This is what the American people are up against in this 2020 election:
“We urge the repeal of federal campaign finance laws, and the immediate abolition of the despotic Federal Election Commission.”
“We favor the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid programs.”
“We oppose any compulsory insurance or tax-supported plan to provide health services, including those which finance abortion services.”
“We also favor the deregulation of the medical insurance industry.”
“We favor the repeal of the fraudulent, virtually bankrupt, and increasingly oppressive Social Security system. Pending that repeal, participation in Social Security should be made voluntary.”
“We propose the abolition of the governmental Postal Service. The present system, in addition to being inefficient, encourages governmental surveillance of private correspondence. Pending abolition, we call for an end to the monopoly system and for allowing free competition in all aspects of postal service.”
“We oppose all personal and corporate income taxation, including capital gains taxes.”
“We support the eventual repeal of all taxation.”
“As an interim measure, all criminal and civil sanctions against tax evasion should be terminated immediately.”
“We support repeal of all law which impede the ability of any person to find employment, such as minimum wage laws.”
“We advocate the complete separation of education and State. Government schools lead to the indoctrination of children and interfere with the free choice of individuals. Government ownership, operation, regulation, and subsidy of schools and colleges should be ended.”
“We condemn compulsory education laws … and we call for the immediate repeal of such laws.”
“We support the repeal of all taxes on the income or property of private schools, whether profit or non-profit.”
“We support the abolition of the Environmental Protection Agency.”
“We support abolition of the Department of Energy.”
“We call for the dissolution of all government agencies concerned with transportation, including the Department of Transportation.”
“We demand the return of America’s railroad system to private ownership. We call for the privatization of the public roads and national highway system.”
“We specifically oppose laws requiring an individual to buy or use so-called ‘self-protection’ equipment such as safety belts, air bags, or crash helmets.”
“We advocate the abolition of the Federal Aviation Administration.”
“We advocate the abolition of the Food and Drug Administration.”
“We support an end to all subsidies for child-bearing built into our present laws, including all welfare plans and the provision of tax-supported services for children.”
“We oppose all government welfare, relief projects, and ‘aid to the poor’ programs. All these government programs are privacy-invading, paternalistic, demeaning, and inefficient. The proper source of help for such persons is the voluntary efforts of private groups and individuals.”
“We call for the privatization of the inland waterways, and of the distribution system that brings water to industry, agriculture and households.”
“We call for the repeal of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.”
“We call for the abolition of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.”
“We support the repeal of all state usury laws.”
The above is the platform on which Charles Koch (Yes, one half of the infamous Koch Brothers.) ran for Vice-President on the Libertarian ticket in 1980). The Kochs of course have absolutely bottomless pockets and have spent billions to accomplish those goals. For any voting American, he or she should look at these Libertarian/Koch goals and ask himself or herself two questions: Who benefits from these goals and what of them are already accomplished at this point, just 3-1/2 years into the Trump takeover of the oval office?
The Koch umbrella organizations, the font from which hundreds of millions of dollars flow, are called Freedom Partners and Americans for Prosperity. If you’re a Republican running for elective federal office, you are most likely receiving Koch money. And you’re receiving that money because Goal No. 1, the repeal of campaign finance laws, was accomplished in 2010 in the scandalous 5-4 Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court in 2010, which virtually opened the floodgates of private and secret money for politicians.
Of course, the Koch machine (npi) has installed its own people inside the Trump administration. Marc Short (pictured above), who was president of Freedom Partners was Trump’s Director of Legislative Affairs, is now chief of staff for Vice-President Mike Pence. Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s inside PR maven once consulted for Freedom Partners. Not a few lawyers such as Don McGahn—he who refused to appear in front of a congressional hearing on Trump excesses—along with 12 others, was previously employed by Jones-Day, the 5th largest and highest grossing law firm in the world, as well as being among the most politically connected. In fact, those 12 individuals were hired on very day of Trump’s inauguration.
At the top of the heap sits Donald J. Trump, who, with the help of his oligarchic handlers, is systematically attempting the abolition of the federal government, by lawful, unlawful and unconstitutional means. The Kochs and their hyper-rich families who quietly donate their millions to the Koch machine (npi), has captured not only a dysfunctional President of the United States but also a majority of the Supreme Court and the United States Senate. But for the House of Representatives, which changed hands in 2018, thus putting the brakes on the pace of the takedown of government, the entire population of the nation would be harmed in ways we can only imagine, given the goals outlined above.
It is hard to imagine Trump pouring over the effects of his executive orders and his party’s proposed legislation. It is hard to imagine anything Trump (who is not known to be much of a detail man) cares about other than his re-election in 2020, given his narcissism and his need for adoration, two qualities with which the administration insiders have “managed” their president.
The disparity in national wealth has never been so skewed in favor of the rich since the Gilded Age of 130 years ago. The old robber barons like Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Morgan and a few dozen others are now replaced by the Kochs, Scaifes, Adelsons, Waltons, Dorrances, Mellons (and a few dozen others!).
Another four years of this oligarchy may like result in a terminal illness of any notion representational democracy. The oligarchs are throwing in every known and unknown obstacle to reforming how we govern ourselves. They know that 2020 is an absolute directional inflection point in what our national government will look for the decades to come.
On the other hand, a new progressive era such as the one which grew out of the political muck at the end of the 19h century may be about to flower in the 21st. It is more than time for a return to government of, by and, especially, for the people.
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