It’s time to hit Koch brothers where it hurts, their wallets

Charles Koch is CEO and chairman of the board of Koch Industries. His brother, David, is the executive vice president. Together they are the principal owners of the second-largest privately owned company in the country, with an annual revenue of $98 billion.

Koch Industries is involved in the manufacturing, refining and distribution of petroleum, chemicals and raw materials, and it lies about global warming. The company and the billionaire family poured almost $63 million into groups that oppose the current consensus on climate change between 2005 and 2009.

The Kochs hosted a four-day powwow in Palm Springs, Calif., last month to coordinate efforts with other energy producers, conservative media and right-wing politicians on how best to thwart efforts by the Obama administration and Congress to curtail carbon emissions.  Past attendees include Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint.

There was a first-time protest of the biannual gathering, organized by the watchdog group Common Cause, Greenpeace and other concerned parties. It was attended by about 1,000 peaceful protestors outside the gates of the Rancho Mirage resort. Most waved placards condemning "corporate greed" and "crimes against the environment," or read "Quarantine the Kochs." By the end of the demonstration, 25 were arrested for trespassing.

So who are the Kochs?  According to an excellent (if lengthy) New Yorker article:

"[They] are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry – especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers' corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top 10 air polluters in the United States. "

Charles Koch was quoted as saying, "To bring about social change" requires "a strategy" that is "vertically and horizontally integrated," spanning "from idea creation to policy development to education to grassroots organizations to lobbying to litigation to political action." The project, he admitted, was extremely ambitious: "We have a radical philosophy."

The Kochs' philosophy developed in the 1970s and has come to fruition through organization and a lot of money. They bankroll the Tea Party through their foundation "Americans for Prosperity," a national organization with chapters in every state. AFP holds rallies and training sessions, organizes conservative letter-writing campaigns, and twists arms in Congress. Its issues are keeping taxes for the wealthy low (including repeal of estate taxes), repealing the health-care reform law ("Obamacare"), cutting public-school funding, and reducing health and safety regulations ("red tape"). The Koch brothers also started or funded "Citizens for a Sound Economy," the libertarian Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and other conservative and pro-corporate organizations.

The Kochs have been receiving unwelcome media attention lately, and have begun to fight back with lawyers, spin doctors, and defensive press releases from their puppet foundations.

I agree with the Tea Party on the importance of fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets, but the Tea Party is being used by corporations to destroy the power of our federal government to protect equality, justice and a living wage for all Americans.

We need to stop Koch Industries to have a chance at winning America's future (to borrow a phrase from the president). We need to cut off the secret financing of the Tea Partiers and climate-deniers that the Kochs put into office last November.

Please join the boycott of Koch Industries. Check out the "Boycott and Defeat Koch Industries"  and Common Cause organizations on Facebook, and learn more about their efforts. Especially helpful is the list of Koch Industries products on the "Boycott" Info tab, including Chevron, Union, and Conoco gasoline, Stainmaster carpet, and Georgia/Pacific paper and construction products. 

Mark McCutchan, a former engineer and technical writer, resides in Athens.