Kochs fight for the future
In my years of watching and participating in politics, it’s difficult to recall a more vicious attempt to demonize private individuals than the campaign against Charles and David Koch. The Koch brothers, like more than 63% of the American people, believe that the country is on the wrong track. Yet, for their efforts to call attention to the numerous problems facing the country, they have been vilified and savaged in the media and even on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
I have known Charles and David for more than 10 years, and I proudly stand with them.
Since 2005, I have joined the Kochs at the seminars hosted by Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce. I’ve had plenty of time to gauge their intentions. More than anything, I have seen in them a profound concern for future generations. They had a chance to live the American dream, and they worry that the government is preventing others from doing the same thing.
They’re right. No matter where you look in Washington, politicians are doing their best to harm future generations. Here are a few examples.
The most obvious is federal spending. In the last 10 years, the government has more than doubled the national debt, taking it from less than $8 trillion in 2005 to more than $18 trillion today. Both parties, Republican and Democrat, are complicit in this debacle and are making things worse by the day. This year alone, the federal deficit will be just under $500 billion — 50% higher than it was just a few years ago. Within a decade, the annual deficits will again clear a trillion dollars a year.
These aren’t just numbers on a page. This is real money that future generations will have to pay back. Without reform and restraint, the only solution is massive tax hikes that will crush the economy and deny opportunities to countless Americans. The Kochs, to their credit, are trying to stop politicians from digging this fiscal hole any deeper.
Washington also is doing its best to stifle innovation and entrepreneurship — the gateways to opportunity for every generation, past, present and future. Politicians are standing in the way through.
Consider the regulatory burden that any wouldbe entrepreneur now faces. Want to turn your brilliant business idea into a reality? Good luck cutting through the red tape. There are now at least 175,000 pages of federal regulation — contained in 235 volumes — in the Code of Federal Regulations. They cost the economy nearly $2 trillion, equivalent to 36 million family incomes, every year.
That money should be used to start and expand businesses and create wealth and jobs in Wisconsin and the rest of the country. Instead, it’s wasted on bureaucrats.
This regulatory burden is a key reason why American businesses are dying faster than they’re starting, a phenomenon never before seen in our country’s history. It’s hard to be a successful entrepreneur when you’re dealing with bureaucrats rather than customers.
Corporate welfare is just as crippling to future generations. Over the years, Washington has slowly but surely stacked the deck in favor of a select few individuals and business. Americans know this — there’s a reason why 70% of the country thinks that “government and big business often work together” against everyone else.
Whether it’s subsidies, mandates, or any one of the expensive and often preferential regulations outlined above, politicians and bureaucrats are continuously giving some businesses a competitive advantage over their would-be competitors, big or small. It’s hard to be a successful entrepreneur when your competition has a taxpayer-funded and/or government-enforced advantage.
We all want a level playing field, which is necessary for keeping the American dream alive and attainable for everyone. This is what the Kochs are fighting for. This is why I stand with them. No matter how many times politicians or pundits attack Charles and David, I can promise that we will never stop fighting to reform Washington. The well-being of future generations depends on it. Ken Yontz is the former chairman and CEO of Sybron International and is a member of the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce.