Earlier this year, the Koch Brothers announced that they would be pouring close to $900 million into the 2016 presidential campaign, a sum never before seen by a single entity in any election.

This money will be spread around through their various organizations like Americans for Prosperity, and will be used for Republican get out the vote efforts, negative campaign ads, and direct financial contributions to candidates.

It shouldn’t matter what party you are affiliated with – when you hear two men tell the world that they plan on buying the next U.S. President, you should be terrified; and not just terrified about their plan, but terrified about the fact that this is perfectly legal in America today. This is what our country has become because we let it get to this point. Sure, we fought it as best we could, but we’re all Americans, so the blame for the mess that we’re in lies with all of us.

The Koch Brothers don’t care about their legacy; their only concern is how much money can they make before they die. That’s it. They don’t care what people say about them or what they’ll write about them after they die – it’s all about money and power and privilege.

If the Kochs had a shred of empathy, they would put that $900 million to better use – uses that would actually save their legacy and reverse their lifetime of selfish, evil behavior.

Here’s what that $900 million Koch donation could buy in the United States:

  • 7,500 houses for the homeless
  • 15,500 new teacher salaries
  • 17,300 new police officer salaries
  • Create 17,000 new jobs at the national median income of $52,000 a year
  • Feed 236,000 starving American children for an entire year
  • Provide four years of tuition free college for 25,700 students
  • Provide healthcare for more than 132,000 Americans without healthcare coverage
  • Provide a year’s worth of prescription medication to 900,000 needy Americans
  • Provide clothing for a year to 1.3 million needy American children

Any one of those things could improve American lives. But instead, the Kochs want to spend $900 million of their $40 billion fortunes to make the lives of two crotchety old men slightly better. If Hell is real, I have no doubt that Satan is saving two front row seats for Charles and David Koch.