Confessions of a Koch-Backed Fake… Sorry, No

A constant annoyance on social media is the constant, and generally unprovoked, attacks on “libertarians” who apparently belong to a cabal ready to destroy the United States. With some regularity I receive messages accusing me of being a “Koch-funded fake” or attributing some nefarious backing to my various projects. I’ve posted on Democracy in Chains by Historian Nancy MacLean and other conspiracy theories of the libertarian movement.

Conspiracy theorists won’t believe this anyway, but I’m not a Koch-backed fake.

My publishers aren’t Koch-backed, either (Parlor Press, DMI Agency). Trust me, there’s little to no chance that the Proceedings of Computers and Writing was Koch-funded, either, though we did have a conference at George Mason University a couple of years ago.

The “Koch Brothers” are like George Soros, a conveniently wealthy boogeyman for politicians and talking heads. What’s more shocking and worrisome to me are those conspiracy promoters who claim the Kochs and Soros are all part of a Jewish plot to control global finances. On the left, the Koch family gets linked to Hitler. On the right, people claim Soros is also an anti-Semite.

Conspiracies are never consistent.

I’m no longer stunned when I ask someone using the “Koch Brothers” to name the brothers and they cannot. There were four Koch brothers, two of whom are associated with libertarian and fiscally conservative politics. In order of birth, the Koch brothers were:

• Frederick R. Koch (1933–2020): Collector of things
• Charles G. Koch (born 1935): CEO of Koch Industries
• David H. Koch (1940–2019): Former Executive Vice-President of Koch Industries
• William (Bill) Koch (born 1940): Businessman, sailor, and another collector of things

Frederick Koch liked books. He funded a lot of rare book collections. Good for him. He wasn’t actively involved in politics and didn’t get along well with Charles or David. Bill loves sailing and even won the America’s Cup in 1992. Bill invested in alternative energy and technology, but his passions are sailing and wine according to most books and articles I’ve read.

Sometimes, Bill donates to moderate Republicans, but it is Charles and David who became THE Koch Brothers. (Their father Fred was Goldwater Republican and radical John Birch Society supporter. He was, to be kind, a dangerous wingnut.)

Charles Koch is the one most closely associated with political organizations. He’s a true believer in markets, a passionate advocate for personal freedoms. He’s also known for conflicts with the organizations he helped found or support. Famously, the mercurial Charles Koch had to settle a dispute with the Cato Institute in 2012, which removed him and his brother David from the organization’s non-profit ownership.

If you listen to Charles, there’s little doubt he fits some of the caricatures of libertarians. He’s for drug decriminalization, criminal justice reform, and deep cuts to military spending. He’s also anti-tax, anti-regulation, and has a faith in markets most economists long ago abandoned for a more nuanced view of open economies.

Charles is deeply Anti-Trump and has said he believes the United States needs to address its racist past. I’ll give him some credit for those views, especially since his father was a racist. (It should also be noted, Charles too often donated to Republicans willing to play into Nixon’s Southern Strategy because those Republicans were also perceived as pro-market and pro-business.)

Don’t confuse Charles for today’s “movement conservative” politicians. He’s still a libertarian (small-l), not a social conservative. He’s also convinced climate change isn’t human-caused, or at best exaggerated. Charles believes, and not merely because he benefits from carbon extraction. He fights regulation of carbon industries, while I and many left-libertarians consider climate change a serious threat to our planet.

I doubt I’d get along with Charles Koch, but I don’t know. I’m basing that solely on what others have said about his personality. He is a man who fought two brothers in court for decades, eventually buying out his own family to control Koch Industries. David, it seems, was comfortable in the shadow of Charles, unlike Frederick and Bill.

Yet, if Charles Koch offered the funding to create a non-profit entity to support what I do, I’d accept the money. Just as I’d accept the money from George Soros, Elan Musk, or anyone else. I’m not going to change what I believe, so I’d assume any supporters expect me to keep writing what I’m writing and saying what I’m saying.

As my wife, friends, and colleagues can attest, I’m pretty inflexible after I’ve researched something and reached a conclusion. My views don’t change no matter where I teach or in which department  I am based. That’s not always popular, either.

David was a True Believer in Austrian economics and a Libertarian Party candidate for president in 1980. Yet, he was never as passionate about politics as Charles.

I do admire David Koch’s legacy and believe he’s no worse (or better) than Andrew Carnegie. The philanthropy of David Koch continues to support many places I consider special. Yes, he was one of the richest men in the United States, and also one of the top philanthropists.

Arts

• $100 million to renovate the New York State Theater in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, now known as David H. Koch Theater.
• $10 million to renovate the fountains outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• $6 million to the American Ballet Theatre

Education

• $18.6 million to WGBH Educational Foundation, including $10 million to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) show Nova.
• $35 million to the Smithsonian to build a new dinosaur exhibition hall at the National Museum of Natural History.
• $20 million gift to the American Museum of Natural History, creating the David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing.
• $15 million to the National Museum of Natural History to create the new David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins.

Medical research

• $395 million to medical research causes and institutions, primarily on a quest to treat and cure cancers.
• $41 million to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, including $5 million to a collaborative project in the field of nanotechnology.
• $20 million to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore for cancer research, the David H. Koch Cancer Research Building.
• $100 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.
• $25 million to the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the David Koch Center for Applied Research in Genitourinary Cancers
• $5 million to the House Ear Institute, in Los Angeles, to create a center for hearing restoration.
• $25 million to the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
• $100 million to NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital, the largest philanthropic donation in its history.
• $150 million to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City to build the David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care.

If you learn from NOVA, if you have visited the Smithsonian, or if you enjoy the American Ballet, David Koch helped support those wonderful resources. He was a believer in public broadcasting, contrary to perceptions of what a libertarian is. He even made sure his funds were used to counter creationism with a special exhibit on human evolution at the National Museum of Natural History. My oldest daughter and I love that exhibit.

Yet, if there’s one thing David Koch did that matters most, it is his support of cancer research. Much of his estate continues to benefit cancer research centers across the United States.

I also admire George Soros… and dislike some of his choices, too. I don’t admire how he has made his fortune, but I admire that he invests money in what he believes. He doesn’t shy away from his ideals.

We should debate ideas, but it is so much easier to worry about Jewish Nazis. As if that makes any sense at all.