Dark as in “Dark Money” by Jane Mayer
Let’s say
you had 14 billion dollars in 2008. Your
brother had the same amount and you knew that you were going to continue to
build on that fortune. Would the purpose
of your existence be based on making more of that money or would $14 billion be
enough? Would you organize a bunch of
your fellow billionaires to coordinate their considerable resources for the purpose
of protecting your billions from the greedy hands of the government? After all, this is America. If a person wants to get ahead, then they
should jolly well learn how to work for it.
Government takes away from initiative.
It doesn’t add to it.
Then, the
people went and elected the socialist Barrack Obama. Obviously, they don’t know what’s good for
them. They certainly don’t need minimum
wage laws or a public health care system or environmental controls placed on
the upstanding resource companies you happen to own. Your companies have to compete with others
around the globe, many that don’t have to abide by environmental standards.
At first,
your idea is simply to provide a conduit to funnel money into the campaigns of
candidates that support your interests.
And that turns out to be a lot because it’s not just you, it’s all your
buddies as well. You put your money into
“Social Welfare” groups like "Americans for Prosperity" that in turn uses that
money to finance the Republican candidates that you support. Your donation is completely anonymous and get
this, it’s also tax deductible. You can
use tax deductible money to protect your own money.
Some may call that dark money because
it can’t be traced but it’s that kind of individual initiative that helped make
America great.
And then, in 2012, even though you’d outspent the opposing candidates, Barrack Obama gets
re-elected. Time for a rethink. More to the point, you need the masses to do
a rethink. And, where does all that
thinking take place? In colleges and
universities of course. And, who are
those controlled by? The liberals of
course. You need to sponsor your own
institutions of higher learning. You
need to take control of the ideas.
You knew of
the Olin Foundation that had been in existence since the 1950s. It had sponsored academic programs focused on
the law and economics so that between 1985 and ’89, the Olin Foundation organization had underwritten 85% of the costs for such programs. You decide to do the same and
create your own foundation that sponsors pro-business, anti-regulatory, and
anti-tax program in 307 different institutions of higher learning including Ivy
League schools. However, your pet
project is George Mason University in Virginia, a hotbed of neo-conservative
thought where you give more of your money that anywhere else. And remember, not only are your supporting a
good cause but it’s tax deductible. 
Then, in the 2010 civil case, Citizens United against the Federal Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court’s voted to end restrictions on the amount of money corporations
and unions could spend on campaigns. This was followed by an end to restrictions
individuals could make to political action committees (PACs) so long as you
weren’t directly involved in a candidate’s campaigns. Now, you realized the influence could really
begin. Elections got so expensive that
candidates couldn’t afford to ignore the kind of finances you could provide
them. They needed the money provided by
you and your buddies to have any chance of getting elected.  |
| Charles Koch |
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