Jefferson's issue with slavery is a relevant topic for discussion but is beside the point here and a deflection from the real concern - the nasty, vicious greed of the Kochs who make Jefferson look like a saint in comparison. The issues are the Kochs and their deceptions, their manipulation of our politics, and misrepresenting the words of Jefferson to justify their greed.
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)"deflection". It's an old tactic, to take a relatively minor point in a discussion and harp on it until the discussion on the main point itself has been derailed. I first saw it by RW posters on a "mixed" political board at least a decade ago and maybe further back than that.
Luckily most people now recognize the tactic. How to respond to the tactic is still an open question.
Raksha
(7,167 posts)malaise
(269,054 posts)Rec
Thanks Ichingcarpenter
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)because I feel the same way this guy does.
malaise
(269,054 posts)Register and then vote!!!!
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)"The Koch name will go down in history ..."
Well if that isn't a fine how-do-you-do to my ancestor Jeremiah Koch.
The Koch name belongs to alot of other people besides just UpChuck and Davey.
The Wizard
(12,545 posts)rope.
chuckstevens
(1,201 posts)Consider the quote of another famous American President:
"Sooner or later, unless there is a readjustment, there will come a riotous, wicked, murderous day of atonement."
Theodore Roosevelt
Mr. Koch, you and your brother, are pushing it and the results could get really ugly.
BanzaiBonnie
(3,621 posts)They know the time of atonement is coming.
JackInGreen
(2,975 posts)they're reaping from the wind they've sown, as it were.
hue
(4,949 posts)They (1%) have their many impenetrable compounds, armed private security companies and ability to survive all accounted for:
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/12/12340/revealed-security-firm-guarding-proposed-northern-wisconsin-mine-misled
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-zuesse/how-the-kochs-and-their-f_1_b_4057949.html
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all
Americans for Prosperity also created an offshoot, Patients United Now, which organized what Phillips has estimated to be more than three hundred rallies against health-care reform. At one rally, an effigy of a Democratic congressman was hung; at another, protesters unfurled a banner depicting corpses from Dachau. The group also helped organize the Kill the Bill protests outside the Capitol, in March, where Democratic supporters of health-care reform alleged that they were spat on and cursed at. Phillips was a featured speaker.
gtar100
(4,192 posts)happen. The Kochs really represent well what is wrong in our world today. Sadly, they woke up again today with more wealth than most of humanity and all they can conceive of is how to get more while others live in poverty simply for the want of an opportunity. The Kochs have a serious, serious psychological problem.
eShirl
(18,494 posts)k&r
TNNurse
(6,927 posts)His closed heart and mind are in the way.
Augiedog
(2,548 posts)In the news this morning it says they have started executing the corrupt bankers in Viet Nam. I'm sure this is of no consequence here in the land of equality and freedom, so the Koch's will sleep easy tonight.
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)tonight. Tomorrow? TBD
daleanime
(17,796 posts)SmittynMo
(3,544 posts)K & R 10000+
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)I wish I could write like that.
KharmaTrain
(31,706 posts)...it's the best way to drive the uber rich out of trying to buy elections...make it so expensive to win and a gamble to their fragile egos. Harry Reid has struck a nerve to get a response out of this recluse and it exposed the corrupt and acidic autocrat and will make him and his brother a campaign issue. Yep, the McCutcheon and Citizens United rules have opened the spigots wide for the buying of elections, it also is fueling an ego money game among these spoiled kids who view the world as their own personal Risk board. They think they can use their wealth and they have a party of leeches all ready to suck up every dime they can get their hands on. While money can influence, it can also be corrosive and this is where I hope the rushpublicans are headed...too focused on all that Koch and Adelson and Wynn and other money and fighting among themselves and exposing to the electorate how the money is being used to destroy their lifestyles and political system.
We saw in 2012 how all the millions that were thrown around; especially by Adleson turned into an almost zero return. This was done through getting out the vote and exposing the rushpublicans for being on the wrong side of virtually every major issue facing voters. Exposing the Kochs and other fat cats can only put a face on what the alternatives are. While these asshats have deep pockets, we're seeing how they have very shallow egos. There's a point where the money can't satisfy the ego and they move on to other "toys"...
olegramps
(8,200 posts)I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
Thomas Jefferson
MynameisBlarney
(2,979 posts)This is goin' on my facebooks. And I'll probably link it in a Raw Story article....Goog stuff there, absolutely brilliant!
crazylikafox
(2,758 posts)Thomas Jefferson
toby jo
(1,269 posts)so well. And damn, from 240 years back.
Blue Owl
(50,424 posts)Well done!
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)democrats.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)Skidmore
(37,364 posts)letter? Or send it to another newspaper for publication. I think answers to Koch's drivel should be sent to every publication possible and written by as many people as possible. Hell, send yours to Kos orone of those blogs. Start it out on social media. I 'll help make it go viral.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)Its not mine but from a friend.
Maybe if you all send it to them
that might help the 'little guy'
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)point. I'm dealing with allergy eyes and a small screen this morning. Will be happy to pass it on.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)which means it will reach contact to the net
hue
(4,949 posts)maindawg
(1,151 posts)Once they have tried everything else. Now that Americans are waking up to the fact that billionaires are trying to take over our government, Americans will not stand for this. So long as the sleazy billionaires could operate in the dark, they got away with it. The Kochs dont like the spotlight. When Americans learn that Sheldon Adelson threw 100 million into Romney, Americans knew Romney was a criminal,by association. The Kochs are criminals. Born wealthy to criminal parents. They do not have a clue what it is to be an American. They are not Americans. They re mentally ill sociopaths. We know that about them. They have corrupted the entire republican party and the republicans are a dying breed. Dying from their own excess.
All the money in the world cant help you when you are exposed and Americans will not stand for it.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)hootinholler
(26,449 posts)Those CATO types like to invoke Smith also, but not the inconvenient parts.
Ghost of Tom Joad
(1,355 posts)needs to see this letter. He keeps harping on how awful Harry Reid is for calling out the kochs and how wonderful the kochs are.
BTW everyone dies, the kochs cannot buy the stairway to heaven no matter how hard they try.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)has excellent perspective.
We really are in a pickle as a party, us Democrats. For the last 4 years we have gotten a lot done to aid our country. There are in fact some really amazing things on the list of at least 100 accomplishments that this administration has done including the signing of the Recovery Act and the establishment of a method to openly track the spending of that Act. I mean seriously, take a look at that list, it is rather incredible. While it is a fact that this administration has accomplished some truly amazing things, it is also true that there are some major short fallings when it comes to the promises and expectations that have not been met.
- more -
http://www.thegreenprogressive.com/2010/12/obama-and-tax-deal.html
Rider3
(919 posts)Very well done!
diane in sf
(3,914 posts)Warpy
(111,275 posts)Illicit means illegal, which is what 99% of what those two are doing should be.
Elicit means to evoke, to draw something formerly latent into plain view.
OK, I'll stop now.
Pakid
(478 posts)Wish I could put this in every newspaper in America.
Sarah Ibarruri
(21,043 posts)he or she would try his or her best to do good toward others, less of a crook, etc. I guess not. I guess maybe F. Scott Fitzgerald was right when he alluded to the rich being different. They are. When they are assholes, they are the biggest damned assholes on the planet, and Charles Koch is their Asshole King.
Kath1
(4,309 posts)Sarah Ibarruri
(21,043 posts)geretogo
(1,281 posts)progressivegrrrl
(2 posts)"The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations."...Thomas Jefferson, 1816
Our job is to not run from Obamacare, and to expose the Republicans for their hypocrisy. And most importantly of all....make sure we bring make it to the polling booth in November with someone who just wanted to blow it off, or didn't have a ride
Kath1
(4,309 posts)Very important to get out the vote!
DaveJ
(5,023 posts)I read his asinine article too and couldn't figure out what to write.
He seems totally removed form reality like the many trust fund kids I've met.
The other problem is that he would never actually read what anyone else has to say. Not that he's disinterested, I'd say probably more incapable. Even the reicht wing on wsj seemed to regard him as a simple mind who is fairly irrelevant in controlling the course of future events.
tweeternik
(255 posts)classof56
(5,376 posts)2banon
(7,321 posts)regardless of their willful denial.
K&R iching, thanks for posting..
Raksha
(7,167 posts)pansypoo53219
(20,981 posts)nothing. he knew that, i am sure as well.