In Defense of the Koch Brothers

For the Koch brothers, an ideal government would support gay marriage, freedom of speech, balancing the budget, and capitalism.

The 2018 midterm elections are only 10 months away, and with primaries in full swing for seats across the United States, donors are preparing to ramp up spending for the November election season. In what is being presented as an unprecedented move, the Koch Brothers have pledged $400 million to support candidates they deem like-minded enough. For some, this move is going to be met with outrage and cries of “keep money out of politics” or “the rich are controlling our democracy,” but for others who are willing to look into the issue with more depth, this is politics as usual.

It is easy to take the example of the Kochs, billionaire businessmen who donate almost exclusively to Republicans, and become upset. After all, the Republican Party is the party of the rich, greedy white man, is it not? Actually no – not so much. The thing about the Koch Brothers (and their network of like-minded donors, with whom they coordinated this move) is not exactly what they are doing, but rather who else is doing it. While it may seem like the super rich throwing their money around to get their way, it is in practicality a different beast. The wealthy on both sides donate huge sums. The Kochs are not your average Republicans, and they actually represent a vast swath of the American public’s views on government.

To begin with anything but the blatant hypocrisy of those who are angered by Koch donations yet unphased by left-wing billionaire donations is an egregious amount of intellectual dishonesty. According to OpenSecrets.org, a database of political contributions, Koch Industries has been a major donor over the years. With donations averaging $10,000-15,000 the Koch’s company has been seen giving out small gifts to many candidates and committees. The brothers raised about $100 million between the 2008 and 2012 elections in attempts to defeat Barack Obama, but the bulk of their contributions go to smaller races across the country, and take the form of considerably smaller sums. The Koch brothers also donate mostly to nonprofit groups rather than directly to campaigns or PACs.