It’s hardly surprising that a recent piece in the uber-liberal
rag Mother Jones attempted to expose a “close-up view” of
a “dark-money fundraiser” hosted in June by oil billionaires and
famous libertarian conservatives Charles and David Koch. After all,
the country lies awash in media consumed with and perpetuated by a
left-wing bias. But in this recession, where liberals believe
President Obama and his economic team can jumpstart the economy,
the vitriol the media possesses for the Koch brothers and their
donors — businesspeople who’ve created jobs and circulated wealth
— is as baffling as it is hypocritical.
At first it seemed unlikely that the Mother Jones piece
would reveal anything different from the lengthy hit piece by Jane
Meyer last year published in the New Yorker. Alas, even
conservatives might find the hook of the piece alluring. Mother
Jones obtained coveted audio of the seminar, wherein the names
of donors who’d given $1 million or more to the Charles G. Koch
Charitable Foundation were announced. The unfortunate faux pas
provided the foundation for the story since the Koch brothers for
all — and because of — their wealth are notoriously close-lipped
about who donates to their organization. According to the piece,
“the brothers have spent more than $100 million supporting
hard-right political campaigns and institutions,” and have
“bankrolled the fledgling tea party by making massive investments
in right-wing political advocacy groups such as Americans for
Prosperity.”
Indeed, the Koch brothers are to the subsidizing of conservative
causes what George Soros is to liberal ones.
In a related piece, another Mother Jones reporter gives
a breakdown of the “million-dollar club.” The donors boast
impressive resumes. From Rich and Helen DeVos (Cofounders of Amway
and owners of the Orlando Magic — worth $4.2 billion) to John
Menard (owner of the hardware store, Menards — worth $5.2
billion), the men and women on the list are mostly business people
(some philanthropists) who have created and perpetuated jobs (and
yes, wealth for themselves). They represent industries ranging from
food service and natural gas to hedge funds and investing.
While it would be nearly impossible to determine how many people
the companies these donors represent employ, it’s safe to guess
thousands of people alone earn a paycheck via Amway or Menards,
just two of the companies represented on the list. Instead of
pointing out the sheer economic impact the corporations have had
proliferating jobs, the tone of the Mother Jones piece
conveys disgust and a “gotcha!” attitude. Apparently wealthy
entrepreneurs should only give to Democrat causes and politicians a
la Michael Moore or George Soros. Anyone who does otherwise should
be hanged and quartered in print.
What of billion-dollar donors of the opposite political strain?
Are their hard-earned funds also “dark-money”? Obviously, a
publication like Mother Jones wouldn’t perform a similar
investigation of liberal donors. (In fact, supposedly the names of
donors who give to the magazine itself are kept under lock and key.
Hypocrisy, thy name is Mother Jones. But I digress.)
Liberal bias in media is unfortunate but expected. Liberal bias
when it comes to conservative money providing the fuel for
conservative politicians, causes, and organizations is not only
unfortunate but stupid. There’s enough wealth represented in
Koch’s list of 32 donors alone to guess seven degrees of separation
might come into play here. If you’ve shopped at Menards or
purchased a household product Amway sells, then you have benefited
from the existence of a Koch donor.
During prosperity, the Mother Jones hit piece might
have been chalked up to pure politics or even the green-eyed
monster. But in austerity, it’s unwise to bite the hand that feeds
you — even if they are conservatives. To claim a wealthy
conservative who gives to a conservative organization like the Koch
Foundation possesses “dark money” is pure jack. He’s stimulating
the very economy Obama has been claiming to for the last three
years. Too bad liberal magazines are so busy perpetuating their own
bias they can’t figure that out.
