Politico got their hands on the Koch's fundraising packet marketing document for 2016 and put it out for everyone to read.
So of course I had to read it so you didn't have to. Entitled "Partner Prospectus 2016," it features shiny young millennials in their fresh, pretty Americans for Prosperity t-shirts canvassing the neighborhood. It is a prospectus, of course, because the Kochs approach our politics as purely a business deal in need of some seed funding to make the business take off.
There are the usual campaign style pages, describing how they'll organize and campaign for candidates as a social welfare organization that isn't supposed to exclusively run campaigns of course.
Earned Success
But let's not overlook the lofty reasons for their investment in the U.S. of A. It's all about "earned success," defined as "the belief that you are creating value with your life and for those around you." Value used in this context has a very specific meaning.
"How earned success is measured is unique to each individual person. For some, it's taking a risk, building a business, and profiting from its success. For others, it's raising great kids, or creating beautiful art, or making sure people don't go to bed hungry."
That last one will be difficult when the Koch boys get rid of the minimum wage. But wait, there's more! It's all just a big business transaction, this thing we call life.
"The system that makes this possible for the most people is free enterprise. It is the moral core of our effort and why we must struggle to preserve it for all."
Forgive me a teeny bit of cynicism around this declaration. Because raising great kids and creating beautiful art don't really go hand in hand with free enterprise. They take time, effort and money, which most of us have less of, thanks to our free enterprising overlords.
The Threat!
Dark clouds gather in the sky for this page....
First, a bit of a rant against "the Left's array of 'class warfare' tactics," and then a little Koch-y sunshine.
While first nodding to all of the pro-Liberty supporters out there making "solely materialistic arguments" for tax cuts and "entitlement reform," a little of the heart shows through.This is so solidly cynical it's hard to write without retching.
"Polls taken on [caring for those in need] consistently showed Americans believed Barack Obama 'cared about people like me' -- and the poor -- far more than Mitt Romney." And with good reason, I might add.
"America's poor have been shackled by decades of progressive policy, from welfare-induced dependency to job-killing taxes and regulations, that limit their opportunity to climb the economic ladder," the oligarchs declare.
I think there's something missing in that declaration, don't you? But wait. There's more. There's always more. What they'd like us to consider here is how people in some countries have gone from living on less than a dollar a day to maybe living on two dollars a day.
"Consider this: the percentage of people globally living on a dollar a day or less --a traditional poverty measure -- has fallen by 80 percent since 1970. This is the greatest antipoverty achievement in world history. It is not the result of philanthropy or foreign aid, but rather the proliferation of private property rights, free trade, and rule of law that has given people the freedom to earn their success and pull themselves out of poverty."
The Agenda
Now, with those principles in mind, let's consider what they have on their plate for the first hundred days of their Presidency. Because liberty!
- Medical Device Tax repeal
- Defining full-time work as 40 hours per week for Obamacare eligibility
- Get that Keystone pipeline done!
- Kill the Wind Energy Credit forever!
- Kill the EPA too, while you're at it, or at least kill the regulations.
- Balance those budgets!
- Get rid of the repatriation tax so all billionaires can bring their Billionaire Bucks home!
- Repeal the estate tax again, and for the love of God, make it stick this time! We need our aristocracy!
That's the first 100 days. I'm pretty sure they're saving the Obamacare repeal for the lead-in to voucherizing Medicare and ending Social Security, too, but they didn't want to look greedy or anything.
Look at that list, then look at their concern for the impoverished and tell me how those reconcile in any way, shape or form.
Also, notice what you don't see on that list? No advocacy for criminal justice reform, which all of the Kochheads have been giving lip service to. It sounds pretty, but they really don't consider it a priority.
At least we understand the playing field.
