If I were a right-winger, I’d sure be proud of my good friends Art Pope and Bob Luddy. Moneywise, they’re not quite in the same league as the Koch Brothers, who are reported to be “worth” $21 billion each. (Worth means different things to different people, but if I were a right-winger, I’d measure it by the money.) But Art and Bob are rich.
And when the vast right-wing conspiracy meets — and as this report from Think Progress (Center for American Progress) demonstrates, it’s hosted twice a year by the Kochs — Raleigh is well-represented in the persons of Bob, Art, and Kathy Pope, according to a memo obtained by Think Progress. Hob-nobbing with Glenn Beck, Charles Krauthammer, Michael Barone, and the top brass of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Scroll to the end of this pdf for the list: secretkochmeeting.pdf
When the VRWC met in June, Charles Koch’s welcoming remarks were about the VLeftWC’s threat to American prosperity, e.g., the idea that people worth $21 billion maybe should pay federal taxes at a somewhat higher rate than the rest of us. The program describes his theme:
We are undergoing the greatest internal assault on American freedom and prosperity in our lifetimes. Rather than cede ground to more government, we must strengthen economic freedom. Business leaders have an important to play in promoting prosperity, countering the dangerous attacks on our founding principles, and reversing this trend.
The meeting was in Aspen, a great place for right-wingers to get together and bemoan how they’re put upon by taxes.
I’m glad, as a potential right-winger, that Charles Koch distinguished between internal threats like, uh, me, and external threats like, say, globalization and the outsourcing of American jobs by multinational corporations.
Hopefully, you know who Art Pope and Bob Luddy are. But if not, they’re part of the vast right-wing anti-Wake public schools conspiracy. And Facing South just did an excellent rundown on all things Pope.
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