Last night on ABC’s “The Ten Most Fascinating People of 2014,” billionaire David Koch claimed that he was actually socially liberal and told Barbara Walters that he wasn’t an “evil billionaire.”
Walters described — quite accurately — why the Left hates the Koch brothers.
“…liberals say the Koch brothers are a dangerous influence … Their critics say David Koch and his brother are responsible for secretly financing the tea party, polluting the environment, funding candidates who deny climate change, and buying elections with buckets of dough.”
Walters then asked the oil tycoon to describe his political point of view, to which Koch responded, “I’m basically a libertarian and I’m a conservative on economic matters, and I’m a social liberal,”
“You support gay rights, you support a woman’s right to choose, but conservative candidates you support — many of them do not have those views,” said Walters.
“Well, that’s their problem,” said Koch. “I do have those views.”
What Koch calls the candidates’ problem isn’t just limited to the political sphere. By bankrolling the campaigns of Tea Party and other pseudo-Libertarian candidates, those socially conservative views get turned into socially conservative laws that affect hundreds of millions of people. Gay people are denied the basic rights of marriage and therefore adoption in some states, and women are often denied health care because of the Koch brothers influence.
And his fiscally conservative point of view, which he told Walters was the main factor in choosing which candidates to support, also damages the country. Backing candidates that are anti-minimum wage, anti-equal pay, and anti-union do nothing to help the stagnant wages and faltering middle class. They only increase the seemingly infinite wealth that he and his brother have amassed throughout their lifetimes.
Walters also asked why, given the Koch brothers donations to art programs and other philanthropies, did so many people view him as an “evil billionaire.”
Koch replied, “Well, I don’t understand that.”
Just because someone does something good doesn’t make them a good person. Josef Stalin loved American cowboy movies and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, but no one would claim he wasn’t evil. We’re not saying that the Koch brothers are Stalin, but you get the analogy.
Watch Walter’s full interview with Koch.
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