The father of the Koch[suckers] was a founder of the John Birch Society, JBS, which declared that President Eisenhower was a communist dupe. Master Koch[sucker] was likely involved in the 1935 plot to overthrow President Roosevelt and had the backing of the 500,000 member American Legion. General Smedley Butler was offered the role of leading the coup, he refused and blew the whistle on the coup plotters. As a whistle blower, today he would be sharing a jail cell next to Bradley Manning. The only reason I can think of why Koch[sucker] would declare Ike to be a communist is that he helped to defeat the NAZI's in WW2, this is only thing that makes sense.His progeny are implementing the Kochification of the USG on a state by state basis, electing Kochification Fascist governors all competing to see which is the best Kochification fascist to run for the President of the USG.

Mr. Hightower,
Why do you still call yourself a proud member of the democrat party when you know full well that they are complicit in this assault by the fascists?

Privatization has shown us that government is the only solution to all the problems we created by treating the government as the problem.

The high-minded Mr. Hightower has once again put himself on the side of the progressive angels by this latest scream-out against privatization. Thing is, though, his screams may be about "old news" on a trend that has been proceeding apace for many years. Privatization "even" of the interstate highways. (Gasp!) But hasn't that already been done, in Indiana I believe and elsewhere? The Koch brothers buy themselves a couple of Economics professors at FSU. But haven't U.S. colleges and universities long been a playground for the rich as they depend on fat-cat endowments and the purchase by rich jocks of the "luxury suites" in their football stadiums? Plutocracy in American life is an old story, and it really comes down to the question: what are we going to do about it? As Buck says above, a good starting point would be for the high-minded like Hightower to acknowledge that both "major" parties are totally in thrall to this plutocracy, and join in a people's revolution designed to lessen if not eliminate the dominance of private wealth over public policy.

"Imagine the screams of outrage we'd hear from the Kochs if a labor union were doing this."

Labor unions, not having the same amount of cash on hand, can only afford to buy off politicians.

And let's face it, the "The AFL-CIO Center for Performing Arts" does not really have the same ring to it.

Six in the door and only two bitching about Hightower's lack of critique of the Dems. Hightower wins 4 to 2. My theory is that H is lazy. It's so much easier to come down on the Repub than the Dems because, although both parties suck, the Repubs suck infinitely more and, as the hearing of Liz Warren before the House demonstrated, they are stupider, lazier, crasser, and infinitely more evil than the Dems.

These privatizers/deregulators (ie. agents for the bankster empire) took an extremely BIG HIT (potential "kill shot"), with the arrest of strauss khan. This signals a shift amongst the owner/rulers of the empire (their own "civil war" perhaps?); the bailouts are over, and this is just the beginning. The privatizer/deregulators have met their "gettysburg", their high-water mark. For those who don't mind it, go to the larouchePAC website and listen to Jeffrey Steinberg's 22 minutes-long interview.

The coins were place over the eyes of the dead. An apt metaphor, only today the coins are placed over the eyes of the living and blind those who have had them placed there. .They maybe ready for Hell but really can't see anymore the real values that making living on the earth worthwhile.

"For example, a fellow from another Koch-funded front, the American Enterprise Institute, observes that the government could raise billions of dollars to retire that pesky deficit simply by selling our interstate highway system."

Think about it folks this is just like the advertising they did to get people who had already paid for their homes to take on a new mortgage or get a second to "consolidate or retire our debts", thing was it didn't really work so well for many of us did it? Those renovations you thought were going to make you more money when you sold your home, the banks now owns a newly renovated home and got it for a portion of it's value, you now rent. You may have paid off your original debt or consolidated it, but you've now lost your job and your home.

In the past 10 years Corporations have sought to control Universities, and thereby control what is being taught. Because, you know, Universities are the cause of all Liberal views. Meanwhile the Republicans in Congress are seeking to de-fund Pell Grants and other educational monies. They figure that Corporations will have to be taken into the Universities in order for the Universities to survive. There appears to be no Democratic opposition to the take over of American Education!

The great thing about our current political situation is that with the republicans in control of the House most are beginning to see how bat shit crazy these assholes really are. The republicans voting in mass to end Medicare was truly spectacular. Things are slowly going to get better.

"The republicans voting in mass to end Medicare was truly spectacular. Things are slowly going to get better."

Right you are Greg R.

Many people are seeing that the joys promised by the RepukeliCons are not meant just for the Negroes, Mexicans, White Trash, and all sub groups you can think of. They are meant for all Americans.

Hey you, privatization Troll, yeah you and you know who you are, privatized public services have only been arpund for 30 years at best. They steal from the public well and convert it to private profit. BS I say. They can be bought back or better USE EMMINENT DOMAIN to buy them back and convert them to public use/utilities paid for through tax dollars just like before. I figure that is what will happen anyway(looking at the history of private utilities) and pay the scam artists the utilities worth not what THEY say they are worth.

Check out the movie City Of Joy(starring Patrick Swayze) to see a glimpse of the libertarian/RepukeliCon paradise that awaits all of us.

Everyone needs to be checking out everything Mr. Hightower writes and what he writes about. He is spot on in almost all cases and he does not mince words. For those who have Sirius satellite radio check out Mike Malloy. Another firebrand on the left. There is a real war going on in this nation and people are dying, mostly from lack of health care, The New Final Solution?, but there are others who are dying slow deaths in the American Gulag the most prominent being Bradley Manning but let us not forget the Millions incarcerated from the Drug War and unbelievable long sentences they are given for crimes less serious than, ohhh, Georgie Bush(and the Bush crime family.

I think it would be a good read to read about the Fall Of The Roman Empire and its' dissolution into the city states of Europe. That is what the privatization freaks are wanting and what did that give us?? The Dark Ages.

Hightower remarks:

"What a perfect metaphor for privatization! In ancient mythology, dead souls must pay a toll to be ferried across the River Styx and enter the depths of hell."

The River Styx leads to the zone known as Hades, and it's governed by Pluto. It's hard to miss the association between Pluto, the dark god of the underworld, and our nation's increasing resemblance to a plutocracy. In modern parlance, organized crime is referred to as underground or underworld elements. This terminology is also derived from mythology.

One criticism of the article, I would not refer to the Koch brothers' philosophy as loopy. They know exactly what they are doing. In recognizing the degree to which big money now influences university curricula, I once again remind readers that when Chris Hedges blames "the left," for their alleged "failures," he ignores the power of money, and the long arm of its influence. Just about everyone has a price; and in Amerika today, with costs far higher than they were 30 years ago, the so-called liberal institutions find themselves at the mercy of capital.

So long as money rules, the quality of a nation's life will reflect those in possession of it. This, at the cost of EVERYTHING else.

Maybe the Koch brothers will do humanity a favor and go down in an unfortunate plane crash? Strange how "fate" usually knocks the good guys like Paul Wellstone and JFK, Jr. from the sky... while leaving the horrors to prey upon the rest of us.