I read this story, linked below, in disbelief and outrage. (I’ve got to come up with another word for “outrage.” Let me look in my dad’s 1924 Roget’s. What do I find? See next post [Outrage: the word of the day] for some attractive synonyms.)
Since I began writing about the Koch Bros Neu Wannsee Conference–a/k/a the Final Solution to Democracy–I’ve pointed out that their machinations among other oligarchs, dedicated to the principle that very rich guys with their own corporations should take over our government, have been for the most part secret.
Just like Hitler’s Wannsee Conference. (When I drew that inference, it was before Steve Bannon yanked his playbook for Trump right out of the Goebbels-Hitler playbook. Call me prescient. Also call me scared and sickened.)
So, why the disbelief?
Because I did not reckon the Kochs, et al would be coming out of their closet–where they compile vast dark-money funds with which they “invest” in election campaigns–and would be going public so damn quickly.
No longer are the Kochs pretending their deep pocket financing has anything to do with “social good.” Now they are making it clear: they bought members of Congress and now they’re insisting their purchased servants do what the Kochs have bidden them to do.
Out there. In the open. And they don’t care that we know it.
Damn you, John Roberts, for that Citizens United decision. Look what you’ve done to this country.
Source: Patience Gone, Koch-Backed Groups Will Pressure G.O.P. on Health Repeal – The New York Times
It begins with a full-color photo of David Koch and then goes on to make the situation clear: they’ve spent a lot of money to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, and they fucking want it done now. Look:
WASHINGTON — Saying their patience is at an end, conservative activist groups backed by the billionaire Koch brothers and other powerful interests on the right are mobilizing to pressure Republicans to fulfill their promise to swiftly repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Their message is blunt and unforgiving, with the goal of reawakening some of the most extensive conservative grass-roots networks in the country. It is a reminder that even as Republicans control both the White House and Congress for the first time in a decade, the party’s activist wing remains restless and will not go along passively for the sake of party unity.
With angry constituents storming town hall-style meetings across the country and demanding that Congress not repeal the law, these new campaigns are a sign of a growing concern on the right that lawmakers might buckle to the pressure.
“We’ve been patient this year, but it is past time to act and to act decisively,” said Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, which is coordinating the push with other groups across the Kochs’ political network. “Our network has spent more money, more time and more years fighting Obamacare than anything else. And now with the finish line in sight, we cannot allow some folks to pull up and give up.”