Until now, Charles and David Koch have kept their extensive political operation a secret from the media and us hoi polloi. Over the years, they have quietly funneled tens of millions of dollars from their industrial fortune into hundreds of right-wing front groups set up to advance their goal of establishing a corporate plutocracy in America. From behind their plush curtain, they’ve operated as the right-wing’s Wizard of Oz – only Ozzier.
But now, the curtain is being pulled back, and there they are – buck naked and butt ugly – for all to see.
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What an unpleasant surprise it must have been for the billionaire brothers to find the hoi polloi peering at them on January 30. They were sequestered behind the gated walls of a Southern California resort with about 200 other wealthy elites. All had come to this lair of luxury for a closed-door four-day political retreat that Charles periodically organizes to plot strategy with his peers and get money commitments for the next national election.
These clandestine pow-wows allow the Kochs and their corporate cohorts to huddle privately with top GOP congress critters, Supreme Court justices, political operatives, and such right-wing celebrities as Glenn Beck.
This year, however, the confidential letter of invitation from Koch Industries was leaked to researcher Lee Fang at the Center for American Progress and widely distributed. In it, Charles bragged that “we will assemble an exceptional group of leaders” at Rancho Las Palmas resort. And he did – but not the kind of leaders he intended to bring together. Instead, some 1,500 grassroots Americans gathered at the resort to greet the elites! They were not pleased to see us – but, hey, we’re not pleased to see them undermining our people’s democracy.
These uninvited guests, accompanied by national media, succeeded in uncloaking the Kochs – and now their name is a four-letter word – as in “to Koch” democracy.
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