Swallowing The Koch's Or Not To Swallow The Cocks That Is The Issue

Forget Trump — 'Dark Money' from Koch brothers is shaping Republican Party

Author Jane Mayer argues billionaires have used wealth, power to wage covert campaign to shift U.S. thinking

February 27, 2016

Given how the race for Republican presidential nomination is shaping up in the United States, you might think it's a party where the loudest mouth has a strong chance of winning.

After all, real estate mogul Donald Trump is the front-runner for the nomination, recently securing the support of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, himself no slouch in the volume department.

But in fact, argues investigative journalist Jane Mayer, the Republican Party is essentially controlled by the most silent of political players: the Koch brothers.

"It's really quite something to see because they're just private citizens really," said Mayer, who has written extensively about the brothers in her new book Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. "They're not people who have run for office."

In an interview with CBC's The National, Mayer says that behind the "spectacle" of the leadership race, the Koch brothers are shaping the party from the inside out.

The brothers — David and Charles — run the second-largest private corporation in the United States. Each is worth an estimated $45 billion.

They have used wealth and power to wage a covert campaign to shift American thinking and policies towards their own far-right libertarian views, Mayer says.

"They get to dominate the conversation and change policies in America by funding a kind of chorus of support for what they want."

Mayer argues that the influence of Koch brothers even stretches into Canada, fuelled by their extensive holdings in Alberta's oil sands. Mayer says the Koch brothers have also given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Fraser Institute, a Canadian think-tank.

The Koch brothers "have very important economic interests in Canada." Mayer said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/koch-brothers-dark-money-republican-party-1.3466477

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As it is below; so it is above

Journalist Jane Mayer Follows Money Trail To Billionaires Behind U.S. Radical Right

February 16, 2016

For Democrats, Charles Koch and his brother David have become the not-so-hidden hand of corporate America, ever pushing the country further to the right.

"In the last campaign in 2014, 80 per cent of the dark money was on the right. If it had been the other way around, I'd probably be writing a book about the dark money on the left."
- Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money

As voters show up in droves to back their preference for President in the U.S. primaries, it is the flood of money flowing into those candidates' campaigns that is increasingly important in deciding who gets to the White House.

New Yorker journalist Jane Mayer has spent years looking into the political activities of the Koch Brothers and other billionaires, and writes about her findings in her new book Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. As well she has been the target of reprisals for her investigation of the Koch Brothers.

Listen to The Current at Link below:

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-february-16-2016-1.3449741/journalist-jane-mayer-follows-money-trail-to-billionaires-behind-u-s-radical-right-1.3449790

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As it is below; so it is above