Voter Suppression, Harsh Voter ID Laws, Intrusive Pressure: Relax, Have a Koch

Looking to Buy, Own, and Run America, One Election Cycle at a Time

The Koch Voter Database

As a starter is, I guess, is this, the corporate statement from the i360 homepage:

“… i360 is the leading data and technology resource for the pro-free-market political and advocacy community. With the most comprehensive view of politically active Americans, i360 can help you understand, refine and target your ideal audience. Whether you are targeting voters, activists, volunteers or constituents, i360 provides state-of-the-art data-mining, modeling and analysis tools that bring superior results to your bottom line.”

The “bottom line” in this case is not profits, per se. So, how about winning an election anyway possible.

With all the harsh voting laws and rules and other stuff out there in GOP-Conservative-TEA la-la land about win at any cost mentality and the harsh tactics we have seen since about 2010 or so, including legal help from the USSC (Citizens United, McCutcheon, and the attacks on the VRA), well, this might just make your day as Dirty Harry would say, “So do you feel lucky, Mr. and Mrs. American Voter. Do you?” When someone says, "It's not about the money," a light should go off. It is about the money!! And, no it's not "politics as usual," it's ugly, nasty, and expensive politics as usual.

This fine run down from Salon.com with this headline on top of everything else the Koch’s have been into and continue to get into:

"9 signs the Koch’s have created their own national political party"

The heart of this post today is a focus on Item #2 on the list of 9:

#2.  Better voter data than the GOP: One of the most significant political developments in recent years has been the way political parties have created vast files about voters, rivaling what private-sector giants like Google and Facebook offer their advertisers. But on the political right, there has been a data-gathering war between the Koch Party and Karl Rove’s Republican National Committee. The Koch Party “has developed in-house expertise in polling, message-testing, fact-checking, advertising, media buying, dial groups and donor maintenance,” Politico recently reported.

I’m not trying to be sinister or like a conspirator, or worse. That is not my nature, but I do want to raise flags (red flags work just fine) about the goals of the Koch’s brothers and I mean for the country, not their own industrial empire expansion, although those two things may run hand-in-hand now that I think about it. 

But, it is painfully clear about anyone paying much attention that their intention appear to be: fund, pay for, buy, and acquire America for their own satisfaction, like the nearly $1 billion they recently pledged to raise and spend (more probably) to put their candidate in the White House in 2016.  

Are my concerns the same as yours, are mine out of whack or out of line, just off the mark, or just plain silly and needlessly worrisome? Hardly, I surmise. The Koch efforts and actions are clear. At least to me and what lies ahead is truly worrisome.