Indeed, since they believe that politicians are not leaders but vessels to be filled with the ideas and philosophies of others, the Koch brothers’ Tea Party movement is strong in 30 states and has filled Congress to the point that little can be accomplished without Tea Party consent. This is just fine as far as Charles and David are concerned because they believe that government should serve only as “the night watchman” to protect Americans and business. It should not be regulating business or raising taxes above the bare minimum needed to provide that security.
On the other hand, this book will interest those of a liberal frame of mind, who believe Koch Industries serves as the best example why industry should be severely regulated to prevent pollution and even the killing of Americans. Liberals, perhaps, see Charles and David, with their untold millions, as attempting to subvert national politics with their own agenda and as the perfect example of why some Americans are not taxed enough.
Of course, influencing American politics is nothing new with the Koch clan. The family patriarch, Fred, was a founding member of the John Birch Society and it’s his political philosophy that has shaped Charles’ and David’s own agendas.
But it’s Charles’ philosophy of libertarianism that has shaped his politics and his “market-based management” that has in turn shaped his business philosophy, part of which includes doing nothing that doesn’t positively affect the bottom line.
In fact, employee evaluations rate how much money a particular employee has made the company. For employees in sales that is not hard to quantify. But for an employee who works in something like pipeline maintenance (at one point, Koch Industries had 40,000 miles of underground pipes), it could be a harder sell.
For example, the company didn’t spend money to fix one pipeline in particular that it reported as having 583 locations of corrosion along its 46-mile stretch in Texas. The reason: It would cost money. That particular pressurized pipeline in August 1996 began leaking volatile liquid butane. An explosion was set off when two teenagers started their truck nearby. The fireball reached hundreds of feet into the night sky and killed the two teens. Their bodies were so badly burned that it could not be determined who was who without a thorough examination by a medical examiner. Koch Industries was sued by the father of one of the teens for $100 million. The jury awarded $296 million and it was, at that point, the largest wrongful death award in U.S. history.
The Kochs’ severe business image is softened somewhat by the millions of dollars they give to charity—to support hospitals, programming on public television and other arts institutions, as well as to support the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America’s Most Powerful and Private Dynasty by Daniel Schulman. Grand Central Publishing, May 2014, 424 pages.