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The Koch brothers are "still trying to supplant American democracy with their little laissez-fairyland plutocracy." (Image: DonkeyHotey/flickr/cc)
Billionaire Donors Plot a 'Renaissance of Freedom' -- for the Privileged
Who needs roads when you've got a private jet?
Jul 31, 2017
Charles and David Koch -- the billionaire oil men who've financed a vast network of right-wing advocacy groups -- have stayed out of the national limelight recently. But they're still trying to supplant American democracy with their little laissez-fairyland plutocracy.
In fact, in late June, they held a meeting of the Koch Boys Billionaires Club, gathering about 400 other uber-wealthy rascals to plot some political high jinks for next year's elections.
The club meets every year at some luxury hideaway, and its attendees have to pay $100,000 each just to get in. But participants are also expected to give generously to the brothers' goal of spending $400 million to buy a slew of congress critters, governors, and others in 2018.
This year, the group gathered in Colorado Springs at the ultra-lux Broadmoor Hotel and Resort, owned by the brothers' billionaire pal and right-wing co-conspirator, Phillip Anschutz.
Among the recent political triumphs that these elites celebrated in the Broadmoor's posh ballroom was the defeat this year of a Colorado tax hike to fix the state's crumbling roads.
After all, who needs adequate roads, when you can arrive in private jets?
This attitude of the Kochs' privileged cohorts explains why the public is shut out of these candid sessions. A staffer for the Koch confab hailed such no-tax, no-roads policies as a "renaissance of freedom." For the privileged, that is -- the freedom to prosper at the expense of everyone else.
Indeed, their agenda includes killing such working class needs as the minimum wage and Social Security, and privatizing everything from health care to public education. This self-absorbed cabal of spoiled plutocratic brats intends to abandon our nation's core democratic principle of "We're all in this together."
If they kill that uniting concept, they kill America itself.
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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.
Charles and David Koch -- the billionaire oil men who've financed a vast network of right-wing advocacy groups -- have stayed out of the national limelight recently. But they're still trying to supplant American democracy with their little laissez-fairyland plutocracy.
In fact, in late June, they held a meeting of the Koch Boys Billionaires Club, gathering about 400 other uber-wealthy rascals to plot some political high jinks for next year's elections.
The club meets every year at some luxury hideaway, and its attendees have to pay $100,000 each just to get in. But participants are also expected to give generously to the brothers' goal of spending $400 million to buy a slew of congress critters, governors, and others in 2018.
This year, the group gathered in Colorado Springs at the ultra-lux Broadmoor Hotel and Resort, owned by the brothers' billionaire pal and right-wing co-conspirator, Phillip Anschutz.
Among the recent political triumphs that these elites celebrated in the Broadmoor's posh ballroom was the defeat this year of a Colorado tax hike to fix the state's crumbling roads.
After all, who needs adequate roads, when you can arrive in private jets?
This attitude of the Kochs' privileged cohorts explains why the public is shut out of these candid sessions. A staffer for the Koch confab hailed such no-tax, no-roads policies as a "renaissance of freedom." For the privileged, that is -- the freedom to prosper at the expense of everyone else.
Indeed, their agenda includes killing such working class needs as the minimum wage and Social Security, and privatizing everything from health care to public education. This self-absorbed cabal of spoiled plutocratic brats intends to abandon our nation's core democratic principle of "We're all in this together."
If they kill that uniting concept, they kill America itself.
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.
Charles and David Koch -- the billionaire oil men who've financed a vast network of right-wing advocacy groups -- have stayed out of the national limelight recently. But they're still trying to supplant American democracy with their little laissez-fairyland plutocracy.
In fact, in late June, they held a meeting of the Koch Boys Billionaires Club, gathering about 400 other uber-wealthy rascals to plot some political high jinks for next year's elections.
The club meets every year at some luxury hideaway, and its attendees have to pay $100,000 each just to get in. But participants are also expected to give generously to the brothers' goal of spending $400 million to buy a slew of congress critters, governors, and others in 2018.
This year, the group gathered in Colorado Springs at the ultra-lux Broadmoor Hotel and Resort, owned by the brothers' billionaire pal and right-wing co-conspirator, Phillip Anschutz.
Among the recent political triumphs that these elites celebrated in the Broadmoor's posh ballroom was the defeat this year of a Colorado tax hike to fix the state's crumbling roads.
After all, who needs adequate roads, when you can arrive in private jets?
This attitude of the Kochs' privileged cohorts explains why the public is shut out of these candid sessions. A staffer for the Koch confab hailed such no-tax, no-roads policies as a "renaissance of freedom." For the privileged, that is -- the freedom to prosper at the expense of everyone else.
Indeed, their agenda includes killing such working class needs as the minimum wage and Social Security, and privatizing everything from health care to public education. This self-absorbed cabal of spoiled plutocratic brats intends to abandon our nation's core democratic principle of "We're all in this together."
If they kill that uniting concept, they kill America itself.
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