Wake up to the Koch agenda

To the editor,

Watching USA’s political landscape unfolding, or more accurately unraveling, I’ve been infected with a growing pessimism. Now after a couple weeks of studying up on Americans for Prosperity, henceforth, Americans for (Kochs) Prosperity, that pessimism has given way to a palpable sense of terror.

Why do I worry? Our presidency was taken by a strategy of hate-mongering and lies. Our Republican Party shows  complete disregard for the popular will of the people and Congressional rules of fair play, in favor of obsequious servitude to the oligarchs who paid for their elections.

Add to that our Democratic Party of Complacency who still hasn’t figured out how to convey to liberty-loving Americans what a clear and present existential threat our democracy is facing. Then there’s the the coup de gra?ce, learning details of the Koch, et al. octopus of front groups such as the AFP with their self-defensive absolutism, misrepresentation of facts and melodramatic demonizing of all things progressive or liberal.

Please consider our history, this past century is full of epic, hard-fought democratic battles to reform government and social, health and environmental problems. Reforms that forced our government to pay attention to the needs of a growing population and to recognize the importance of a healthy society and environment.

While most captains of industry have developed an acceptance – after all, these reforms benefit our entire community’s wellbeing – acceptance was never universal. There were always the Robber Barons who resented every concession made to We the People. Their motto: “I only want my fair share. All of it,” and the Koch network embodies the worst of those impulses.

And we don’t need to go beyond this county for an example. The Kochs’ AFP agenda won’t abide a popular, professional-behaving, duly elected County Commissioner who dares expect the oil industry to own up to their duties and who thinks we need to plan for the future.

AFP fills heads with rhetorical bromides that turn a blind eye to finding balance between protecting our landscape and traditional agriculture and ranch properties while accommodating tourism along with the flood of people moving in and the development they’ll bring.

Wake up La Plata County, Americans for (Kochs) Prosperity with their wishful-thinking “libertarian” brain-washing are spreading their tentacles into every crevice of America. Their messaging is designed to get people to ignore that we live in a pluralistic, crowded society on a shrinking planet and not in some 1918 nostalgia world.

The Libertarian, Tea-Party, Alt-Right, Koch funded sausage salad of groups are intent on the ultimate goal of shrinking our government’s domestic portfolio down to pre-Roosevelt Administration Hooverville days.

This means wiping out the social, health and environmental reforms of the ’30s, ’40s, ’60s, ’70s, up to Obama’s Administration. Laws, guidelines, programs and agencies along with expectations that Americans thought we could count on to help make our future a more tolerable place, are all on their chopping block.

You say impossible! Really? We’ve already given our White House to a self-serving serial liar. A man who despises our government and who never met a deal he couldn’t break, along with a Republican Party leadership that’s OK with him no matter how low he goes. So long as they can ram their master’s agenda down America’s throat. It screams volumes, but who’s listening?

Why is America so easy with all this? I’m not saying reforms aren’t needed, but listen carefully to AFP’s siren song, they want to burn it all down, consequences be damned.

Don’t believe me? Learn about their plan for yourself, I’ve been building a collection of insightful articles from an assortment of authors, spanning decades at Americans-ForKochsProsperity.blogspot.com. You’ll find these dudes are ruthless, and they’ve been winning, and we’re into final innings. Oh, and they are playing for keeps!

Moral of this story: Sorry to report, it’s worse than you think, and if you don’t get involved, it’s going to get worse than you can imagine. A healthy democracy requires an informed and engaged citizenry.

– Peter Miesler, Durango