Two men, David and Charles Koch, have spent most of their adult lives and hundreds of millions of dollars to convince Americans that we need a tiny government with no power in order to be free. If you want to understand how these men became such anti-government power brokers, take a few minutes to meet their father, one of the founding members of the John Birch Society.
Most Americans have no idea how much the Birch Society has impacted our country. Those who have heard of the Birchers believe they are fringe radicals who were done in by conservative Republicans was back in the 1960s. Hardly anyone knows the names of even a handful of Birchers. There is one Birch name, however, that raises eyebrows: Koch.
FRED KOCH TAKES MONEY FROM STALIN & HITLER
Before Koch’s sons―David and Charles―became synonymous with corporate political power, Fred Koch built a fortune from an oil drilling techniques he developed. But it didn’t happen immediately. In the early days, oil companies in the United States were not interested in Koch’s new methods. Fred looked elsewhere for contracts that would keep his fledgling company in business.
In 1929, he landed a $5,000,000 contract for his company to build fifteen oil refineries in Russia, Joseph Stalin’s Communist Russia.
Koch supervised the refinery installations, traveling extensively across the country over three years. He claimed that his hatred for Communism grew out of his Russian experiences, but he had pocketed $500,000 (his part of the company’s profits) before his outrage set in. That money, $8,000,000 in today’s dollars made Fred Koch a very rich man.
Stalin was not the only totalitarian dictator Fred Koch supported. During the 1930s, Fred’s company, Winkler-Koch Engineering planned and oversaw the construction of a huge oil refinery in Hamburg, Germany. This facility became essential to the Nazi War Machine. In late 1938, Fred Koch, who despised FDR and his New Deal, described German, Italy, and japan as the only “sound” countries in the world because people were working hard.
According to Jane Mayer in her new book, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, “Fred Koch’s willingness to work with the Soviets and the Nazis was a major factor in creating the Koch family’s early fortune.” (Dark Money p. 31) This history is certainly not the image of “free enterprise” and an “unfettered free market” that the Kochs defend.
Communists and Labor Unions
In 1960, years after he took Communist and Nazi money and parleyed it into an even bigger fortune, Koch wrote his book, A Businessman Looks at Communism, in which he rails against labor unions and the Civil Rights Movement as part of the Communist plot to take over America
“Labor Unions have long been a Communist goal,” Koch wrote. “The effort is frequently made to have the worker do as little as possible for the money he receives. This practice alone can destroy our country.” (p. 16)
Koch was equally damning views of civil rights. “The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America,” he said (p. 25) and “it will use the colored people by getting a vicious race war started.”
Koch’s views on civil rights were identical to those of the John Birch Society. Early in the civil rights movement, the Birch founder labeled Dr. Martin Luther King a Communist and marshaled the Birch leadership to fight every piece of civil rights legislation.
Hate the Government, Love Government Contracts and Tax Breaks
Fred Koch died in 1967, leaving his company and his vast fortune to his four sons: Freddie, Charles, David and Bill who spent the next twenty years battling over the estate. Eventually, David and Charles emerged with control over Koch Industries, one of the largest privately-held corporations in the country.
The sons acquired dozens of companies and diversified their fossil fuel assets into every commodity from silicon chips to toilet paper. Koch Industries continues to build its corporate wealth (and the Koch brothers’ personal wealth) with government contracts and government tax breaks.
Like their father, the Koch Brothers have no problem doing business with enemies of the United States. Koch Industries subsidiaries have engaged in very profitable business with Iran–despite federal sanctions against such trade.
Koch Brothers Invest Millions in Tea Party and Other Right-Wing Organizations
The Koch brothers have enormous personal fortunes, somewhere around $90 billion dollars. They are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in their favorite causes—right-wing, libertarian, anti-government ones.
David identified himself as the wallet behind Americans for Prosperity, the big umbrella for Freedom Works and the Tea Party. He and his brother, Charles are major funders of the Heritage Foundation, ALEC, Charles Koch Foundation, the Club for Growth and dozens of other organization. Charles founded the Cato Institute, a powerful think-tank specializing in selling right-wing, libertarian policies on everything from taxes to entitlements.
Tear the Government Out at the Root
Let’s not kid ourselves about the radical ideas that the Koch Brothers are selling. Despite their contributions to cultural organizations including the ballet, museums, and the opera, the Kochs have a burning desire to dismantle a large portion of the structures of the United States. They were taught to dislike the government by their father. Charles expanded the dislike into hate.
Brian Doherty, who chronicled the rise of American libertarianism in his book Radicals for Capitalism, interviewed Charles Koch. Charles made no secret of his political aim : “tear the government out at the root.” An unpublished history of the Koch family, written by Clayton Coppin and accessed by Jane Mayer for her book, Dark Money, looked at Koch’s hatred of the government. According to Coppin, Charles was “driven by some deeper urge to smash the one thing left in the world that could discipline him: the government.”
The Koch Brothers Are Libertarian Revolutionaries
Following in the footsteps of their father and the John Birch Society, David and Charles Koch are spending huge amounts of money to turn the United States into a country with a pint-sized federal government and none of the expense of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or any other social program. Oh, and very low taxes, especially for rich billionaires like them.
This libertarian utopia would free businesses to make a profit unrestrained by regulation. Corporate taxes and taxes on the rich would be tiny, allowing vast accumulations of wealth for the wealthy. Workers incomes would be set by corporations without the requirements of minimum wages and union scale.
The anti-government, libertarian ideas of the Koch Brothers have become the touchstones of the Republican Party. Tearing the government out by the root has gone from the mouth of Charles Koch into the heart of the GOP. If we think this isn't a right-wing revolution, we're kidding ourselves.
