Hopefully the Democrats and other moderates didn’t miss the inconspicuous, but extremely significant, article on Page A3 of the Jan. 29 Salt Lake Tribune, regarding what the Kochs’ “dark money” network is up to lately. At their recent, super-secret annual donors’ meeting, they allocated $20 million just to promote the recently passed tax overhaul, which greatly benefits their members. With further annual contributions of $100,000 from each of their 550 donors, they plan to spend $300 million to $400 million on influencing the upcoming midterm elections.
Although history has shown that the party in power typically loses some seats in Congress at the midterm after winning the presidency, hopefully the opposition doesn’t become overconfident in not realizing the potential impact of this huge infusion of cash in a nonpresidential year.
These ultra-libertarians believe that government should be limited to providing for the national defense, domestic peacekeeping and nothing else. That means no social safety net, health care, regulation of any kind, public education, environmental protection and no leadership in combating climate change; essentially going back to the corrupt government of the “Gilded Age,” before the ’29 crash and the New Deal.
Voters please wake up. It’s our responsibility to “Drain the Swamp!”
John Kennington, Cottonwood Heights