In the latest issue of the Libertarian Enterprise, L. Neil Smith discusses his experiences working with the Koch brothers:
It says here that David Koch is retiring. In case you don’t know, he is the younger of two oil billionaire brothers associated with the libertarian movement who bankrolled the Cato Institute, and whom “progressives” love to hate, automatically blaming them for what little they don’t blame Donald Trump for.
Genuine libertarians and conservatives don’t like them much, either, for a variety of reasons. My own first is that I served on the 1977 Libertarian Party National Platform Committee with Charlie, David’s older brother and found him to be a timid, unimaginative soul, more concerned with credibility and respectability than with truth or principle. At the time, the think-tank he and his brother created was attempting to turn the LP into a wholly-owned subsidiary (David ran in 1980 for Vice President with Ed Clark), and I didn’t like that, either.
The Koch brothers are also open-borderists, siding with establishment Republicans like that smirk-weasel Paul Ryan who want an imported servant-class they can abuse. I’ve changed my mind on that issue for good and sufficient reasons, and they ought to be good and sufficient for the Koch Brothers, too, if they were really libertarians. American culture is unique and wonderful; I do not want to see it changed or destroyed as the cultures of Sweden and England are being, by uncontrolled mass immigration. Letting a lot of Third Worlders into the United States of America is like letting a lot of Californians into Colorado. Pretty soon it’ll be just like the mess they made and left behind.
We have a saying here: “Don’t Californicate Colorado”.
David is retiring, it says here, due to an extremely long bout with prostate cancer. It does not say what his prognosis is. My own father, whom I miss every day, fought prostate cancer for six ghastly years and died. I’m sorry David has it now; I would not wish that fate on anybody.
But the reason I’m writing this is to speak the truth, to a great big pile of money, if not to power. The Kochs don’t have power because they don’t have a clue how to spend money politically, and, among other counter-productive follies, they threw their dough away with all four hands, supporting a think-tank incapable of reaching the people by the millions the way Donald Trump has. I have never known anyone who read a paper produced by the Cato Institute or listened to a lecture given by one of their wonks — except other wonks.
I have lived in CO for 25 years now.. and unfortunately it has already become mostly Californiacated… I generally have a favorable opinion of the Kochs, but the border thing drives me nuts.
Comment by Brian — June 11, 2018 @ 10:49
When I was a younger, much more optimistic Libertarian, I was in favour of open borders. Now that I’m an older, curmudgeonly small-L libertarian, I’m not as fond of the open borders notion as I used to be. You can’t have a modern, western welfare state with open borders … it quickly becomes a magnet for people who want to take advantage of what the welfare state provides, rather than people who want to come to your country to be free.
Comment by Nicholas — June 11, 2018 @ 11:03