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Koch Brothers


  1. How did the Koch brothers describe their political goals and how did they participate politically?

    The brothers described their aims as "supporting 'liberty' or 'economic freedom'." They participated politically by funding ideas they supported in academia and by directly funding Republican candidates.

  2. How did the Koch family become wealthy?

    Their father had founded an oil refinery company, which he turned over to Charles as he died. Charles transformed the company, Koch Industries, into a "major oil refining and chemical conglomerate," which made him and David very wealthy.

  3. How did David Koch first become involved in politics?

    David Koch was the nominee for the vice president of the US for the Libertarian Party in 1980, as he and Charles had become involved in libertarian ideas on economics, supporting the cause with their money.

  4. Why did the Koch's escalate their political efforts when Obama became president?

    Obama tried to pass a health care expansion, Obamacare, alongside a bill to regulate carbon emissions in the name of slowing climate change. These policies would have severely hurt the Koch Industries' profits. Thus, Charles Koch launched an assault on Obama's plans, deriding them as restricting American economic freedoms, supporting the Tea Party in their backlash against Obama along with influencing them to fight for their issues. They managed to stop the climate bill from passing, but not Obamacare.

  5. What did the Koch's spend their money on in order to help Republican candidates in elections?

    The Koch brothers spent money on "get-out-the-vote efforts and ads attacking President Obama and congressional Democrats." Their complicated network of affiliated groups, called the "Kochtopus," spent money helping organize campaigns and advertisements.


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