SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Billionaires Lay Siege to State Governments
While we're mesmerized by Trump, shady groups are pushing corporate-friendly legislation in statehouses all over the country.
May 21, 2017
It's easy to become mesmerized by The Donald Show in this year's political circus.
But a lot of the real action is in the outer rings, where the Koch brothers, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and their corporate cohorts have laid siege to our state governments.
It's no coincidence that such a large flock of corporatists and right-wing ideologues now roost in state offices, nor that they keep pushing exactly the same anti-people rhetoric and tactics. Nor is their lockstep embrace of identical corporation-enthroning proposals the result of small minds thinking alike.
More than a firefight here or an ambush there, the Koch-ALEC cabal have launched a massive, coordinated maneuver to conquer the countryside.
If you doubt that the strategy has gone local, consider this fact: Even though the Kochs didn't back a presidential campaign last year -- they said they were concentrating on only half a dozen Senate races -- they deployed 1,600 paid political staffers into 38 states to drive elections and policy campaigns.
This is why we must pay attention: Donald Trump isn't the only -- or even the biggest -- danger to our democratic republic. As Arn Pearson, general counsel of Center for Media Democracy, warns: "There are a lot of different parts of the Koch machine pulling on this oar. From their think tanks up through their elected officials, they're pushing on it. Hard."
You might think this is madness, but madness -- spurred by plutocratic greed -- is the new American political reality. Just being progressive won't stop it. We have to confront and defeat the Kochheads in our states.
Rolling back the effects of the continuing decades-long attack on America's ideal of the common good will take some work. To get started, check out Center for Media Democracy at www.prwatch.org/cmd.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
It's easy to become mesmerized by The Donald Show in this year's political circus.
But a lot of the real action is in the outer rings, where the Koch brothers, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and their corporate cohorts have laid siege to our state governments.
It's no coincidence that such a large flock of corporatists and right-wing ideologues now roost in state offices, nor that they keep pushing exactly the same anti-people rhetoric and tactics. Nor is their lockstep embrace of identical corporation-enthroning proposals the result of small minds thinking alike.
More than a firefight here or an ambush there, the Koch-ALEC cabal have launched a massive, coordinated maneuver to conquer the countryside.
If you doubt that the strategy has gone local, consider this fact: Even though the Kochs didn't back a presidential campaign last year -- they said they were concentrating on only half a dozen Senate races -- they deployed 1,600 paid political staffers into 38 states to drive elections and policy campaigns.
This is why we must pay attention: Donald Trump isn't the only -- or even the biggest -- danger to our democratic republic. As Arn Pearson, general counsel of Center for Media Democracy, warns: "There are a lot of different parts of the Koch machine pulling on this oar. From their think tanks up through their elected officials, they're pushing on it. Hard."
You might think this is madness, but madness -- spurred by plutocratic greed -- is the new American political reality. Just being progressive won't stop it. We have to confront and defeat the Kochheads in our states.
Rolling back the effects of the continuing decades-long attack on America's ideal of the common good will take some work. To get started, check out Center for Media Democracy at www.prwatch.org/cmd.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
It's easy to become mesmerized by The Donald Show in this year's political circus.
But a lot of the real action is in the outer rings, where the Koch brothers, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and their corporate cohorts have laid siege to our state governments.
It's no coincidence that such a large flock of corporatists and right-wing ideologues now roost in state offices, nor that they keep pushing exactly the same anti-people rhetoric and tactics. Nor is their lockstep embrace of identical corporation-enthroning proposals the result of small minds thinking alike.
More than a firefight here or an ambush there, the Koch-ALEC cabal have launched a massive, coordinated maneuver to conquer the countryside.
If you doubt that the strategy has gone local, consider this fact: Even though the Kochs didn't back a presidential campaign last year -- they said they were concentrating on only half a dozen Senate races -- they deployed 1,600 paid political staffers into 38 states to drive elections and policy campaigns.
This is why we must pay attention: Donald Trump isn't the only -- or even the biggest -- danger to our democratic republic. As Arn Pearson, general counsel of Center for Media Democracy, warns: "There are a lot of different parts of the Koch machine pulling on this oar. From their think tanks up through their elected officials, they're pushing on it. Hard."
You might think this is madness, but madness -- spurred by plutocratic greed -- is the new American political reality. Just being progressive won't stop it. We have to confront and defeat the Kochheads in our states.
Rolling back the effects of the continuing decades-long attack on America's ideal of the common good will take some work. To get started, check out Center for Media Democracy at www.prwatch.org/cmd.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.