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How the Koch dynasty is determined to
dismantle democracy —
and why it might succeed: report
Story by Maya Boddie
For nearly half a century,
billionaire Charles Koch has quietly efforts to in the United States,
two professors wrote for Progressive Magazine.
Photo via Gavin Peters.© provided
by AlterNet
Nancy MacLean, the William H. Chafe distinguished professor of History
and Public Policy at Duke University, and Lisa Graves, executive
director of and a co-creator of the websites Koch Exposed and Koch
Docs, detailed a seemingly never-ending list of ways one of the
richest people in the world and his wealthy allies continue to “divide
the American electorate.”
The conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which
has long been funded by Koch and his late brother, David, has
strategized on ways to enforce voter suppression efforts by passing
voter ID laws – which began when Barack Obama was first elected in
2008.
Last year, the Center for Media and Democracy, for which Graves sits
on the board, found that a handful of Koch-backed groups collectively
on the 2020 election.
One of the organizations, Americans for Prosperity, spent around $70
million leading up to the 2022 midterms, involving itself in over 450
races on efforts that heavily targeted swing voters.
The book even contained phrases like, “Boy,
did we screw up.” “What
a mess!” “This is crazy! Are we going to have a civil war?” He had
convinced the public that his time toying with democracy was over.
But, MacLean and Graves said that “mainstream news editors seemed to
forget that” they were reporting on “a specialist in strategic
disinformation, who had perfected the practice of deceiving the
public during his network’s three decades of climate change denial” –
a mastermind of finesse.
Even with that, what Maclean and Graves call Koch’s “most diabolical”
move thus far, is how he bandwagoned the “white supremacist” reaction
to nationwide civil unrest following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, by
initiating a campaign that geared fear-mongering language towards the
idea of teaching race in schools – also known as critical race theory.
The Koch network proceeded to fund organizations that actively fought
against CRT, although a spokesperson from a Koch-funded group claims
that is untrue.
Two examples of Kock-backed anti-CRT initiatives include ALEC’s
financial support of a workshop titled “Against Critical Theory’s
Onslaught,” featuring the main figurehead of anti-CRT rhetoric,
Christopher Rufo in 2020; and when a coalition of Koch-funded groups
including the Manhattan Institute and Heritage Foundation advocated
against the idea of teaching race in schools in a published letter.
READ MORE:
Aside from funding organizations that promote anti-CRT language, Koch
also funds Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) and Independent Women’s
Voice (IWV), which work in tandem to promote anti-trans language. For
example, the groups created a “Women’s Bill of Rights” which asserts
that trans women are not women.
MacLean and Graves wrote, “Just as Koch-funded operations weaponize
and intensify racism to secure political power, they also exploit and
escalate misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia by any means to boost
Republican power.”
Despite his claim that he was removing himself from politics two years
ago, it’s clear that with the success of a majority conservative
Supreme Court, the continued push to control the bodies of women;
anti-CRT, anti-trans, and other discriminatory laws that Koch’s
behind-the-scenes funding and staunch support of those who can bring
he and his allies' vision of a fully dismantled democracy to life
presses on.
READ MORE:
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