¶ Breen LandUseCode Community Meeting - This Is What Democracy Looks Like !

The following column was written for the March issue of the FourCornersFreePress out of Cortez.  I usually try to wait until the column comes out before posting what I've written, but in light of a curious anonymous letter going around, I think Gail will understand me putting it up now.

This is an example of democracy in action, as opposed to anonymous letters meant to intimidate, which are nothing less than totalitarian tactics !

__________________________________________

Children of the Intellectual Enlightenment, liberals, progressives, seekers of objective facts and rational learning based on constructive debates, believers in our pluralistic society and our democratic way of government, please look around and take note. We are in deep trouble.

For decades while we’ve been distracted with our own concerns, the Koch brothers and friends have been busy spreading their tentacles ever deeper into USA’s election process and they are getting poised for a hostile take over bid this election season.

They are consolidating their forces and targeting liberal bastions for take down. Once targeted their strategy is to find a local issue that raises blood pressures. Then they feed anxious people their Libertarian Siren Song which is heavily dosed with contrived hostility and misinformation.

Here in Durango we have an example unfolding that I want to look at. First the set up. The Koch front group, Americans for Prosperity, opened a recruitment office, some would call it a brainwashing center, since they don’t listen. Like over the top evangelicals brimming with self-certainty, they tell you what to think, accept it or become a bad guy.

Then another outfit calling itself “SaveLaPlataCounty.com" pops up. Followed by yet another, this one calling itself the LaPlata Liberty Coalition which set up a blog and Facebook page boasting the wonderfully vague libertarian mission statement: “A Coalition of ‘We The People’ Working to Protect and Preserve the Historical and Constitutional Rights of the Citizens of La Plata County.”

What’s that even mean? Historically we had the Right to cruise local roads drinking beer and it wouldn’t bother anyone, but decades sneak by, landscapes that used to be wild and free, are full of homes and septic tanks and traffic and kids and all that jazz.

¶ Five Myths About the Koch Brothers - Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Theda Skocpol - 2016

and Why It Matters To Set Them Straight

I've had a few more days to continue my crash course into Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers and "Libertarian" ideology in general.  The convoluted logic and the ruthless efforts I'm learning about get overwhelming.  Thankfully I have my Maddy dog who makes sure I get out for good long walks regularly, which helps clear my head and allows me to breath some fresh air and regroup.  

Why do I think this is so important to discuss and share?  Because liberalism, or more accurately, enlightened-self-interest, our democratic process of learning from and considering each other, and compromise - understanding critical thinking skills and the scientific process for assessing the world around us - all this is under existential threat.  

We have this group of faithful people who genuinely believe they have a personal reciprocal relationship with God (a Being billions of years old and encompassing the universe) and who now want to totally crush the Children of the Intellectual Enlightenment and our pluralistic society.

When all the layers are scraped away that's what I'm coming down to, this huge group of people who have convinced themselves that their own goals are God's own goals.  Think about this.

To believe that your personal goals are those of the God of Light and Time, Life and Love!  That is what's going on here!  Yet, the Bible warns us, God is beyond human understanding.  Yet, we have leaders marching around proclaiming they are doing God's Will and all who oppose them are damnable enemies deserving no quarter.

Self-certitude and absolutism, that leads right into totalitarianism and I understand too much history to delude myself into presuming it could never happen here.  It's happened in plenty of equally unlikely places before.  Particularly when few care to, or dare to, think about it, let alone talk about it.  A healthy Democracy demands an informed and engaged electorate.    

Well, that intro went way longer than expected, but than, this exercise is about wrestling with this information and ideas and seeing where they take me.

Okay, for the main feature, this addition to my Americans for Koch's Prosperity Collection is the product of two scholars who's investigations enabled them to share some important background information most have overlooked, important details worth thinking about if you're trying to understand what's happening today.  It does have a long history.

_______________________________________________________

Five Myths About the Koch Brothers — And Why It Matters To Set Them Straight

Democratic reformers need to know exactly what they are up against — now and likely for years to come.

BY ALEXANDER HERTEL-FERNANDEZ AND THEDA SKOCPOL | MARCH 10, 2016

http://billmoyers.com/story/five-myths-about-the-koch-network-and-why-it-matters-to-set-them-straight/

{Here again these quotes are simply a teaser to encourage you to read the entire article}

¶ Considering 1/29/18 Durango Herald report on Americans for Prosperity - Jonathan Romeo

On Monday Jonathan Romeo authored another Durango Herald article that looked at Americans for Prosperity’s campaign against the land-use code that La Plata County’s duly elected County Commissioners are drafting.  I’ve taken selected quotes from the article and annotated them with observations gleaned from my past few days researching Americans for Prosperity.

Americans for Prosperity launches campaign over La Plata County’s land-use code

Koch brothers-backed group says it will fight proposed rules

By Jonathan Romeo County & environment reporter

Monday, Jan. 29, 2018 | Durango Herald

https://durangoherald.com/articles/206085-americans-for-prosperity-launches-campaign-over-la-plata-countys-landuse-code

“This plan is harmful in many ways to farmers and ranchers and grossly infringes on individuals’ property rights.” 

{What about all the ways it’s helpful in dealing with serious growing pains?  We can’t simply ignore this reality.}

Americans for Prosperity was founded in 2004 as a political arm of the billionaire Koch brothers, who owns the second largest privately held company in the U.S. …

{Here we touch on the fundamental problem with AFP, it was created to serve Koch’s interests.}

In the last eight years, Americans for Prosperity has turned to homing in on smaller communities in an effort to oust progressive elected officials and undercut the left’s command in grass-roots organizing.… 

{Thus smother all opposition to Koch’s radical agenda for our government.}

¶ ‘Sons of Wichita’ by Daniel Schulman, Koch bio - 2014

Daniel Schulman wrote a biography that’s been given a lot of credit for humanizing the Koch brothers.  The highlight is his argument that the Koch’s aren’t in it for the money, they are true ideological warriors for fundamental “Libertarian” ideals.  Not sure why that should have me trusting them or their intentions.

Merging libertarianism with being nearly the richest and most politically engaged bullying master of the universe - seems profoundly incongruous.  Bullying?  Well over a billion dollars spend on power political strategy and political campaigns, campaigns that are founded on deception and lies.  I’ll classify that as bullying.

Below is an excerpt from a Washington Post opinion piece on the book and links to three different YouTube events featuring author Daniel Schulman discussing his book to three very different groups of listeners.

Following that I include a few references towards defining what the elusive “libertarian ideal” is.  Actually, to my eyes, that’s one of it’s biggest problems, it’s all idealized thinking.  That's followed by a list of articles reporting on the Koch CATO connection.

Libertarians must ignore huge aspects of reality, be it about our geophysical Earth, or our modern complex crowded society.  

Libertarianism seems akin to nostalgic thinking, where we idealize a time and place that never was and never could have been.

___________________________________________________________________________

Review of Koch brothers biography, ‘Sons of Wichita,’ by Daniel Schulman

By Matea Gold  |  May 23, 2014