And don't get me started on people who want drinkable water.
Arch-conservative multibillionaire Charles Koch, who has spent decades bankrolling fringe and conspiracy-minded groups like the John Birch Society and (now) the so-called "tea party," explains that the only reason he's active in politics is to fight against
special interest groups.
"Listen, if I didn't think it was healthy or fair, I wouldn't do it. Because what we're after, is to fight against special interests."
"Some people would look at you and say you're a special interest."
"Yeah, but my interest is, just as it's been in business, is what will help people improve their lives, and to get rid of these special interests. That's the whole thing that drives me."
And what would help people improve their lives the most is for a pipeline to be built from Koch-owned Canadian tar sands to wherever Charles Koch wants, and for there to be considerably reduced environmental regulations pertaining to the businesses that Charles Koch owns, and for you to have fewer government services, less help for the poor, reduced access to health care and worse-off schools because multibillionaire Charles Koch is damn tired of having to chip in for those things. He's just looking out for you, America. It's about time someone in this country stood up to asthmatic children and people who maybe
didn't want various fluids and slurries dumped into their favorite fishin' holes.
As an aside, the interview also featured a claim by Charles Koch that he does not funnel "dark" money, meaning money that is not publicly disclosed, into the political system. This is false.
In addition to the hundreds of millions flowing into politics by way of the Kochs' network of foundations and funding vehicles like Freedom Partners, funds from the corporate treasury of Koch Industries--the second-largest privately held company in the world--flow into politics, and Charles' brother David is known to have written millions of dollars in personal checks to political groups each year.
None of this spending is publicly disclosed.
But if Charles Koch can consider his energy company's dominant position in financing political groups to be fighting "special interests," it stands to reason he can consider money that is not publicly disclosed to be publicly disclosed. When you're that rich, you can pay a man to write you a custom dictionary in which the words mean whatever you want them to mean.