Blog Post 1.1: David Koch

1. The Koch brothers' goals were economic freedom and liberty, which would be achieved through scaling back environmental and business regulations. They pushed for a more libertarian approach to economics. To promote their ideas, the Koch brothers funded libertarian think tanks like the Cato Institute and the Mercatus Center. These think tanks influence academia, which help young people follow more libertarian ideas for economics. Also, the Kochs funded Republicans, a more economically libertarian party, to further their goals.

2. The Kochs are able to spend millions funding various Republican campaigns and think tanks because of their oil refining company. Their father, Fred Koch, started the company and passed it to Charles Koch upon his death, and, under Charles Koch, Koch Industries became the second richest private company in America, making Charles and David Koch incredible wealthy ( both had an estimated $50 billion).

3. During the Carter vs. Reagan election, David Koch was a VP nominee for the third party Libertarian Party. People suspect that David Koch mostly ran for attention than actually trying to win. Kochs aligned themselves with the libertarian party because it was the most profitable for them, for they ran a oil company that was subject to economic and environmental regulations. The Libertarian Party was generally against government interference in the economy and environment.

4. The Kochs escalated their political involvement when Obama came into office because Obama was pushing for government expansion in health care, through Obamacare, and cap-and-trade policies to lower carbon emissions. The cap-and-trade policies would hurt their oil business, and government-run healthcare was against their political beliefs, so the Kochs mobilized funds and groups to stop the policies, successfully stopping cap-and-trade and unsuccessfully stopping Obamacare.

5. During the 2010 midterm election cycle, the Kochs funded the Tea Party movement, which wanted to end government interference in healthcare, climate regulation, and business regulation, as well as wanting to lower taxes. Also, the Kochs funded ad campaigns supporting Republicans and attacking Democrats. The Kochs emphasized the benefits of small government instead of pushing social conservatism. The result was a Republican sweep of Congress in 2010 as well as many Republican seats picked up in state governments across the country.