The Koch’s, Herman Cain’s “Brother from Another Mother”, and Citizens United; Brewing Cronyism?

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(ThyBlackMan.com) The Koch Brothers are reported to have plans to consolidate a vast ….” nationwide database connecting millions of Americans who share their anti-government and libertarian views.” The Guardian.co.uk. published an interesting look into the inner workings of the libertarian brothers. (See below).

There is nothing shady about creating such databases. Supporters of candidate Obama (Organizing For America) used a similar database in support of Obama while campaigning and still uses the database. Barack Obama has effectively used a similar database as President of the United States. Issues related to the database spill into other concerns.

While all GOP presidential candidates have opportunity to benefit from the Kochs deep pockets and the Koch political machine (which is vast), only one of the eight, GOP candidates have commented like as follows.

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Did you watch and listen to the clip? Strange behavior for one who wants to be President of the United States of America. The actions of Herman Cain are no longer amazing. He has used poor judgment on so many occasions, it is almost beyond the reach of my memory to recall the specifics. Just a few Cain-isms before I move to the point of this article: The Koch Brothers, Cains very public Koch affection and the impact of the Supreme Court Citizens United Decision.

Herman Cain’ judgment in action….

Labeling ¾’s of African-Americans brainwashed, “because they will not even listen to a conservative views.”
Declared that no Muslims could serve in his Administration.
Told the world that no one understood his 9-9-9 Tax Plan. (eventually changed the plan)
Stated that President Obama was not of the ‘black experience’ (in comparison to himself).
Played off the Sarah Palin’ flavor of the Month remark with a “Stepin Fetchit’ like reference to Black Walnut Ice Cream.
Possible sexist remarks towards Nancy Pelosi: “princess” ( when he should avoid any gender references period).

Let’s leave Herman Cain for a moment.

The stated purpose of the Koch Brothers development is, according to the Guardian,

“……a massive data base to bring together fragmented right-wing political groups”.

The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington wrote the article:

Koch brothers: secretive billionaires to launch vast database with 2012 in mind

David and Charles Koch, oil tycoons with strong right-wing views and connections, look set to tighten their grip on US politics
The secretive oil billionaires the Koch brothers are close to launching a nationwide database connecting millions of Americans who share their anti-government and libertarian views, a move that will further enhance the tycoons’ political influence and that could prove significant in next year’s presidential election.

Does that read like the 1 % (er) who are drawing lots of attention these days?

The Kochs are reported to be worth $25 billion each. They are probably the top ‘money-men’ behind most conservative political initiatives. A few examples include, Americas For Prosperity, ALEC, and the Tea Party. While I read less about their involvement with Freedom Works, I have a hard time not making that connection also. If you are unfamiliar with ALEC, this article from The Nation will provide perspective. If The Nation’s article only wets an appetite for more information, here is the definitive site, The Center for Media and Democracy; ALEC Exposed. For those who will not bother with the links, ALEC is an acronym for the American Legislative Exchange Council. In short, the council hosts conferences where “model legislation’ is developed and handed off to legislators.

Does it bother you that ‘uber’ wealthy people fund and personally involve themselves with “model legislation”? Do you think for one second that ALEC’s model legislation will benefit the 99 % of us who earn in the middle income or lower income brackets? How about stretching’s your imagination to where ALEC will lead to legislation that benefits the nation unemployed. Yet, the author of ALEC Exposed suggests that the Kochs may have, through affiliation and connections, helped to shape legislation that impacts every state.

“A dire thought“.

Herman Cain declares himself ‘ a brother from another mother’ and connected to the Kochs. The Kochs are actively invclved in ALEC’s Model Legsitaion, and the Kochs are ‘uber’ rich. How could a potential candidate for president so publicly and profoundly make that declaration and do so with a qualifier of, “….and I am proud of it”? I understand transparency and I admire openness but when politics so obviously mingled with money, good things do not result. The results never include‘good‘ for the middle class and lower income Americans.

I question the judgment of Herman Cain, for publicly declaring a connection to the Kochs. I realize Herman Cain is a conservative. I also realize that Mr. Cain feels that African-Americans (at least ¾’s) are brainwashed by the Democratic Party. If he could comment on why the Kochs would have intimate involvement in a North Carolina School System issue, it would be good. The school system issue relates to attempts to re-segregate the system. The linked article could help Cain might better understand why some people shy away from conservatism: Wake County North Carolina School District. I should also remind that the Kochs are Libertarians.

Small government? I get the argument; do not agree but, “I get it“. States Rights? For some an ideal possibility, for others an outright ‘threat’. Also, I do not “get” the overt public platform declaration of “kinship” from Herman Cain.

Herman Cain will not be the GOP 2012 candidate for a run against President Obama; it will be Mitt Romney. Most bothersome about Herman Cain and his public declaration of ‘closeness’ to the Kochs is the pure boldness and precedent setting nature of his remarks. Are we facing a future where candidates are publicly bought? How does the candidate refuse influence from such a donor? A rhetorical question. A candidate who exercises poor judgment leading to a declaration as did Herman Cain would probably never refuse to do the bidding of his financial supporters.

It is a practice and problem that has been an undercover for many years; it is growing much worse as time passes. What happens when the problem becomes public with no backlash from people who find wrong in cronyism? It flourishes and it spreads.

If you hear a comment such as Cain’s and consider how the Kochs desire to influence U.S. governance, is it possible to avoid thinking about the Citizens United Decision? Moreover, does Citizens United, facilitate more politician pandering and influence peddling? Does it legitimize cronyism?

Staff Writer; (The Pardu)

For more thought provoking articles feel free to visit; TheProgressivesInfluence.

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Liann says:
November 11, 2011 at 5:46 pm
You should learn that the Koch Brothers hired KKK-Tom-Posey to be treasure of the CSE (Citizens for a Sound Economy) in charge of a slush fund of over $5,000,000 per year. CSE in 2004 absorbed dying Jack Kemp’s “Empower America” memberships and mailing lists, then began a transformation into Freedomworks, which kept Marlboro Man Dick Armey in charge, and the other branch became Koch-Americans for Koch-Prosperity (AFP). Herman Cain entered into employment with AFP in 2005, while the stink of Tom Posey was still in the room.
Both Freedomworks and AFP created the Tea Party using their bloated 800,000 names mailing-phone-email lists collected over time and swelled with Jack Kemp’s list. The Koch’s are now building a 20,000,000 person database to track and activate conservative dupes called “Themis”. Cain aided the Koch-Murdoch axis to build the Tea Party fraud by appearing for speeches and rallies to give the appearance that blacks were involved in leadership roles in the “Tea Party Movement”, however, the truth is that the Tea Party chapters were created by renaming local militias and white supremacy groups as “tea party”.
The Koch Brothers have always been allied with white supremacy candidates and politics. They are tight with the Gray family, having both Burton Gray and C. Boyden Gray on the boards of directors of various front operations, including Reason Foundation and CSE. The Gray family fortune was founded on slave labor on the family tobacco plantations, and they were heirs to the American Tobacco Company convicted of Racketeer-Influenced-Corrupt-Organization organized crime laws for frauds. The Koch Brothers were fully involved in the tobacco mafia frauds and learned the ways of public deception through their tobacco mafia partners.