The Koch Brothers Tell Their Employees How To Vote

by toma

How shallow a person are you? Do you do what other people tell you to do? Would you vote the way your employer told you to?

The legendary Koch brothers hope you’d do exactly that. That’s why they’ve been sending out propaganda packets to their workers guiding them in their decisions at the ballot box.

On the eve of the November midterm elections, Koch Industries sent an urgent letter to most of its 50,000 employees advising them on whom to vote for and warning them about the dire consequences to their families, their jobs and their country should they choose to vote otherwise.

The Nation obtained the Koch Industries election packet for Washington State —which included a cover letter from its president and COO, David Robertson; a list of Koch-endorsed state and federal candidates; and an issue of the company newsletter, Discovery, full of alarmist right-wing propaganda.

Legal experts interviewed for this story called the blatant corporate politicking highly unusual, although no longer skirting the edge of legality, thanks to last year’s Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which granted free speech rights to corporations.

The Koch mailer, after listing candidates workers should vote for, went on to deliver a doctrinaire dose of conservative dogma. The “Discovery” portion of the packet was scathing in its assessment of the current U.S. government:

. . for more than 40 years, Koch Industries has openly and consistently supported the principles of economic freedom and market-based policies. Unfortunately, these values and principled point of view are now being strongly opposed by many politicians (and their media allies) who favor ever-increasing government . . In the United States, government has grown to such a level that it is choking American entrepreneurship and hurting the nation’s international competitiveness. Even worse, recent government actions are threatening to bankrupt the country . . To preserve the nation’s economic viability and individual freedoms, this explosive growth must be reversed.

Granted, it’s hardly the most seductive thing you’ve gotten in the mail. But when it comes from your employer? In the middle of the Great Recession? It can be very, very persuasive. Some workers will do anything to get ahead.

By: toma

Foul-mouthed blogger.