There’s a huge and growing bibliography of Intellectual History concerned with the origins and evolution of the ideas of major intellectuals. There is very little work on how these ideas reach the minds of statesmen and other major actors. Still less on how they flow down to the popularizers, journalists and, eventually, the broader public.
Venturing into this neglected area I propose an examination of how the Koch brothers have suddenly, after decades of fostering libertarian ideas, emerged from the shadows to become the Professors Moriarty of a Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (VRWC). Students of Sherlock Holmes’s investigations will recognize Prof. Moriarty as a “Napoleon of Crime.” Now the liberal public is learning that Charles and David Koch are the Napoleons of union-busting, the Tea Party insurrections and other villainous corporate reactionary plots and schemes.
Near as I can make out the Kochtopus nightmare originates among the superannuated juvenile delinquent windbags dwelling in the MoveOn.com and Think Progress fever swamps. From there it appears to infect such journals of enlightenment as the New Yorker and New York Times, then filters down to the level of provincial journals, excitable bloggers, and garden variety liberal yodelers. Finally it disseminates in fragmentary form among the politically active, intellectually inert, liberal public.
Conspiracy connoisseurs will see this process as evidence of systematic orchestration by the Illuminati, the Bilderbrrrrgers, the Elders of Zion, the Rosicrucians, the Masons or whatever other diabolical central control system haunts their nightmares. Having been embedded in the Liberal Herd for over forty years as an undergraduate, graduate student and professor I see this as nothing more than herd instinct at work.
In Maine awareness of the sinister Kochtopus has reached the penultimate stage of diffusion. Bill Nemitz of the PPH has just written a column alerting his readers to this ugly menace here in Maine. In this public service Bill honors the Sixth Commandment of Ambrose Bierce’s cynical Decalogue:
“Bear not false witness—that is low
But ‘hear ‘tis rumored so and so”
Bill tells us that “whispers abound that the deepest pockets behind the Maine Heritage Policy Center belong to billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, whose private foundations support such libertarian causes as the State Policy Network – to which the MHPC belongs.”
You see, the MHPC influences the LePage administration and Koch money influences the MHPC. When Bill tells us that Tarren Bragdon, the Center’s high chieftain, earned $136,208 in 2009 I suspect we are meant to infer that he has been bought by Koch cash.
“Whispers” are mere wisps of air and Bill recognizes the need to give them a little weight, so he asks Tarren “who’s supporting the Maine Heritage Policy Center to the tune of $1 million a year?” When the young fellow refuses to disclose the names of his organization’s 1,500 donors our investigator has his Eureka! moment—the absence of evidence is proof enough for him. Why would the Think-Tank Titan refuse to reveal the donors’ names unless he is trying to cover up the influence of the Kochtopus? Q.E.D.
Actually an alternative explanation is contained in the “Donor Bill of Rights” written by the American Association of Fund Raising Counsel (AAFRC), the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education“ and adopted by the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Article 6 of the Bill reads that donors are “To be assured that information about their donation is handled with respect and with confidentiality to the extent provided by law.” What does Nemitz think “confidentiality” means? Not relevant, he’s writing about the Kochtopus not the NRCM. He’s on the trail and will not be diverted.
Over at the Morning Sentinel we have a Kochtopus revelation from weekly columnist Gordon L. Weil. I quote “Walker is taking his cues from a couple of billionaires who avowedly oppose progressive legislation adopted as long ago as the 1930s. We know this thanks to what turned out to be a prank phone call that Walker thought that came from one of his backers.” Never mind that the prank call revealed the governor had never actually met his cue-masters.
Do the math. Walker’s campaign cost $11,000,000, of which it received $45,000 in Koch cash, .004 percent of the total. The MHPC has a budget is $1,000,000 of which it received $10,000 in Frary cash, or .01 percent. The Koch boys get to control a state with 5,600,000 people for their .004 percent and I don’t get to “cue” the think tank that cues the governor of a state with 1,300,000 people for my .01 percent. How is this fair?
But never mind my grievance. Pay attention to the “union-busting” narrative introduced by Weil and mentioned by Nemitz with his allusion to the Right-to-Work legislation being considered by Gov. LePage. Chris Quint, executive director of the Maine State Employees Association, develops the theme by alerting us to the anti-union legislation which is a “nationally coordinated effort by wealthy corporations like Koch Industries, which has reportedly funded a network of free-market think tanks to advance policies to roll back environmental laws, break unions and create tax breaks for corporations. Quint is “concerned” that such “outside actors” influenced LePage’s budget via the Maine Heritage Policy Center.
Returning to my initial observation, I foresee the Kochtopus narrative becoming an impregnable factoid among rank-and-file union members and liberal true believers. It is destined to be adopted with such conviction that challenging it will be regarded as either hypocritical or naive. Never mind that there is no “chain of evidence” but only a chain of innuendo and speculation.
I do not claim to know that the Charles and David Koch have no money in the Maine game, but I note that the Koch Industries website names some of the “ideological” organizations the brothers support. These include the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions; Bowling Green, Kentucky, Foundation for Economic Education; Atlanta, Georgia, Illinois Policy Institute; Chicago, Illinois, Jack Miller Center; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the John W. Pope Civitas Institute; Raleigh, North Carolina, John William Pope Foundation; Raleigh, North Carolina, Pacific Research Institute; San Francisco, California, South Carolina Policy Council; Columbia, South Carolina, Texas Public Policy Foundation; Austin, Texas and Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas; Wichita, Kansas.
If the MHPC is among their beneficiaries it’s not immediately obvious why they have not been included in the list of Koch beneficiaries. Still, as Bill Nemitz demonstrates, the absence of evidence is pretty incriminating.
Did someone say “superannuated senile delinquent windbag”?
Right on Dr. John!!!
Oil billionaires seeking to end environmental regulations and social programs by outspending Exxon/Mobil on astroturf need all the help we can give them. Money does not buy influence. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. Did you time this article to coincide with the governor’s transparency efforts?
Pretty funny Prof. Frairy,…….not bad at all. Nemitz is for sure a dull tool, and a “garden variety liberal yodeler” for sure.
Right on seamus!!!
Dear Sir,
As a man who has made himself and his living in the academic realm, which you so avidly describe as being ’embedded in the Liberal Herd for over forty years as an undergraduate, graduate student and professor’, you should not be so eager to disrespect the very structures and institutions that provided you with a voice and bread to eat. Your criticisms of the intellectual ‘Liberal Herd’ smacks of hypocrisy which casts doubt on the integrity of your overall argument. In one instant you use the ‘Liberal Herd’ to legitimize yourself by your boasts of having spent the better part of your lifetime as an accomplished member of this herd, albeit, of course, as, and as you would like to remembered immemorial, as an apostate member. But in the next instant you attempt to withdraw authority and legitimacy from the very thing you use to legitimize yourself , and through clunky rhetorical devices at that, a.k.a. name calling. Somehow you believe this style of reasoning and argument provides a strong foundation for your attempts to demystify the Koch brothers influence on politics in general and in the State of Maine, specifically. It does not. It only adds to it. We expect more from such a distinguished academic as yourself, even if you are writing in a ‘provincial journal’ such as this.
Charlie Sheen is writing for the Bulldog?
No, Tony, but I’m reasonably certain that Charlie posts comments here under a variety of screen names.
The denizens of the fever swamp are as determined as ever to nominate and elect an evil mastermind on whom to pin the blame for their decades of failure. They found two new masterminds, double the fun. That they are rich makes them even more evil. That they are involved with oil, that most evil of commodities, puts them right up there with Beelzebub. The swamp waters are just roiling.
I am very grateful to the Koch brothers. Without them, the Left would have to fall back to GWB, their all-time favorite string-pulling mastermind. They called him that as often as they could – usually right after they called him a dope who couldn’t find his own butt with both hands and a map. Evidently it doesn’t take much intellectual capacity to stir the swamp into a frenzy. A vanishingly small fraction of Frary’s has easily agitated the Bulldog’s resident intellectually inert.
Dear FrostProof,
Here is a summation of your comment: Denizens fever swamp evil mastermind more evil evil commodities with Beelzebub swamp water roiling Koch brothers string-pulling masterminds dope couldn’t find butt with own hands intellectual capacity…
I would suggest writing something of value and with meaning rather than putting bombastic sounding words alluding to who knows what for, apparently your own amusement. I can’t even make out what side you are taking.
Well said, Jack. I hope a the guidance councelors and parents (who pay the bills) read Spoof Frary’s earlier article in which he claimed to be the only intelligent member of a college staff. Certainly you would not send your student there, especially now that he’s gone and no intelligence is left. I am fortunate to have attended school with several intelligent profs, any one of which could have dismissed this sham in language we could all understand.
I equate John to the fat man on a Harley with extra loud pipes; trying to compensate for something he’s lacking……(Did you notice, I used two big words for a local!)
I find liberal distate for the Koch Brothers amusing, as they support gay marriage, medical marijuana, and the ACLU. Can’t please them all, I guess.
How one can use so many words to say so little is impressive, Mr Frary.
Jack, whenever frostproof is exposed to florid language, he busts out the thesaurus and gets all Ezra Pound on us.
Monkey see, monkey do, I guess.
(Although in this case it would be more like, “Monkey see monkey doing, monkey do.”)
p.s. Will, I find conservative distaste for Hitler amusing, since he believed in social darwinism, was a great friend to big business, manufactured transparently fake excuses for preemptive wars, busted unions, was a racist, a homophobe, and had a military fetish.
But you’re right, you can’t pleaset them all.
Jack, et al. Thanks for the all your confirmations of my suspicions and Frary’s assessments.
And, Jack, I recommend a good thesaurus and deep-breathing exercises to avoid hyperventilation.
Well, I thought this was quite entertaining.Prof Frary does have a way with words, you have to hand him that. I get a wicked charge out of reading his letters, whatever he is writing about.
Frostproof, thanks for once again confirming that you’re totally easy to see through; I knew you couldn’t bloviate like that without a thesaurus! How nice of you to share your MO with Jack.
I get a wicked charge out of helping you embarrass yourself, whatever you’re writing about.
p.s. Can you do me a favor and provide a reference to anyone, anywhere referring to Dubya as a “string-pulling mastermind”? Google says, “Your search – ‘string-pulling mastermind’ george w bush – did not match any documents,” which is sad, because it sounds like a fascinating perspective.
Ah, yes. Name calling. The hallmark of liberal thought. “Well, conservatives are just racist bigot homophobe liars like Hitler!!”
Actually, Will, I was just going a little overboard to make a point. As a matter of fact, I’ve known one or two self-proclaimed conservatives who weren’t racists or bigots.
By the way, I don’t suppose you can see the hypocrisy in the sentence fragments, “Name calling. The hallmark of liberal thought.”
There was much talk of intellectual inertia in this “column,” and in the following posts. By succumbing (twice) to the cognitively lazy practice of labelling (and therefore demonstrating a disinclination toward nuanced thought) you have unwittingly made two very appropriate posts.
Gee, what a lot of literary critics.
Well, Prof. Frary (aka “the Napoleon of garden variety gnomes”), to paraphrase Winston Churchill, “Never in the field of human self-indulgence was so much blather deconstructed by so many critics for so few readers.”
Honestly I am never sure what Mr. Frary is writing about sorry Professor but you have to be able to relate to your audience, however if he is spoofing the Koch brothers donating to Gov Walker’s campaign in Wisconsin or to other conservative causes I find it humorous the left finding a reason to complain. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. For example, the left has International money exchanger and liberal financier George Soros and Progressive Insurance’s Peter Lewis who donate tens of millions of dollars to liberal causes. In fact a recent study following of the money found out that Soros’s money was funding at least 90% of the organizations operating the protest in Wisconsin. He made his billions gambling in currency and he has bet against the dollar. George Soros through the Open Society Foundation and the likes of MoveOn.org has his fingers in every liberal cause. My question is why, it is not like he is donating the money for philanthropic causes – the answer is Power! There is no drug that can compare to power. Don’t believe me look up the information it is all out there. Expand your horizons beyond the typical liberal news and websites, do you what you say you do and research gather information and learn!
John, you have totally convinced me!!!
I now believe that the Koch brothers are upstanding bastions of freedom, motherhood(albeit forced), apple pie and the American way. How could we have EVER doubted their good intentions for us all? Golly, these fellas are just great.
On another note, any guesses who is going to end up with the no bid Wisconsin power plants?
I must have published 250 columns since 2004 and the quality of “liberal” responses has almost never risen above this level. Hoping to encourage more of the same on this site, I offer some samples from my guest column in the PPH yesterday:
PRETTY FOOLISH“ This “advise” from a guy who housed homeless teens to run his election and one of them ended up murdering 2 people and then wrote on AMG what a nice kid he was. I’d say his judgement isn’t too sound.”
WINDJAMMER: “Arch right wing republican…almost gleeful at the prospect of unions in general disappearing quietly…rabid right wing repubs…batant lie…smoke and mirrors…rabid right Wall Street loveing – folks
Responding to another column in Saturday’s Maine Compass Gerald Weinand (creator of Dirigo Blue) has this to say: “I’ll also point out to readers that Naran is the moderator of As Maine goes, the right-wing blog to which Frary is a regular contributor. Frary posts under the nom de plume FLAMMENWERFER, the name the Nazis gave to their flame throwers. Yes, he spells it with all capitol letters.”
OMG! I am posting under the words the Nazi’s used to spell “Good evening”! And they are all in CAPITOLS (sic ~ or maybe a sinister take on the Nazi’s predilection for seizing foreign Capitols?).
Can’t anybody on The Left come up with, oh, I dunno, like maybe AN IDEA? How about this: “I _______(a practicing Leftist) disapprove of the Koch brothers because they are against the continued growth of the state, which I _________(insert name again) regard as the principal engine of progress in our era”.
Then we might find something to discuss. Any takers?
To be fair, when German weapons designers at the turn of the twentieth century attached a hose with a pilot light to a canister of compressed gas, they called it, quite imaginatively, “Flammenwerfer” (literally “flamethrower”). The Flammenwerfer was first used in the field at Verdun, and is therefore more associated – historically and symbolically – with the First World War than with the Second. This term therefore has about as much of a connection to the NSDAP as words like “Artillerie,” “Pistole,” and “Bombe”; the German armed forces used all of these during World War Two, but that’s about the extent of it.
This of course does not change the fact that “Flammenwerfer” is a totally sick screen name.
(See Will? I was right about the military fetish.)
So Goo has done some Googling and discovered that Flammenwerfer is a German word meaning flamethrower. This apparently means that my Nazi sympathies are unproven, but that I’m sick. because I do not blog under the title Goo, or Poo or, perhaps Scroo.
It pleases me to think that I’ve been the agent in expanding his knowledge and I’m more than glad to continue the work. The Flammenwerfer was used at Verdun, but was first adopted by the German Army in 1912 and was used sporadically against French fortifications as early as 1914.
And to encourage his floundering efforts to devise an effective ad hominem stroke, I point out that Flammenwerfer was the title of an ephemeral NSDAP propaganda sheet.
Actually, I can speak German, and taking Frary’s cue to assume the ignorance of others, I’ll groundlessly assert here that he can’t. So anyway, there was really no need for me to waste any effort in googling Flammenwerfer, neither for translation nor for historical purposes. After all, if I had googled it, I most likely would have included the bit about 1912.
And when I mentioned “Verdun,” I was not talking about the battle of 1916, as I actually did know that flamethrowers were deployed in 1914. How typical of the dilettante to assume that mention of Verdun must necessarily refer to 1916.
(Hint to Frary: If you google “Verdun,” you’ll probably learn that, unlike cities in most sectors of the Western Front, it is surrounded by forts. Oh, and if you google “World War One,” you might learn it began in 1914 [I only mentioned field use]. Glad to be able to expand your knowledge.)
I think most people would agree that posting (I don’t blog) under the name “Goo” is a lot less sick than using the name of a really nasty weapon (and of an “ephemeral NSDAP propaganda sheet”) as a screen name.
(And I must admit, the fact that “Goo” rhymes with “Poo” and “Scroo” had never occurred to me. How clever, and how unsick to notice that fact!)
Joking aside, I would like to take a moment to thank Frary for expanding my knowledge. It’s true, I did not know about the propaganda sheet. So I guess there is a connection between Frary and the NSDAP after all. His honesty in this case, if nothing else (at all), should be lauded.
Aha! I get it now, GOO stands for “Goes On and On.
Well, Prof. Frary (aka “the Haig of brilliant offensives”), when there are so many faults and flaws to elucidate, it’s sometimes hard to stop. But you’re right, we should all model our writing on the remarkable clarity and concision of your style.
And how brilliant of you to keep finding ways to use my screen name to deflect attention away from your inadequacies! Well, to encourage your floundering efforts to devise an effective ad hominem stroke, I’ll just add that Goo (not all capitals) refers to something from the movie “Patton” (which I’ll assume you haven’t seen, since you seem to be fairly ignorant when it comes to military matters).
Very few of the comments on Prof. Frary’s essay have anything to do with discussing the points he makes.
Since Prof. Frary’s “essay” was primarily about Prof. Frary (as are all his pieces in the DB), any and all comments about Prof. Frary should be considered relevant.
But it’s awfully sporting of you, Mr. Reid, to do your bit by making a last ditch, “backs to the wall” effort to shift the focus away from your pal’s disastrous performance in the comments section. Sort of reminiscent of the “Pals Battalions” on July 1, 1916…