Conservative and libertarian activists Charles and David Koch are the billionaire owners of Koch Industries, America's second-largest privately owned company with annual revenues of $150 billion. The Koch brothers are the sons of Fred C. Koch, who founded Koch Industries, of which they own 84%. The firm runs oil refineries in Texas, Alaska, and Mexico and owns consumer brands like Brawny Paper towels, Angel Soft, and Dixie cups.
The Kochs are philanthropists and benefactors of the arts. They donated $20 million dollars to the American Museum of Natural History and established the David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing. However, in recent years they have become best known for supporting libertarian and conservative campaigns and think tanks. They
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The Kochs have helped to fund the Cato Institute, FreedomWorks, Heritage Foundation, and Americans for Prosperity, which are some of the most active groups in supporting republican politics and anti-ObamaCare agenda. Charles and David Koch founded a group they call “Americans for Prosperity.” What the group actually does is support extreme candidates of the republican party who actively fight against democratic …show more content…
Transforming raw fossil fuels into usable goods: fertilizers, Lycra (spandex), the entrails of smartphones. Koch-owned businesses transport, trade, refine and process fossil fuels, sending them across the world.
Although the Koch brothers intentionally stay private and out-of-sight, they are now playing a discreet but major role in a national policy debate on climate change. The Koch brothers are not acting alone. The corporation is now a partner to ExxonMobil and additional benefactors that support organizations that disapprove of clean energy and global warming policy. From 2005 to 2008, ExxonMobil spent $8.9 million funding these groups while the Koch Industries outspent them, contributed $24.9 million in funding to organizations of the climate denial machine. (Think Progress.)
The Koch brothers represent a symbol of a greater problem of what the power of money in politics can accomplish. Some wealthy and large-scale corporations have the ability to indirectly express control in ways that manipulate and overwhelm the resolve of the people. The Kochs’ influences on major events are becoming more and more evident to society. Thier costly campaign to strike down science reflects what our country is becoming more conscious of-- affluent ideologies in the top 1% can impose substantial influence on our lives, whether through policy or advertising. The Kochs have millions of dollars to influence
In the past few years, the United States has seen a huge spike in the money spent in federal elections (See Appendix 4.B). Not only have candidates been making greater efforts to communicate their ideas to the American public, but super PACs have also been displaying their support for candidates and their political policies; they do so by using their right to accept unlimited donations from the public and later, use that money to promote certain candidates, or to sway voters in a desired direction. The immense power that super PACs have to sway voters has come under harsh criticism, spurring the creation of new laws and limits on the super PACs in an attempt to keep them in check and to avoid possible corruption. These limits on super
John Muir has influenced the philanthropic sector in several ways. As discussed above, his numerous articles and books brought paramount attention to the early conservation kineticism. His inditements not only incentivized people to visit the Sierras, but withal enlightened his readers on the innate value of nature. By setting aside and conserving the environment for future generations, Muir believed, many could and would benefit from its riches for years to come. Once nature has been ravaged, it is very arduous to reconstitute its intrinsic value and comeliness.
The United States senators are James Inhofe and James Lankford; the United States representative is Tom Cole. In this essay, I will discuss my preferences on these three people and my point of view of why I would vote for them. James “Jim” Inhofe (Senior Senator) James got his education in his home town, at the University of Tulsa.
Ronald “Ron” Villanueva is a Virginia House of Delegate member, representing the 21st district, which includes parts of Virginia Beach. Delegate Villanueva is a proud Republican who was the first Filipino American elected to the Virginia State House. Delegate Villanueva has been in office since 2010. Delegate Villanueva while first being elected by 14 votes in 2009, has been elected by over ten percent of the vote since his first election.
Title Sometimes, it’s hard to see what someone’s intentions are. It may be especially hard to tell if a person in power is truly using their power to do good, or if they’re putting up a front in order to gain personal benefits. In The Crucible, Reverend Parris used his title and influence for personal gain. Things like this don’t just happen in literature. There are people in our world today using their status and influence to gain money or more power.
I. Summary One of the main points brought up is how income inequality is getting worse and worse. The Koch brothers were raised in a rich and a discriminating household. Their father owned the oil empire, putting 100 billion dollars in the Koch brother’s pockets making them rich oil barons. In general, the Koch brother’s want to buy America by paying others to listen to them and bribing council members with money for a total of at least 400 million dollars.
A controversial issue in politics is campaign finance reform. Today’s political campaigns are largely funded by the wealthy elite in America and the corporations they own and fund. Currently, campaigns and campaign finances are government by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The FEC is “the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency” (The FEC).
George Soros, a Hungarian billionaire and philanthropist, has funded multiple liberal causes, which includes drug policy reform and Black Lives Matter. For a long time, Soros has been a figure of hate to right wing conservatives, but some of the email dumps that happened on Wikileaks are still mind blowing. Pamela Gellar, a pro-Israel political commentator tweeted that Soros is the black hand of evil. She also posted on her blog and accused him of attempting to undermine Israel. At the same time, you had anti-Semites on the far right who were talking about Soros being involved in a Jewish conspiracy in an attempt to put a stop to the white race.
With that fortune the Koch brother have spent over 50 million in order to lobby in Washington ever since 2006. In 1980 David Koch ran for vice president on the libertarian ticket which only ended up getting 1 percent of the vote.
America is currently at a crossroad. The crossroad is a divide the country has not experienced since the years leading up to and throughout the Civil War. It is not as intense as the Civil War Era, because the outcome will not lead to secession. The division in the country is not about individual state’s rights for free labor or slave labor. The crossroad represents a path leading to a continued downfall of the United States or a change in direction to return America to greatness, as it was intended when formed.
Christopher Reeve was born September 25, 1952. He was an American actor, among other things, and he made some great accomplishments for his acting. He became a quadriplegic in May 1995 when he was forty-three years old when he was thrown from a horse named Buck in a riding competition in Virginia that injured his spinal cord. He is well known for his comic book motion picture Superman and appears in other films. After his accident he dreams wild dreams that he starts believing he can walk and do things at night, but not during the day.
David Brooks, a personal opinion columnist, proposes his view toward progressive taxes. In his interest, he provides this allusion to a most prominent statue outside the Federal Trade Commission. Brooks metaphorically compares the stone horse to capitalism, while the man atop the animal, the government, is reigning in the power. In providing imagery toward the modern economic situations, Brooks encapsulates the interactions among the different social classes and the government.
Historically, populist movements in the United States have arisen in response to periods of economic hardship, and were characterized by a distrust of business in general and bankers in particular. The Tea Party, unlike previous populist movements focused its ire at the federal government and extolled the virtues of free market principles. The Tea Party movement’s first major action was a nationwide series of rallies on April 15, 2009, that drew more than 250,000 people. April 15 is historically the deadline for filing individual income tax returns, and protesters claimed that “Tea” was an acronym for “Taxed Enough Already.” The movement continue to gather strength throughout the summer of 2009, with its members appearing at congressional
Since its construction in 1977, the Trans Alaska Pipeline has transported almost 17 billion barrels of oil, and currently transports about 527,323 barrels a day. It celebrated its 40th Anniversary last year, and, even after all this time, is still facing controversy. The pipeline is highly debated as economically inclined citizens of Alaska are clashing with more environmental types. The Trans Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act, signed by President Nixon in 1973, protected the pipeline by banning all legal challenges against the construction of the pipeline. However, this law did not stop the critics of the pipeline from speaking out.
They are reflected in all their campaigns, and they guide whatever Greenpeace does,