Behind the everyday scenes and barely visible to ordinary citizens, mega-wealthy industrialist  Charles Koch is hard at work promoting his plan for America and the world. His aim has been, and still is, to eliminate our democracy and replace it with a new system of government based on a free-market plan originated by economist Milton Friedman. The electoral defeat of Donald Trump and his hand-picked shadow, Mike Pence, has slowed but not stopped commitment to advance the plan. These two defeated sycophants will be missed by Koch and the secretive group of wealthy elites that he leads but they can be quickly replaced by others just as eager to serve those with wealth and power.

After reading Koch’s new book, Believe In People: Bottom Up Solution, it is clear that he firmly believes the best kind of government for America and the world is a market-based formula developed by Friedman and proven by his research. The main premise of this formula is the removal of governmental regulations on business, such as emission control, formation of Unions, and consumer protection. This view fits snugly with Koch’s own personal outlook and experience that have enabled him to prosper economically and likewise enable many others. Also, bringing out the book at this time appears to be an attempt to gaslight the emerging discovery of his questionable role in supporting the Trump Administration fiasco.

Over and over in this book, he cites his strong commitment to enabling others as the key to upward mobility and economic success. However, there is no evidence presented that such enabling is guided by any defined and defensible mores. The level of success he enables others to achieve is measured only by their ability to acquire money and power within a framework that ultimately results in more money and power for Koch.

In the long run, either by measured choice or blind delusion, Koch is deliberately engaged in a scheme of monopolistic capitalism with himself the ultimate beneficiary. His actions in this regard are in many ways antithetical to his claim of doing good by enabling people. Using his money and power to take away our democracy by any means possible, is destructive not enabling. Supporting people like Trump as he separates families, imprisons children, steals elections, sows distrust, and fans the fires of racism, is in direct opposition to the claim of doing what is good for people. It only enables a selected few to gain money and power while subjecting everyone else to controlled lives of poverty and servitude.

Talented but socially immature personalities can easily lose their way listening to the siren call of such a self-centered world view. In this respect, the machinations of Charles Koch and his elitist followers are eerily like those of another well-known industrial giant who became lost in a delusion of his greatness and eventually suffered a tragic fall. George Pullman was known world-wide for his creative vision and accumulation of great wealth in the 1890’s by building and operating luxury railroad cars that ushered in a new era of public transportation. He was widely respected for his philosophy of enabling his workers to rise from dire poverty, even previous slavery, and achieve economic success. Near his renowned sleeper rail-car factory just outside of Chicago he built new homes and other facilities for his workers, including churches, theatres, food stores, meeting halls, parks, and sport arenas so they would have easy access to things that would enable them to live happier, healthier, and more productive lives. These sweet amenities were concentrated in a company-owned town named Pullman that he financed with huge sums of his company profits and that showcased his enlightened enablement of workers as right and mutually beneficial. All of these investments increased Pullman’s wealth and his image of himself as a great benefactor.

Then came a reckoning that blew away his delusion and exposed the true value system at work that may have surprised even him: selfish acquisition above all. A severe economic depression in 1893 devalued his business and properties. Faced with impending bankruptcy, as he watched his fortunes dwindle he became wildly brutal in his relationships with the workers who had helped him be a “bigger-than-life” tycoon. He resorted to firings, evictions, wage cuts, closings, and abandonment of his enabling approach. His actions clearly showed what he actually valued most: his money and power. He eventually became one of the most hated public figures in American history for the callous ways he treated people. After his death in October, 1897, he was buried (at his request) under seven feet of concrete in Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery, to prevent enraged people from exhuming and desecrating his body. Will this same kind of painful reckoning happen to Charles Koch when his delusion of the great enabler is revealed to be monopoly capitalism in disguise? History will be his judge.

An article by William McGurn recently published in a weekend issue of the Wall Street Journal (2020; 10/31-11/01, p. A11) offers a hint of what may befall Mr. Koch if he continues to ignore the truth. McGurn reported a recent revelation that should cause Koch to think twice. Near the end of his life Friedman acknowledged a (fatal) error of his free-market plan, saying to his trusted friend, former NPR Media Manager Bob Chitester, “Bob, I ignored one fact. You have to have rule of law or my formula won’t work.” This startling confession pulls a critical support out from under the free-market plan on which Koch has formed his personal and political illusions of the merits of a government free economy. For an update on the rule of law that Friedman was referring to and to see the disconnect with his plan click on this live link for a United States Courts Overview:https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/overview-rule-law

It must be understood that there is a cadre of very wealthy and similarly deluded oligarchs, led by Charles Koch, who firmly believe that Friedman’s free-market plan is in their best interest. Losing Trump and Pence from the front line of their battle to kill democracy is an obstacle that will only slow them down; not take them out of the game. They are still very much here and ready for action. With a firm commitment to their deluded vision of what they believe is right, they continue to follow Koch’s leadership to seek the money and power they want by whatever means are necessary.

When the darkness is penetrated by full-spectrum light it is easy to see that there is a terrible disconnect between Koch-led extremists’ visions of themselves as righteous enablers and their continued actions to acquire money and power by exploitation of people and the planet. The news that Friedman himself eventually realized there was grievous error in his plan, should provide a compelling reason to discard it, acknowledge the harm that is being done in its name, and start putting creative energy into something more constructively aligned with the moral imperative of responsible stewardship in caring for the earth and its inhabitants.

The same grass roots efforts that delivered an election win against great odds in November of 2020 must be turned now to restoring fundamental democratic principles and enhancing the rule of law in wiser cooperation with those who are ready to work together toward a democratic government that better serves the interests and needs of everyone.