Reddit Reddit reviews Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

We found 44 Reddit comments about Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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44 Reddit comments about Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right:

u/lemon_meringue · 422 pointsr/politics

Didn't want to spam the queue, but if anyone else wants to post parts 2 and 3 of this amazing, comprehensive piece of journalism, here are the other two parts to this story:

Part 2: Internal Divisions President Trump’s election made the Murdoch family more powerful than ever. But the bitter struggle between James and Lachlan threatened to tear the company apart.

Part 3: The New Fox Weapon The Disney deal left the Murdochs with a media empire stripped to its essence: a hardcore right-wing news machine — with Lachlan in charge.

It's a very long read, but worth it.

I also recommend Jane Mayer's seminal book from 2017 entitled Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right to get a full picture of how the oligarchy has slimed in and committed violence against our democracy for over a generation.

u/JacobCrim88 · 183 pointsr/television

Mercers and The Kochs. Read or listen to Dark Money. It's scary.

u/xidfogab · 119 pointsr/worldnews
u/LeChuckly · 68 pointsr/TrueReddit

If you want to hear more about this I recommend "Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right". Unfortunately - seminars like this are only the tip of the ice-berg. There are huge ideological enterprises set up with goal of establishing "beach-heads" at prestigious universities by setting up private organizations that are attached to the university but paid to publish certain results. Their role is usually to promote free markets and encourage the inclusion of economic costs in law (not just public good). The Mercatus Institute is another example of one of these privately-funded-but-publicly-housed organizations. They're the guys who made news a few months ago when they published a study on Bernie Sander's medicare-for-all plan that showed that even though it was expensive - it was still cheaper than what we're spending now.

u/arcangleous · 38 pointsr/CanadaPolitics

The same Eisenhower who extremely critical of wealthy industrialist taking control of the national and attempting to exploit the poor to their benefit? I'm not saying everything he did was good, but he was aware that a certain, powerful segment of the population was more interested in ranking up a high score in their bank accounts than helping people.

> Neoliberalism, love it or hate it, saved the economy in the 80s and 90s.

That's a massive over-simplification, and mostly inaccurate. While several important metrics from measuring the economy did improve during that period, "real wages" (wages adjusted for inflation) didn't grow significantly between 1981 and 2011. A lot of the economy growth came from women entering the work force in larger numbers & obtaining wages comparable to men, from computers & automation massive boosting the productive per worker, and a massive increase in the access to credit (debt). Of the three, Neoliberalism/Laissez-Faire economy only really affected the third, with probably overall negative consequences. At the heart of the Great Recession was the house market collapse: Because of the lack of real wage growth, people couldn't afford to buy houses except through increasing ridiculous mortgages, which they were able to obtain since the investment class demands growth. This debt bubble was leveraged to create even more (imaginary) wealth, which showed up in most of the economy metrics (especially the stock market). It just disappeared when reality set in and real wages couldn't support incurred debt, crashing the economy.

> Nixon brought in the Environmental protection agency.

I put Nixon on the list for breaking the law to maintain political power. Without Watergate, he would not have made the list.

> Political parties respond to the needs and wants of the electorate.

The reason I mentioned think tanks is that they are one of the tools used by conservative to re-frame and shape the wants of the electorate. Most traditional think tanks collect facts and do analysis to build policy recommendations, but many conservative ones (especially ones funded by the Kochs) begin with the ideology and cherry-pick the data to support the policies they have already written. It's both intellectual dishonest and much easier to build a convincing narrative with. I suggest reading Dark Money and Democracy in Chains if you want to examine the interplay between conservative think tanks, public opinion and money.

> People are the ones who vote after all.

Which is why voter suppression and gerrymandering play such an important role is US elections. Given the ugly history of disenfranchisement in that country, it's much easier to build support for preventing "the wrong people" from voting that it is to actually convince other people to support your policies. It's disguising and disgraceful. Thankfully, the Supreme Court up here has been consistent on supporting everyone's right to vote.

u/skeebidybop · 37 pointsr/politics

Speaking of the Koch Brothers, eeryone should read Jane Mayer's Dark Money.

It is absolutely essential reading for understanding what has happened to the Republican party and our greater political zeitgeist.

u/manisnotabird · 31 pointsr/politics

Everyone should read New Yorker writer Jane Mayer's book about the Kochs and (to a lesser extent) other far-right billionaires, Dark Money.

u/TonyBagels · 28 pointsr/politics

"Surprising Op-ed"??


"Singing a new tune"?!?!


Charles and David Koch are the unrivaled kings of gaslighting and manipulation.

They have spent literally hundreds millions of dollars, over decades, on a concentrated effort to influence academia, the media, and public policy towards their pro-corporate (profits) and anti-goverment (public accountability) ends.

"Dark Money" should be required reading for everyone.

Buy it, trust me: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307947904

Or listen to the audiobook free here:

Part 1: https://youtu.be/3uoaTlB5oPA

Part 2: https://youtu.be/gcQQKalLbZs

u/MSHDigit · 22 pointsr/EarthStrike

Jane Mayer, Dark Money

Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains

This is well-documented and reported. Please do some reading, specifically on John Olin and the Koch Brothers and James Buchanan and the neoliberal Mont Pelerin Society hostile takeover of higher education and public discourse in general. Even the Tea Party was astroturfed.

u/Regina_George_Victim · 15 pointsr/politics

> Mainstream liberals and Democrats have largely been unable to...understand the behavior of the Republican Party over the last few decades

Just finished Jane Mayer's Dark Money. It's very enlightening in this regard. It's a hard read in the sense that is perpetually depressing, terrifying, and enraging, but it clearly explicates the unseen forces at work, including how the Koch network pours money into cut outs that are made to look and sound non-partisan and legitimate (which also aids in their mission to cheat campaign financing and tax laws) and pairs the cut outs' "research" with the worst elements of society (e.g., racism, poverty) to frame their messaging in an eerily similar way as Russian propaganda. That's in addition to all the shell non profits they use to skirt campaign finance laws and funnel ungodly amounts of money to politicians.

Even if I had at some point in the past said "both sides are the same" with respect to donors, I will never fucking say it again after reading this book.

u/Tuxis · 14 pointsr/politics

As long as we are suggesting things, People should read Dark Money by Jane Meyer

u/Ratonhnhaketon_K_ · 14 pointsr/politics

In simplest terms, the Koch Foundation has put a poop ton of money into George Mason University and other colleges across the US. I highly recommend you read the book but GMU has been in the news this year because of the connections to the Kochs.

The book also goes into the Bush family and a lot of the Republican guard, shit I had no idea about. The Kochs made a shit load of money selling to the Nazis and USSR.

u/ScienceBreather · 14 pointsr/PoliticalHumor

If anyone hasn't read/listened to Dark Money by Jane Mayer you definitely should!

It traces the history of influence by conservative billionaire donors, and it's disgusting and infuriating -- but also incredibly informative.

u/BobbieDangerous20 · 12 pointsr/politics

FYI the Mercer Famiky was/is a major player in the Koch network that brought us the radical right and who now own the Republican Party.

Read Dark Money, buy a copy for a friend.

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904

u/Filthy_peasant55 · 11 pointsr/minnesota

All of this is well documented.

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904

Of course I might be going out on a limb thinking you'd ever even try to read a fucking book for once.

u/cornell256 · 10 pointsr/politics

They epitomize libertarianism. They're largely (almost solely) responsible for the rise of right wing and libertarian think tanks and ideals in the United states over the last several decades. If you ever want to be disgusted by the efforts and successes of the Koch brothers and their oligarch friends, I suggest this book: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550262479&sr=8-1&keywords=dark+money. It outlines how they've infiltrated the government, academic institutions, and general society with evil intentions and great success.

u/VacationAwayFromWork · 9 pointsr/politics

Fuck it. Finally ordering it now.

Really stoked to get fucking depressed about the CU decision again.

Edit: can I post a link to Amazon? I'm gonna post the link to Amazon. And here's the Smile.Amazon link.

Edit: Also, if you don't like reading and want a primer on this stuff... good documentary from HBO here.

u/DJ_Molten_Lava · 5 pointsr/politics

Please, read the book Dark Money.

u/bullcitytarheel · 4 pointsr/worldnews

Haha - my girlfriend keeps telling me to start a YouTube channel. Personally, I think she just wants me to rant around the house less lol. But I've been thinking about putting something together - the lovely response from Redditors when I post comments like this make me think it might have a chance to be a successful way of getting the message out.

But if you're interested in reading about this stuff here are a few books by the people with real talent who did all the investigative legwork that I'm just repeating:

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307947904/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_V2.xDbT0G7T9Q

Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America https://www.amazon.com/dp/1101980966/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_23.xDbQ9EHJR5

u/not-moses · 3 pointsr/cults

Keep digging:

Look up Jane Mayer and Nancy MacLean.

Look into the Koch, Scaife, Olin, De Vos, Bradley, and Coors families, as well as Sheldon Adelson.

Look into the economics departments at the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and George Mason University since the 1950s.

Follow the money.

And look at the use of neurolinguistic programming in the higher levels of the fundraising, voter registration and get-out-the-vote schemes in both of our major political parties.

And once you've done all that, go volunteer to work for your county or state party political organization to see how the pyramid works and whether or not I'm talking out the side of my neck.

cc: u/Lamont-Cranston, u/troublesomefaux

u/20000RadsUnderTheSea · 3 pointsr/moderatepolitics

I've actually been really disappointed to read into the history and current usage of most modern non-profits (charities) and realized that they are basically a tax dodge for the super-rich. For instance, think of the tax breaks for donating to various non-profits. They don't disappear if you own the charity, allowing you to create charities, place your own money in them to reduce your tax burden, and spend it how you like.

And almost none has to be directed towards your stated goal, similar to how non-profits like The Wounded Warriors Project use less than 10% of the donated money to actually help veterans.

Even worse, depending on the type of 501 non-profit it is, you can usually use that money politically. Recent-ish court cases have determined that, even ones that were originally designed to not permit political spending, the word "primarily" allows for up to 49% of money to be spend on political issues directly. And obfuscation can allow for plenty more to indirectly support political issues.

A final piece of the puzzle is how you can set up tax-free trusts for your kids to avoid estate taxes. They sound good: the rich get no taxes to transfer money to their kids because the interest that accrues on the trust for a decade or two goes to charities. But when own the charity you are giving the interest to, it's just a tax dodge.

If you are interested in reading more, the book Dark Money is a fascinating read. It is a bit left of center, though. Provides a lot of background on non-profits and their inception though... they used to be illegal and thought of as thoroughly un-American. And now, they are used to take billions of dollars from the wealthy, while reducing their tax burden, to fund their political causes with no limits, thanks to cases like Citizen's United.

Sorry if this was all a little off topic.

u/be_vigilant_ · 3 pointsr/ActiveMeasures

This is a good question.

I would like to echo that sentiment.

While the Koch brothers have had an aggressive political agenda for some time, applying their billions of dollars to influence a radical agenda onto US politics Dark Money, by Jane Mayer ...

The bigger issue here is:

  • Do you trust the site?
  • Do you trust the author?
  • Do you trust the content?
  • Do you trust the OP? reddit-user-analyser

    Be skeptical.

    Some of us are misanthropes, some of us are a bit kooky, some of us might actually be reasonable normal human beings; but some among us are bad actors which have commercial, corporate or political agendas. some of us are bots, trolls, manipulators.

    Again, this is a good question.
u/Youmonsterr · 2 pointsr/worldnews

Unfortunately, I don't think it can be said with full context. But I'll try. You can get what the book is about here:
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506716249&sr=8-1&keywords=dark+money

Basically, the trust fund kids (koch brothers and other billionaires) are creating/funding think tanks that focuses on whatever means to add to their bottom line. They are willing to skewer education in the way that teaches limited government is good for business. However, when the bailout idea came, they gladly took it. So they're not really taking on any ideological side, but whatever is easy for them to gain more money.

The reason for this is because the Koch brothers were brought up in a very militaristic style parenting by their father.. who teaches you must do whatever means to win. They were pitted against each other in fights, games, etc. so they carry that determination in business as well, and it's causing harm in our political system and society because they have so much control of wealth and thus influence.


There's a lot more to this obviously, the book is really a must read.

u/ejoso_ · 2 pointsr/BasicIncome

Read Dark Money. Billionaire “donations” are powerful tools.


https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904

u/TerminalGrog · 2 pointsr/thedavidpakmanshow

Read Dark Money, strongly recommend reading that along with Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century.

u/thehillsaredead · 2 pointsr/politics

Here's a good place to start. Dark Money goes into the history of these shadowy megadonors and surprise! They're racist!
[Here's a link]
(https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904)

u/Mauricium_M26 · 2 pointsr/Anarchism

Here's a big list.

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-researcher-dupont-helped-nazi-germany-out-of-ideology-1.7186636

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ibm-holocaust_b_1301691

https://www.amazon.com/IBM-Holocaust-Strategic-Alliance-Corporation/dp/0914153277

https://www.amazon.com/War-Against-Weak-Eugenics-Americas/dp/0914153293/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=PD3S20TYT0CRAFMCV31W

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1796

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/books/review/the-brothers-by-stephen-kinzer.html

https://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Foster-Dulles-Allen-Secret/dp/0805094970

https://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/20/the_kochs_the_nazis_book_reveals

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904/ref=asc_df_0307947904/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312669563714&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5810486821632951259&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021356&hvtargid=pla-432540147973&psc=1

https://www.thenation.com/article/hitlers-willing-executioners/

https://www.thenation.com/article/kodaks-nazi-connections/

https://www.academia.edu/21745112/The_Myth_of_the_Good_War_America_in_the_Second_World_War

https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Good-War-USA-World/dp/1550287710

https://libcom.org/files/How%20the%20Allied%20multinationals%20supplied%20Nazi%20Germany%20throughout%20World%20War%20II.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaWz42tmxug

https://www.amazon.com/Trading-Enemy-Charles-Higham/dp/044019055X

u/ziddina · 2 pointsr/exjw

Maybe this?

From: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/kochland-examines-how-the-koch-brothers-made-their-fortune-and-the-influence-it-bought

>If there is any lingering uncertainty that the Koch brothers are the primary sponsors of climate-change doubt in the United States, it ought to be put to rest by the publication of “Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America,” by the business reporter Christopher Leonard. This seven-hundred-and-four-page tome doesn’t break much new political ground, but it shows the extraordinary behind-the-scenes influence that Charles and David Koch have exerted to cripple government action on climate change.
>
>Leonard, who has written for Bloomberg Businessweek and the Wall Street Journal, devotes most of the book to an even-handed telling of how the two brothers from Wichita, Kansas, built up Koch Industries, a privately owned business so profitable that together they have amassed some hundred and twenty billion dollars, a fortune larger than that of Amazon’s C.E.O., Jeff Bezos, or the Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The project took Leonard more than six years to finish and it draws on hundreds of hours of interviews, including with Charles Koch, the C.E.O. and force without equal atop the sprawling corporate enterprise. (David Koch retired from the firm last year.)
>
>While “Kochland” is more focused on business than on politics, in line with Leonard’s “The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America’s Food Business,” from 2014, it nonetheless adds new details about the ways in which the brothers have leveraged their fortune to capture American politics. Leonard shows that the Kochs’ political motives are both ideological, as hardcore free-market libertarians, and self-interested, serving their fossil-fuel-enriched bottom line. The Kochs’ secret sauce, as Leonard describes it, has been a penchant for long-term planning, patience, and flexibility; a relentless pursuit of profit; and the control that comes from owning some eighty per cent of their business empire themselves, without interference from stockholders or virtually anyone else.
>
>Saying anything new about the Kochs isn’t easy. The two brothers have been extensively covered: they are the subject of Daniel Schulman’s excellent biography “Sons of Wichita,” from 2014, and the focus of much in-depth investigative reporting, including a piece I wrote for The New Yorker, from 2010, and my book “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right,” from 2016.
>
>Leonard, nonetheless, manages to dig up valuable new material, including evidence of the Kochs’ role in perhaps the earliest known organized conference of climate-change deniers, which gathered just as the scientific consensus on the issue was beginning to gel. The meeting, in 1991, was sponsored by the Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian think tank, which the Kochs founded and heavily funded for years. As Leonard describes it, Charles Koch and other fossil-fuel magnates sprang into action that year, after President George H. W. Bush announced that he would support a treaty limiting carbon emissions, a move that posed a potentially devastating threat to the profits of Koch Industries. At the time, Bush was not an outlier in the Republican Party. Like the Democrats, the Republicans largely accepted the scientific consensus on climate change, reflected in the findings of expert groups such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which had formed in 1988, under the auspices of the United Nations.

u/MrHoneycrisp · 2 pointsr/neoliberal

here

​

also if you got the time

u/generalT · 2 pointsr/Futurology

the root cause is billonaire dirty energy magnates spreading their anti-science agenda through their donation networks. check out dark money, chapter eight. i'm not sure how basic science literacy will help a sprawling, well-funded anti-science propaganda campaign.

the kochs, scaifes, and their ilk are enemies of mankind and should be treated as such.

u/eyeemache · 1 pointr/Foodforthought

“This is not because they misapprehend the facts, but because they are taking their cues from conservative elites, many of whom have close ties to the fossil fuel industry.”


I would legitimately like to know the funding connection between the fossil fuel industry and conservative elites.

And I can find it here:

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904

u/-humble-opinion- · 1 pointr/politics

Great book on the matter (focused on Republicans)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307947904/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_ia.PCbKZE976G

It made me appreciate how fucked we are

u/ee4m · 1 pointr/JordanPeterson

Christ rebelled against the roman occupation, this is a revolution against those that had all the property rights and wealth which caused hunger and poverty at a the bottom.

He rebelled against banking system, communists rebel against the banking system.


And he told his followers to give what they had to the poor and told them if they didn't he said he would be angry.

And there is welfare, stories about him feeding the poor, educating the poor and giving healthcare to the poor, for free.

Which the far right are against and communists are for.


If the problem with communists is that they worship government, why do thye want no government? Marx said the state should wither away and die after a revolution, the goal was to do away with the state.


What about american christians worshiping capitalism, the constitution and patriotism?

What about american christians supporting the capitalist money worshiping system that makes people poor and the objecting to a system within that system that provides food and healthcare for the poor?


It seems communists want all the things christ wanted.


As for christians objecting it on the grounds of force - this is the far right manipulating opinions.

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904

The right libertarian and ancap movement that introduced all the ideas about government and force is at its core a racist movement.

>The White-Supremacist Roots of America’s Libertarian Right
The history of Koch-style libertarian economics is steeped in racism.

nthesetimes.com/article/20304/Charles-Koch-economics-Nancy-Maclean-book-James-Buchanan-racism-education


So american christians don't look very christ like at all, communists have much more in common.


u/awaaayyy · 1 pointr/Columbus

Its ok if the Koch Bros do it though!

Dark Money

Dark Money

Dark Money

Regardless of leanings, these are things to consider while willingly accepting status quo and ignoring agendas of cold corporate America. Is that “box store” vase Really necessary?? Shoppers’ therapy is the cure for the apathetical comfortably numb American populace that seemingly believe Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell are on opposing sides while the Prez garners too much press. The local politicians are wussies, and if they weren’t, there’d money for education and Veterans, tax reform, and campaign overhauls. Jus keep voting incumbents in because nothing changes if nothing changes.

And FahQ Heartland Bank too!!

u/veddy_interesting · 1 pointr/Keep_Track

A few thoughts.

  1. It is time to begin the impeachment process.
  2. I believe those wheels are already quietly in motion. There are good reasons to do this carefully (read this by rusticgorilla to understand the issues), but I think it's happening.
  3. Team Trump has been deliberately blurring the lines between it being a political process and being a legal process. They are forcing the Dems to explain, and the Dems have naively been taking the bait.
  4. Ronald Reagan said, “If you're explaining, you're losing. Trump instinctively knows this: "NO COLLUSION! WITCH HUNT!" is easy to understand and makes no attempt to explain. This is a winning strategy. Explaining procedures etc is a losing strategy.
  5. The messaging by the Dems has to be clear, consistent, and it has to resonate emotionally. They should go hire Frank Luntz tomorow, and fix this. (Yes, he is the Devil. Yes, now is the time to fight fire with fire.)
  6. We should stop pretending this is not a partisan issue. It is a partisan issue because the GOP has made it one. Every hearing about Trump goes back to Hillary and Obama. IMO this should be a talking point.
  7. We need to remember Trump is a symptom, and not the disease.
  8. The GOP Senate is a major factor that enables all of this to continue. Partisan gerrymandering is a significant problem on the left and right. This can be a genuinely centrist issue to combat.
  9. The problem of Dark Money in politics is real, and can also be a centrist issue.
  10. Don't succumb to Oh Dearism. Remember there are things you can and should do. Don't just complain – take some action, however small, and encourage others to do the same.
u/stonebone4 · 1 pointr/politics

A rumored "deep state" boogeyman isn't the problem, it's the dark money network that actually exists that we need to worry about.

u/Tribal_Rival · 1 pointr/freelanceWriters

While researching for my novel this morning I came across a book that seems spot-on relevant to the conversation we had yesterday. It's about why America's politics are so far to the right. Here's the link and description in case you're curious:

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904

> Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers?
The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against “big government” led to the ascendancy of a broad-based conservative movement. But as Jane Mayer shows in this powerful, meticulously reported history, a network of exceedingly wealthy people with extreme libertarian views bankrolled a systematic, step-by-step plan to fundamentally alter the American political system.
The network has brought together some of the richest people on the planet. Their core beliefs—that taxes are a form of tyranny; that government oversight of business is an assault on freedom—are sincerely held. But these beliefs also advance their personal and corporate interests: Many of their companies have run afoul of federal pollution, worker safety, securities, and tax laws.
The chief figures in the network are Charles and David Koch, whose father made his fortune in part by building oil refineries in Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany. The patriarch later was a founding member of the John Birch Society, whose politics were so radical it believed Dwight Eisenhower was a communist. The brothers were schooled in a political philosophy that asserted the only role of government is to provide security and to enforce property rights.
When libertarian ideas proved decidedly unpopular with voters, the Koch brothers and their allies chose another path. If they pooled their vast resources, they could fund an interlocking array of organizations that could work in tandem to influence and ultimately control academic institutions, think tanks, the courts, statehouses, Congress, and, they hoped, the presidency. Richard Mellon Scaife, the mercurial heir to banking and oil fortunes, had the brilliant insight that most of their political activities could be written off as tax-deductible “philanthropy.”
These organizations were given innocuous names such as Americans for Prosperity. Funding sources were hidden whenever possible. This process reached its apotheosis with the allegedly populist Tea Party movement, abetted mightily by the Citizens United decision—a case conceived of by legal advocates funded by the network.
The political operatives the network employs are disciplined, smart, and at times ruthless. Mayer documents instances in which people affiliated with these groups hired private detectives to impugn whistle-blowers, journalists, and even government investigators. And their efforts have been remarkably successful. Libertarian views on taxes and regulation, once far outside the mainstream and still rejected by most Americans, are ascendant in the majority of state governments, the Supreme Court, and Congress. Meaningful environmental, labor, finance, and tax reforms have been stymied.
Jane Mayer spent five years conducting hundreds of interviews-including with several sources within the network-and scoured public records, private papers, and court proceedings in reporting this book. In a taut and utterly convincing narrative, she traces the byzantine trail of the billions of dollars spent by the network and provides vivid portraits of the colorful figures behind the new American oligarchy.
Dark Money is a book that must be read by anyone who cares about the future of American democracy.

u/OnyxFiend · 0 pointsr/worldnews

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904

Your arguments are so rampant with slippery slopes its effectively pointless to talk to you. Read the book above, how fucking naive do you have to be to consider things like Super PACs, Citizens United, lobbyists, etc. to consider it a "theory". You are clearly beside yourself, and I'm sorry you can't have a level headed discussion without hitting every emotional branch on the way down.

The best part is is that I've never advocated for not voting, an implication you are desperately clinging to.

u/TheLateThagSimmons · -1 pointsr/Libertarian

https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recips.php?id=d000000186 Just last year.

And that doesn't count all the Super-PACs that they operated to hide their donations.

David and Charles Koch are the poster-children of crony-capitalism...

...which also makes them the perfect personification of American/Right Libertarianism in practice.

^(Edit: Link formatting not working)