From NRO:
Earlier this week, a blogger impersonating industrialist David Koch spoke with Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who is attempting to pass a budget-repair bill. The conversation between Walker and the poseur, which was recorded, has received heavy media attention and turned the national spotlight onto the political activities of Koch Industries, a private, Wichita-based company with diverse holdings.
In interviews with National Review Online, Koch executives responded to the incident and pledged to “not stop” supporting free-enterprise initiatives, even as opponents attempt to sully the Koch name and the groups that brothers David and Charles Koch, the company’s co-owners, support. They also noted that David Koch and the governor have never met or spoken…
The Koch brothers are just the latest in a long line of leftist bogeymen – the left finds someone to hate and blame, and then goes about the process of demonization. The really amazing thing about it all is that the nefarious influence the left ascribes to the Kochs is genuinely wielded, on the left, by George Soros and his minions. Soros really does create astro-turf groups to agitate for things only a tiny minority want…and goes about slandering everyone who disagrees with the Soros worldview. The Kochs are just politically interested bazillionaires who spread the cash around to causes they like – not all of which I agree with (it seems that the Kochs are in favor of gay marriage, for instance – they seem far more libertarian than conservative).
My only word of caution here is to my fellow conservatives:
I Put no trust in princes, in mere mortals powerless to save. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth; that day all their planning comes to nothing. Happy those whose help is Jacob’s God, whose hope is in the LORD, their God… – Psalm 146:3-5
The Koch brothers have done some good work in funding important conservative and libertarian issues – but billionaires have a lot of calls on their time and anyone who has a billion dollars is, by nature, very concerned about that billion. You see, if they didn’t care about the money, they would have given it all away…or, at least enough to no longer be a billionaire. It takes a lot of effort and attention to stay that rich…and someone who is expending that kind of energy on a thing will sacrifice a lot to keep it. So, don’t think of the Kochs as something entirely on our side – come a day when they will do something which will infuriate conservatives and/or libertarians. But, meanwhile, as long as they are doing good, they deserve our support and thanks.
In this particular battle – that of the battle for fiscal sanity – the Kochs will, I believe, continue to do well by us. Other battles may go other ways. Meanwhile, there is no justification on the part of the left for the way they have insulted the Kochs. A couple of men who engage in business have done far more for America than any grafting union boss…or politician on the take from the unions. It is evidence of a growing desperation and, really, craziness on the part of the left that they have seen fit to cook up what amounts to a Stalinist show trial of the Kochs, with them found guilty regardless of the facts.
More and more I think we’ve got the left on the ropes – they are tapping the last dregs of their power in an attempt to beat us back after the liberal catastrophe of 2010. All we need to is keep up the pressure a little while longer and they’ll fold…and in this sort of fight, a couple billionaires willing to write checks is a good thing.
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