Koch Says Conservatives are Fighting in Their Own Civil Rights Movement

David (left) and Charles Koch

Last Sunday, Charles Koch spoke to 450 members of the 1 percent at the Koch brothers' Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce meeting where Republican presidential candidates got another chance to audition for big money donors.

In his presentation, Mr. Koch compared the wealthy's attempt to take over our political system and our country to the civil rights fight and other "freedom movements."  He urged his conservative audience to follow the examples of people like Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King Jr.

"History demonstrates that when the American people get motivated by an issue of justice that they believe is just, extraordinary things can be accomplished."

"Look at the American revolution, the anti-slavery movement, the women's suffrage movement, the civil rights movement.  All of these struck a moral chord with the American people.  They all sought to overcome an injustice.  And we, too, are seeking to right injustices that are holding our country back."

what eye thynk:  Anyone who reads my blog, even semi-regularly, knows I have no love for the Koch brothers.  But THIS!  THIS is so insulting, so self serving, so disdainful of those who have fought against injustice and for equality that it boggles the mind.   

The unmitigated gall of anyone as rich and privileged as the Kochs and their ilk to think they can win America over to their side by claiming their avarice for even more advantages is like the civil rights or anti-slavery movements is beyond all decency. These movements "struck a moral chord" because they were moral causes.  Making the rich richer is anything but. 

What injustices does Mr. Koch suffer from exactly?  Does he feel spiritually burdened because he can't sit in the White House and dictate to the President of the United States? Is he weighed down by the fact that he cannot issue a personally constructed edict and have it become the law of the land within 24 hours?  Does he think it is inequitable that he and his brother are merely billionaires when trillions are out there waiting to be grabbed if only America would release him from his bonds of servitude? 

What "freedom" are these rich people being denied?  Is there some part of my lower middle class life that they feel they are being refused?  I'd be happy to allow them to move into my badly-in-need-of-paint, inner-city home and experience my life if that will satisfy them and make them "free-er." 

Mr. Koch's remarks were made at a rich-person strategy session where the Koch brothers asked their wealthy friends to open their checkbooks to the sum of $889 million--their self-proclaimed goal--which the Koch brothers will then decide how to disperse through their personal network of PACs and other conservative organizations during the 2016 election cycle.

Charles Koch told his audience that an effort to get the average American behind their cause needed them to be "much more effective in articulating" their mission.

As the Washington Post reported, Mr. Koch's words were "part of a broad attempt to cast the organization as one deeply concerned about the plight of the poor."

Right.  They're so concerned about the poor that they are not only against raising the minimum wage, but advocate eliminating the minimum wage completely.  They're so concerned about the poor that they want to minimize social programwes in order to cure the "lazy."  They want to outlaw trade unions, unions which almost single-handedly created the American middle class.

They can "articulate" all they want.  No one beyond those in the room to hear this twaddle is buying. We "get" your mission, Mr. Koch.  Your greed speaks for itself. 

The venue was hung with banners quoting donors to the Koch operation.  One of them quoted Ken Yontz, a wealthy Wisconsin investor: "We all want a level playing field, which is necessary for keeping the American dream alive...That is what the Kochs are fighting for.  That is why I stand with them,"

You "want a level playing field?"  Then act like it.  Stop constructing roadblocks for those Americans who don't live on their own personal money mountain.  Come down out of the clouds and acknowledge that the voices of middle class and the poor are being silenced by the over-amplified sound of money.

Charles Koch admonished his audience: "If we cannot unite the majority of Americans behind the vision, then we're done for.  So that, to me, has to be our number one objective.  But to do so, we've got to do a much better job of understanding what matters most to people..." 

You want to understand "what matters most to people?" That's easy:  We want fair wages including the opportunity to form or join a union.  We want fair elections in which we all can participate.  We want clean air and clean water.  We want access to health care.  We want the church to stay out of our public institutions.  We want full freedom for women.  We want a to be able to afford a decent education for our children. We want the type of fair taxation where your wealth isn't hidden behind a wall, where you pay the same percentage as the guy who cleans your pool.

In short, we want everything you stand against.  So, if you find yourself unable to "unite the majority of Americans behind (your) vision," and, in the end, find yourselves "done for," be warned that 99 percent of America will celebrate their win.