The Amazing Koch Brothers

If someone would tell you a decade ago that two big Republican donors who support same-sex marriage and non-interventionist foreign policy would become the most vilified Republicans by the left, I would say, really? I remember a discussion with a young Democrat in 2008 who said if the Republicans would simply leave the social issues alone and concentrate on budget restraints, he might consider being a Republican. Guess what, the two biggest donors on the right are concerned about budget restraints and not social issues. Their reward is vilification. They are the bogeymen that many leftist parents used to scare their children: “If you don’t behave, the Koch monsters will get you!”

Charles Koch responded to his critics in a Wall Street Journal editorial and Koch showed his consistent defense of free market when he wrote, “I have spent decades opposing cronyism and all political favors, including mandates, subsidies and protective tariffs — even when we benefit from them. I believe that cronyism is nothing more than welfare for the rich and powerful, and should be abolished.”

He added that this present administration policy, “destroys value, raises costs, hinders innovation and relegates millions of citizens to a life of poverty, dependency and hopelessness.” This is tough but accurate. What was missing from the Koch's editorial was hatred for his opponent. Harry Reid simply can’t resist foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog when he discusses the Koch brothers, but the Koch brothers are gentlemen who don’t hate their political opponents and merely want to convert to the idea that increased liberty is the best policy toward prosperity.

The Koch brothers oppose the Obama collectivist big government approach and Obamacare is a classic of what is wrong with Obamanomics. Government is mandating what insurance you can buy and tax you if you choose not to participate. Obamacare will deny millions of Americans the health plan they presently like, their doctor, and will increase government reach in their lives. Charles Koch understands this modern day collectivism won’t stop with Obamacare as the Obama Administration rolls one plan after another that undermines work and innovation. The EPA has declared war on the coal industry and those blue collar workers that participates in it plus this President has yet to approve the Keystone pipeline which has bipartisan support.

We have an IRS that attacks political opponents of the regime and the overall tax system is corrupt to go along complexity that IRS agents can’t fully comprehend. Nor can Obamanomics be declared a great success since we have an economic recovery that is half of past expansions, and it took five years before private jobs regained their peak reached in January 2008. As economist Larry Kudlow observed, “In fact, this jobs recovery is the slowest on record since the Labor Department started tracking the data in 1939. And we are at least 5 million jobs below potential.” Obamanomics is the one reason that long term business investments remain soft.

Koch philosophy is simple: We need more liberty and freedom to store our economic might. Charles Koch argues, “The central belief and fatal conceit of the current administration is that you are incapable of running your own life, but those in power are capable of running it for you. This is the essence of big government and collectivism.” Koch believes in the power of the individual to shape his destiny and Obama believes the individual is a helpless pawn. Koch is right and that is what irritates his opponent.