TINIEST SLIVER
OF THE POPULATION
“In any event,
the lasting contribution of the Kochs to
our history will almost certainly be the introduction of truly huge money into
the political process, vast funds coming from the tiniest
sliver of the population. With each election cycle the resources
they’ve assembled have grown, and this year, as I’ve said, they’ve announced
plans to spend $889 million. About $300 million of that is slated to go
directly into campaigns; the rest will pay for get-out-the-vote operations,
their voter data project, and the like. ‘We’ve had money in the past, but this
is so far beyond what anyone has thought of it’s mind-boggling,’ Fred Wertheimer, the longtime head of Common Cause, told [Jane]
Mayer. ‘This is unheard of in the history of the country. There has
never been anything that approaches this.’ Thanks to Mayer, we are, at least,
fully warned.”
