No doubt Charles Koch's cut-throat competitiveness in his business dealings carries over into his competitiveness in promoting his libertarian political views through his strategic financial support of various libertarian causes. Because of both his competitiveness and his vast wealth, progressives and liberals should see him as a formidable opponent. He characteristically takes the long view, and he always plays to win. (David Koch characteristically follows his older brother's lead. Together, the two brothers have vast wealth.)
Now, during the 2008 presidential campaign, by one count, Senator Barack Obama made at least 500 different specific proposals about what he would do if he were elected president. However, before the day of the election rolled around, news broke about the economic crisis. Senator John McCain seemed to be tongue-tied. By comparison, Senator Obama managed to say something appropriate about the economic situation. But it was clear that the economic situation was a game changer -- he was going to have to change his tune about those 500 proposals in order to adjust to the emerging economic crisis.
Certain measures taken by the administration of President George W. Bush and subsequent measures taken by the Obama administration to counteract the economic crisis did not conform to the pure libertarian view that the Koch brothers held.
In any event, Senator Obama's election in 2008 was a crisis for the Koch brothers. Even taking into consideration that President Obama would have to adjust to the economic crisis, it was clear that he did not represent the libertarian theology that the Koch brother believed in. So they went to work to escalate their promotion of libertarian views.
According to Schulman, between 2007 and 2011, Charles Koch, through his foundation, contributed nearly $31 million "into hundreds of universities around the country" "to endow professorships, underwrite free-market economics programs, and sponsor conferences and lecture series for libertarian thinkers" (page 265).
Schulman reports that Greenpeace researchers investigated the Koch brothers. Between 2005 and 2008, the researchers found, "[f]oundations connected to the brothers had . . . directed nearly $25 million to dozens of conservative think tanks, policy institutes, and advocacy groups that had challenged the existence of global warming. Exxon, during the same period, had contributed about $9 million to similar outfits" (page 280).
In a certain sense, the Koch brothers believe in the power of idea to bring about long-term change -- libertarian idea, that is. At first blush, their way of proceeding to advance libertarian ideas sounds elitist in spirit. Indeed, in the short-term, their way is elitist. However, they are also looking to have libertarian idea disseminated as broadly as possible to as many Americans as possible who might be recruited to their libertarian cause.
With funding assistance from the Koch brothers, the Tea Party emerged in 2010 as a libertarian political movement. Then in the 2010 mid-term elections, the Republican candidates across the country were elected to political offices, instead of their Democratic opponents -- further fueling Republican obstructionism in Congress in the name of libertarianism.
Not surprisingly, the political funding provided by the Koch brothers helped turn them recently into "cartoon villains" -- "a crude caricature of corporate fat cats subverting democracy and science as the secretly advanced the plutocratic agenda" (page 281). Unaccustomed as they were to such wide media attention, the combative Koch brothers continued their libertarian campaign. The Koch brothers are not only extraordinarily competitive but also characteristically combative.
But the Republican victories in 2010 may have given many Republicans a false sense of confidence about the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. Even though the economy was still not working in President Obama's favor, he was convincingly re-elected in 2012.
Schulman says, "On December 6, 2012, a month to the day after the election, an onward-and-upward e-mail from Charles arrived in the in-boxes of his fellow donors [to the Republican Party]" (page 350). Clealry Charles Koch planned to position himself as the field marshal in charge of the Republican Party for the next election cycle.
In the 2014 mid-term elections, Republican candidates won a landmark number of political contests. Fortunately, Minnesota was not part of the Republican sweep to victories across the country. But perhaps all those victories will help give the Republicans a false sense of confidence once again about their prospects in the upcoming 2016 elections.
In conclusion, I think that libertarians are pretty nutty. After reading Schulman's book about the Koch brothers, I think that Charles Koch is one of the nuttiest libertarians around. Charles Koch and David Koch are competitive and combative. As long as their health allows them to do so, they will continue to promote their libertarian ideas.
(Article changed on November 20, 2014 at 16:56)
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