Gene Lyons: Pity the Poor Plutocrats

[applegrove]

Gene Lyons: Pity the Poor Plutocrats

at Stillwater News Press

http://www.stwnewspress.com/opinion/x493465093/GENE-LYONS-Pity-the-poor-plutocrats

"SNIP.......................



More recently, Charles Koch, the elder of the infamous Koch brothers of legend and song, contributed an op-ed to the Journal bitterly complaining that people targeted by TV attack ads he's paid for are actually allowed to talk back.

The brothers, you see, are pure idealists campaigning for liberty. So when their Tea Party front groups oppose a public transport system in Nashville, work to forbid Georgia Power from investing in solar technology, or spend big on a county referendum on open pit mining in Wisconsin, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Koch Industries' oil, gas and mining profits. It's all about freedom.

And when the same organizations spend millions on TV commercials featuring actresses reading prepared scripts, pretending to have been injured by the Affordable Care Act and attacking Democratic U.S. senators in Arkansas, Louisiana and Alaska, that too is all about liberty.

.......

Koch's Syndrome, you might call it: combining an obsessive-compulsive need to accumulate money – these boys are worth $100 billion, but they're nevertheless bitter about paying taxes – along with a deep-seated fear of being found unworthy. Surrounded by obsequious underlings all their lives, they've no idea if they've ever really deserved it.

......................SNIP"

[senseandsensibility]

1. Love Gene Lyons.

He's a great writer, and I miss seeing him on TV. He used to be on MSNBC occasionally. Haven't seen him in a while.