Charles Koch and Bernie Sanders

By Janlee Wong

Recently, the Washington Post (February 18, 2016) printed an opinion article by Charles G. Koch in which he highlights the few areas that he and Bernie Sanders might agree on. Charles Koch is a billionaire businessman who, along with his brother David, makes many donations to anti-government (small government) groups and is favorable to the Tea Party. The Koch brothers are well-known for their criticism of President Obama and the Affordable Care Act.

In Mr. Koch’s opinion piece, he says he agrees with Senator Sanders that the system is rigged in favor of the privileged few but where they deviate is Mr. Koch blames government and political parties for perpetuating “control, dependency, cronyism and poverty in the U.S.” Furthermore, Mr. Koch claims he would be happy to end government policies that may favor big business including his own ethanol business.

Mr. Koch also believes that America’s criminal justice system “is in need of dire reform.” First, he believes you get little or no legal representation if you’re poor, but if you have money, the rules change. Once you’re convicted, Koch believes the deck is stacked against you when it comes to getting a job, housing, credit, etc. He says his company has “banned the box” asking about criminal convictions on job applications.

He points to Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty as a failure and maintains poverty rather than ending it because it is once again a “government” program that doesn’t address the root cause of poverty. Anyone who’s dealt with big government programs couldn’t agree with Mr. Koch more that they are complex, costly and inefficient.

While Mr. Koch seems to agree with Senator Sanders on these few things, he hasn’t done much to support political candidates that support his ideas in these particular areas and has done a lot (using money) to attack President Obama. For example, California has made tremendous progress in criminal justice reform through decriminalization and decarceration, but Mr. Koch hasn’t supported the mainly Democratic elected officials who have pushed this through.

Mr. Koch hasn’t done much to support the very few elected officials who oppose corporate welfare, such as public subsidies or rule waivers for sports arenas. While Mr. Koch is completely opposed to the Affordable Care Act and Medicare/Medicaid (War on Poverty programs), he is silent about how people can get health care, especially the poor and the elderly.

So is Mr. Koch’s claim correct that he agrees on these few items with Senator Sanders, or is he just blowing smoke?