Charles Koch is the more fashion-forward half of the Koch brothers—David Koch being the other dark prince. Charles feels that he needs to set the record straight about some of the things that Bernie Sanders has been saying about him and so he wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post. Here’s the gem of his thesis:
The senator is upset with a political and economic system that is often rigged to help the privileged few at the expense of everyone else, particularly the least advantaged. He believes that we have a two-tiered society that increasingly dooms millions of our fellow citizens to lives of poverty and hopelessness. He thinks many corporations seek and benefit from corporate welfare while ordinary citizens are denied opportunities and a level playing field.
I agree with him.
[bold is me rolling my eyes so hard I almost pass out]
Democrats and Republicans have too often favored policies and regulations that pick winners and losers. This helps perpetuate a cycle of control, dependency, cronyism and poverty in the United States. These are complicated issues, but it’s not enough to say that government alone is to blame. Large portions of the business community have actively pushed for these policies.
Oh boy. Yes, Charles, that’s true. So true, Charles. I can’t believe I agree with you. Or, I don’t agree with you because you are a liar and a hypocrite. These aren’t complicated issues, actually. It’s very simple, you see. Companies like—let’s reach into the sludge bag of corporate greed I keep under my desk and pick one—Koch Industries get corporate welfare from the government. But unlike welfare for regular folk in need of it, not only do these corporations not need the extra cash, they get an outrageous amount of it. Subsequently, they want to keep getting that sweet welfare money and so they lobby and spend boatloads* of money on lawmakers that will make sure they can continue to get more and more welfare money. It’s super simple.
Whenever we allow government to pick winners and losers, we impede progress and move further away from a society of mutual benefit. This pits individuals and groups against each other and corrupts the business community, which inevitably becomes less focused on creating value for customers. That’s why Koch Industries opposes all forms of corporate welfare — even those that benefit us. (The government’s ethanol mandate is a good example. We oppose that mandate, even though we are the fifth-largest ethanol producer in the United States.)
[bold is my emphasis]
This is the Koch brothers’ recent “ace in the hole” proof that they aren’t ideological or partisan but logical hypocritical libertarians (though I have yet to meet a libertarian that isn’t a hypocrite). The part Charlie forgets to mention is that they oppose the mandate against renewables, of which ethanol is classed as. This means they are opposing the continuing government subsidy of wind and solar and other truly competing sources of energy that they, the Koch brothers, do not get that big oily, gassy money from.
Charles Koch proceeds to talk about the need for criminal justice reform, talking about how you can go to jail for pot. Can you believe that? He finishes by saying that while Bernie is rightish about those things, his call to grow the government in order to accomplish that is the wrong way to go. Let the haves make these decisions without the government mucking everything up. You know, the haves that are abusing the government, like he just said they were.
Somewhere Ayn Rand just crapped out a dove.
* Not more money than they are going to get back in welfare, mind you.