Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > How the Kochs Are Writing America's Story Through Wealth and Power -
and What Progressives Can Do to Counter It
________________________________________
How the Kochs Are Writing America's Story Through Wealth and Power - and
What Progressives Can Do to Counter It
By Michael Winship [1] / Moyers and Company
February 11, 2016
Gather round for the word of the day: metanarrative. Definitions vary but
let's say it's one big narrative that connects the meaning of events to a
belief thought to be an essential truth, the storytelling equivalent of the
unified field theory in physics.
Now use it to define what's being done to America today - our Big Story.
Journalist and activist Naomi Klein did just that a couple of weeks ago when
she and I talked [2] at Finger Lakes Community College in upstate New York
about the Koch brothers' resistance to the reality of climate change.
".The Charles Koch metanarrative - and he's said it explicitly - is that he
is challenging collectivism, he is challenging the idea that when people get
together they can do good," she said. "And he is putting forward the
worldview that we're all very familiar with that if you free the individual
to pursue their self-interest that will actually benefit the majority. So
you need to attack everything that is collective, whether it's labor rights
or whether it's public health care or whether it's regulatory action. All of
this falls under the metanarrative of an attack on collectivism."
In other words, Koch and his brother David and the extraordinary machine
they have built in cahoots with fellow billionaires and others, have spent
hundreds and hundreds of millions to get their way - "the great wealth grab"
in the words of Richard Eskow [3] - all part of one long story told in
pursuit of a specific end: to make the needs of the very, very few our
nation's top priority and to thwart or destroy any group effort among the
poor and middle class to do or say otherwise.
The Kochs have spun their tale with a singular, laser-like focus, carefully
taking their time to make sure they get it right. Jane Mayer, author of Dark
Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical
Right, recently wrote in Politico Magazine [4] that
"Charles Koch might claim that his entry into politics is new, but from its
secrecy to its methods of courting donors and recruiting students, the
blueprint for the vast and powerful Koch donor network that we see today was
drafted four decades ago."
Mayer reviewed papers - including one written by Charles Koch himself -
presented at a Koch-sponsored Center for Libertarian Studies conference in
1976 and concludes, ".It's not hard to recognize the Koch political movement
we see today-a vast and complex network of donors, think tanks and academic
programs largely cloaked in secrecy and presented as philanthropy, leaving
almost no money trail that the public can trace. And it's these techniques
Charles first championed decades ago that helped build his political
faction-one so powerful that it turned fringe ideas William F. Buckley once
dismissed as 'Anarcho-Totalitarianism' into a private political machine that
grew to rival the Republican Party itself."
And so we see their creation of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange
Council posing as a non-profit while entertaining state legislators and
plying them with templates for laws that favor restrictions on voter
eligibility, public sector unions and the minimum wage while supporting
freedom for the gun lobby and deregulation. The Kochs shower cash on
candidates and elected officials who do the bidding of the right, fund
programs at historically black colleges and universities that preach
free-market economics and deregulation, bankroll the Libre Initiative that
hands out holiday turkeys and Easter baskets to Latino families while, in
its own words [5], "informing the U.S. Hispanic community about the benefits
of a constitutionally limited government, property rights, rule of law,
sound money supply and free enterprise through a variety of community
events, research and policy initiatives that protect our economic freedom."
As Naomi Klein said during our conversation, "The Koch brothers set out to
change the values, to change the core ideas that people believed in. And
there is no progressive equivalent of taking ideas seriously." She then
asked, "So what is the progressive metanarrative? Who funds it? Who is
working on changing ideas that can say, 'Actually, when we pool our
resources, when we work together, we can do more and better than when we
only act as individuals.' I don't think we value that."
In fact, there is a progressive metanarrative, one that needs to be valued
and not obscured by arguments over who is or is not sufficiently progressive
or who did what to whom and when. The metanarrative's lead has been buried
in divisiveness, by trolling from every side and by despicable,
old-fashioned redbaiting. What's more, goals and purposes have been diffused
with a scattershot approach when we should be vectoring in on what really
counts.
The progressive metanarrative is the opposite of the fight against
collectivism: it's the struggle against inequality. The Harvard Gazette
reports [6], "Though the wealthiest 20 percent earned nearly half of all
wages in 2014, they have more than 80 percent of the wealth. The wealth of
the poorest 20 percent, as measured by net worth, is actually negative. If
they sell all they own, they'll still be in debt."
Labor organizer and Harvard Kennedy School lecturer Marshall Ganz tells the
Gazette, "I think the galloping inequality in this country results from poor
political choices. There was nothing inevitable, nothing global. We made a
series of political choices. that set us on this path." He continues,
"Inequality, it's not just about wealth, it's about power. It isn't just
that somebody has some yachts, it's the effect on democracy. I think we're
in a really scary place."
But it's not a place from which escape is impossible. To make our
metanarrative come true, we must embrace both community and government that
effectively can protect and provide for all. In a 2014 article at the
Ideas.TED website, philosopher T.M. Scanlon wrote [7],
"No one has reason to accept a scheme of cooperation that places their lives
under the control of others, that deprives them of meaningful political
participation, that deprives their children of the opportunity to qualify
for better jobs, and that deprives them of a share of the wealth they help
to produce. The holdings of the rich are not legitimate if they are acquired
through competition from which others are excluded, and made possible by
laws that are shaped by the rich for the benefit of the rich. In these ways,
economic inequality can undermine the conditions of its own legitimacy."
And so it can, if progressives work together, mobilize, dare to take risks
and keep the faith in the face of cynicism and weary resignation. Such a
metanarrative could have a different - and happy - ending.
Michael Winship is senior writing fellow at Demos and a senior writer of the
new series, Moyers & Company, airing on public television.
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Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [8]
[9]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/how-kochs-are-writing-americas-sto
ry-through-wealth-and-power-and-what
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/michael-winship
[2]
http://billmoyers.com/story/naomi-klein-climate-change-not-just-about-things
-getting-hotter-its-about-things-getting-meaner/
[3]
https://ourfuture.org/20160208/inequality-against-democracy-10-facts-about-t
he-0-01-percent
[4]
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/charles-koch-political-ascent
-jane-mayer-213541#ixzz3zbZBpWsH
[5] http://www.thelibreinitiative.com/about-us#
[6]
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/02/the-costs-of-inequality-when-a
-fair-shake-isnt/
[7]
http://ideas.ted.com/the-4-biggest-reasons-why-inequality-is-bad-for-society
/
[8] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on How the Kochs Are
Writing America's Story Through Wealth and Power - and What
Progressives Can Do to Counter It
[9] http://www.alternet.org/
[10] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > How the Kochs Are Writing America's Story Through Wealth and Power -
and What Progressives Can Do to Counter It
How the Kochs Are Writing America's Story Through Wealth and Power - and
What Progressives Can Do to Counter It
By Michael Winship [1] / Moyers and Company
February 11, 2016
Gather round for the word of the day: metanarrative. Definitions vary but
let's say it's one big narrative that connects the meaning of events to a
belief thought to be an essential truth, the storytelling equivalent of the
unified field theory in physics.
Now use it to define what's being done to America today - our Big Story.
Journalist and activist Naomi Klein did just that a couple of weeks ago when
she and I talked [2] at Finger Lakes Community College in upstate New York
about the Koch brothers' resistance to the reality of climate change.
".The Charles Koch metanarrative - and he's said it explicitly - is that he
is challenging collectivism, he is challenging the idea that when people get
together they can do good," she said. "And he is putting forward the
worldview that we're all very familiar with that if you free the individual
to pursue their self-interest that will actually benefit the majority. So
you need to attack everything that is collective, whether it's labor rights
or whether it's public health care or whether it's regulatory action. All of
this falls under the metanarrative of an attack on collectivism."
In other words, Koch and his brother David and the extraordinary machine
they have built in cahoots with fellow billionaires and others, have spent
hundreds and hundreds of millions to get their way - "the great wealth grab"
in the words of Richard Eskow [3] - all part of one long story told in
pursuit of a specific end: to make the needs of the very, very few our
nation's top priority and to thwart or destroy any group effort among the
poor and middle class to do or say otherwise.
The Kochs have spun their tale with a singular, laser-like focus, carefully
taking their time to make sure they get it right. Jane Mayer, author of Dark
Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical
Right, recently wrote in Politico Magazine [4] that
"Charles Koch might claim that his entry into politics is new, but from its
secrecy to its methods of courting donors and recruiting students, the
blueprint for the vast and powerful Koch donor network that we see today was
drafted four decades ago."
Mayer reviewed papers - including one written by Charles Koch himself -
presented at a Koch-sponsored Center for Libertarian Studies conference in
1976 and concludes, ".It's not hard to recognize the Koch political movement
we see today-a vast and complex network of donors, think tanks and academic
programs largely cloaked in secrecy and presented as philanthropy, leaving
almost no money trail that the public can trace. And it's these techniques
Charles first championed decades ago that helped build his political
faction-one so powerful that it turned fringe ideas William F. Buckley once
dismissed as 'Anarcho-Totalitarianism' into a private political machine that
grew to rival the Republican Party itself."
And so we see their creation of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange
Council posing as a non-profit while entertaining state legislators and
plying them with templates for laws that favor restrictions on voter
eligibility, public sector unions and the minimum wage while supporting
freedom for the gun lobby and deregulation. The Kochs shower cash on
candidates and elected officials who do the bidding of the right, fund
programs at historically black colleges and universities that preach
free-market economics and deregulation, bankroll the Libre Initiative that
hands out holiday turkeys and Easter baskets to Latino families while,
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. [5], "informing the U.S. Hispanic
community about the benefits of a constitutionally limited government,
property rights, rule of law, sound money supply and free enterprise through
a variety of community events, research and policy initiatives that protect
our economic freedom."
As Naomi Klein said during our conversation, "The Koch brothers set out to
change the values, to change the core ideas that people believed in. And
there is no progressive equivalent of taking ideas seriously." She then
asked, "So what is the progressive metanarrative? Who funds it? Who is
working on changing ideas that can say, 'Actually, when we pool our
resources, when we work together, we can do more and better than when we
only act as individuals.' I don't think we value that."
In fact, there is a progressive metanarrative, one that needs to be valued
and not obscured by arguments over who is or is not sufficiently progressive
or who did what to whom and when. The metanarrative's lead has been buried
in divisiveness, by trolling from every side and by despicable,
old-fashioned redbaiting. What's more, goals and purposes have been diffused
with a scattershot approach when we should be vectoring in on what really
counts.
The progressive metanarrative is the opposite of the fight against
collectivism: it's the struggle against inequality. The Harvard Gazette
reports [6], "Though the wealthiest 20 percent earned nearly half of all
wages in 2014, they have more than 80 percent of the wealth. The wealth of
the poorest 20 percent, as measured by net worth, is actually negative. If
they sell all they own, they'll still be in debt."
Labor organizer and Harvard Kennedy School lecturer Marshall Ganz tells the
Gazette, "I think the galloping inequality in this country results from poor
political choices. There was nothing inevitable, nothing global. We made a
series of political choices. that set us on this path." He continues,
"Inequality, it's not just about wealth, it's about power. It isn't just
that somebody has some yachts, it's the effect on democracy. I think we're
in a really scary place."
But it's not a place from which escape is impossible. To make our
metanarrative come true, we must embrace both community and government that
effectively can protect and provide for all. In a 2014 article at the
Ideas.TED website, philosopher T.M. Scanlon wrote [7],
"No one has reason to accept a scheme of cooperation that places their lives
under the control of others, that deprives them of meaningful political
participation, that deprives their children of the opportunity to qualify
for better jobs, and that deprives them of a share of the wealth they help
to produce. The holdings of the rich are not legitimate if they are acquired
through competition from which others are excluded, and made possible by
laws that are shaped by the rich for the benefit of the rich. In these ways,
economic inequality can undermine the conditions of its own legitimacy."
And so it can, if progressives work together, mobilize, dare to take risks
and keep the faith in the face of cynicism and weary resignation. Such a
metanarrative could have a different - and happy - ending.
Michael Winship is senior writing fellow at Demos and a senior writer of the
new series, Moyers & Company, airing on public television.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [8]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[9]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/how-kochs-are-writing-americas-sto
ry-through-wealth-and-power-and-what
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/michael-winship
[2]
http://billmoyers.com/story/naomi-klein-climate-change-not-just-about-things
-getting-hotter-its-about-things-getting-meaner/
[3]
https://ourfuture.org/20160208/inequality-against-democracy-10-facts-about-t
he-0-01-percent
[4]
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/charles-koch-political-ascent
-jane-mayer-213541#ixzz3zbZBpWsH
[5] http://www.thelibreinitiative.com/about-us#
[6]
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/02/the-costs-of-inequality-when-a
-fair-shake-isnt/
[7]
http://ideas.ted.com/the-4-biggest-reasons-why-inequality-is-bad-for-society
/
[8] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on How the Kochs Are
Writing America's Story Through Wealth and Power - and What
Progressives Can Do to Counter It
[9] http://www.alternet.org/
[10] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
