Kochs to spend millions to convince people the answer to their economic problems is smallest gov't

[ProSense]

Morning Plum: What’s good for the Koch brothers is good for America

By Greg Sargent

We now have a sense of just how much the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity is willing to spend to flip control of the Senate: $125 million. It turns out, though, that there is a larger goal here that goes well beyond the midterms: To convince struggling Americans that the answer to their economic problems is as little government as possible.

Politico reports that AFP is circulating a memo advising big donors that the group will spend $125 million on everything from get-out-the-vote efforts to ads to data analysis...But the more interesting thing here is the memo’s concession of a hurdle AFP faces: That people support the idea of “taking care of those in need and avoiding harm to the weak.” That this is seen as a messaging problem is telling.

The memo notes that all those anti-Obamacare ads featuring middle-aged women worried about health costs are “part of a broader effort to project a kinder, gentler tone in espousing libertarian-infused government-slashing policies that sometimes risk coming across as coldhearted.” Politico adds:

“If the presidential election told us anything, it’s that Americans place a great importance on taking care of those in need and avoiding harm to the weak,” reads the AFP memo.

Echoing Charles Koch’s opposition to the minimum wage, it asserts that free market, low-regulation policies “create the greatest levels of prosperity and opportunity for all Americans, especially for society’s poorest and most vulnerable.” Yet, the memo says, “we consistently see that Americans in general are concerned that free-market policy — and its advocates — benefit the rich and powerful more than the most vulnerable of society. …We must correct this misconception.”

This underscores once again that the Koch-funded attacks on Obamacare are about a broader project: Discrediting the idea of government as an agent of positive economic change for struggling Americans. As the New York Times has detailed, by pure coincidence, the Koch brothers’ vision of what’s good for “society’s poorest and most vulnerable” also would benefit their bottom line to an untold degree.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/05/09/morning-plum-whats-good-for-the-koch-brothers-is-good-for-america/

[randys1]

1. Koch Bros are the most vicious enemies the human race has ever faced.

[ProSense]

2. I'd qualify that:

"Koch Bros are (among) the most vicious enemies the human race has ever faced."

[louis-t]

3. "low-regulation policies “create the greatest levels of prosperity..."

for whom?

[ProSense]

4. The Kochs. n/t

[Jamaal510]

5. If all people were saints,

less government would be necessary. But over the years, the Kochs et al. have ironically made the case for the necessity of more government.