1. The Koch brothers worked to fight against environmental and business regulations, claiming that they were an assault on American liberty and economic freedom, but really, they fought these regulations because it helped their company to do so. They participated politically by first funding and supporting libertarian economic policies and politicians. Then, they focused their time and money on Republican politicians.
2. The Koch’s father, Fred Koch, started an oil refinery company, and when his health began to fail in the 1960s, he started giving more and more control to his son, Charles. Charles is the one who built the company into the giant that it is now. He and David are two of the wealthiest men in the world.
3. In 1980, David Koch ran for vice president of the United States as a Libertarian. This was really more for public awareness than an actual attempt to win the presidency, and they only got 1 percent of the entire vote.
4. The Koch’s escalated their political efforts when Obama became president because he tried to pass a lot of laws that were environmental and business regulations that would have slowed down business for the Koch Industries. In the best interest of their company the Koch brothers fought the efforts to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change by claiming that these efforts “threaten to erode our economic freedom.”
5. The Kochs were able to support the Republicans in their midterm elections in 2010 through a complex web of dark money groups, informally known as the “Kochtopus.” These groups spent money on organizing and ads, and though the Kochs gave a significant amount of funds, they also got many other wealthy Republicans to donate some of their funds as well.
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