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(41,131 posts) Thu Mar 10, 2022, 01:15 AM Mar 2022

1974 Chas. Koch 'Anti-Capitalism, Big Business, Powell Memo Did Not Go Far Enough': The 50 Yr Agenda

Last edited Thu Mar 10, 2022, 04:08 PM - Edit history (3)

- KOCH DOCS, June 7, 2019. - Ed. (Charles Koch, wiki, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Koch).

In this 1974 speech, Charles Koch claimed that “business has consciously assisted the government in destroying the free market.” It was given during the 2nd term of President Nixon, a few months before he resigned in disgrace. This address was part of a meeting on “The Anti-Capitalist Mentality,” organized by the Institute for Humane Studies founded in 1961. The IHS advanced Libertarian ideas more radically than the Fnd. for Economic Education by, for example, calling all taxes “theft,” despite the Constitutional provision authorizing taxes. Charles began supporting IHS in 1964. The speech was an address to a group he controlled. IHS continues to play a substantial role in the Koch empire.

At the meeting, Koch claimed that, “[a]nti-capitalist feelings in the U.S. are probably more virulent today than ever before. Yet the effort to stem this challenge to our traditional economic values have been ineffective. It is crucial that we understand what is happening, why the defensive efforts have floundered, & what approach, if any, would succeed.”
In the speech Koch criticizes the *POWELL MEMO for not going far enough. He also praises fellow members of the Mt. Pelerin Society–Milton Friedman & F.A. Hayek–& IHS for providing better solutions to what he calls decades of anti-capitalism in the U.S. (*The Lewis POWELL MEMO: A Corporate Blueprint To Dominate Democracy, 1971 https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/).

- Here are some excerpts from Koch’s speech & criticism of the Powell Memorandum.

- 1. With respect to the Powell Memo, it contained a fundamental error to be corrected. It is the assumption that influential segments of the American business community actually believe in capitalism- in a free enterprise system- & that there currently exists a free market to be defunded & preserved. Neither is correct, & defense of the free market will not succeed if we proceed on the assumption that they are. - 2. We have allowed the free market to be blamed for fostering economic crises when a free market did not even exist at the times the crisis occurred. - 3. We have supported the very institutions from which the attack on free market emanates. Much of our support has been involuntary through taxes; we have contributed voluntarily to colleges & universities on the erroneous assumption that this benefits business & the free enterprise system, even though they encourage extreme hostility to American business.

- 4. We have accepted the concept that the corporation has a broad social responsibility beyond its duty to its shareholders… Yet the businessman has come to believe that he is defending free enterprise when he claims that he is not concerned ‘merely’ with profit, but also with promoting desirable ‘social’ ends. He is in fact preaching pure & unadulterated socialism. 5. In the situation the pro-capitalist businessman finds himself today, there are 4 ways he can fight for free enterprise: education, the media, legal challenges, and political action…

- More, https://kochdocs.org/2019/06/07/charles-koch-anti-capitalism-big-business/
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- Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Assoc. Justice U.S. Supreme Court (Jan. 7, 1972 – June 26, 1987). Nominated by Richard Nixon.

- Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. (Sept. 19, 1907 – Aug. 25, 1998) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1971 to 1987. Powell compiled a generally conservative & business-aligned record on the Court. Born in Suffolk, Va., he graduated from both Washington and Lee Law School & Harvard Law School & served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. He worked for Hunton & Williams, a large law firm in Richmond, Va., focusing on corporate law & representing clients such as the Tobacco Institute.

In 1971, President Nixon appointed Powell to succeed Associate Justice Hugo Black. He retired from the Court during the administration of President Reagan, & was eventually succeeded by Anthony Kennedy. His tenure largely overlapped with that of Chief Justice Warren Burger, & Powell was often a key swing vote on the Burger Court. His majority opinions include First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti & McCleskey v. Kemp, & he wrote an influential opinion in Regents of the University of Calif. v. Bakke. He notably joined the majority in cases such as United States v. Nixon, Roe v. Wade, Plyler v. Doe, and Bowers v. Hardwick...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell_Jr.
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- *THE POWELL MEMORANDUM, 1971. - The Lewis Powell Memo: 'A Corporate Blueprint to Dominate Democracy.' Written in 1971 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (For more, see Greenpeace analyses of how Powell’s suggestions have impacted the realms of politics, judicial law, communications & education). - The full text of the Memo is below or can be downloaded as a PDF.
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- Confidential Memorandum *Attack on American Free Enterprise System* Date: Aug. 23, 1971. To: Mr. Eugene B. Sydnor, Jr., Chairman, Education Committee, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. From: Lewis F. Powell, Jr. This memorandum is submitted at your request as a basis for the discussion on Aug. 24 with Mr. Booth & others at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The purpose is to identify the problem, & suggest possible avenues of action for further consideration. - Dimensions of the Attack - No thoughtful person can question that the American economic system is under broad attack. This varies in scope, intensity, in the techniques employed, & in the level of visibility. There always have been some who opposed the American system, & preferred socialism or some form of statism (communism or fascism). Also, there always have been critics of the system, whose criticism has been wholesome & constructive so long as the objective was to improve rather than to subvert or destroy.

But what now concerns us is quite new in the history of America. We are not dealing with sporadic or isolated attacks from a relatively few extremists or even from the minority socialist cadre. Rather, the assault on the enterprise system is broadly based & consistently pursued. It is gaining momentum & converts. - Sources of the Attack - The sources are varied & diffused. They include, not unexpectedly, the Communists, New Leftists & other revolutionaries who would destroy the entire system, both political & economic. These extremists of the left are far more numerous, better financed, & increasingly are more welcomed & encouraged by other elements of society, than ever before in our history. But they remain a small minority, & are not yet the principal cause for concern. The most disquieting voices joining the chorus of criticism come from perfectly respectable elements of society: from the college campus, the pulpit, the media, the intellectual & literary journals, the arts & sciences, & from politicians.

In most of these groups the movement against the system is participated in only by minorities. Yet, these often are the most articulate, the most vocal, the most prolific in their writing & speaking.

Moreover, much of the media — for varying motives & in varying degrees — either voluntarily accords unique publicity to these “attackers,” or at least allows them to exploit the media for their purposes. This is especially true of television, which now plays such a predominant role in shaping the thinking, attitudes & emotions of our people. One of the bewildering paradoxes of our time is the extent to which the enterprise system tolerates, if not participates in, its own destruction. The campuses from which much of the criticism emanates are supported by (i) tax funds generated largely from American business, & (ii) contributions from capital funds controlled or generated by American business. The boards of trustees of our universities overwhelmingly are composed of men & women who are leaders in the system.

Most of the media, including the national TV systems, are owned & theoretically controlled by corporations which depend upon profits, & the enterprise system to survive. - Tone of the Attack - This memorandum is not the place to document in detail the tone, character, or intensity of the attack. The following quotations will suffice to give one a general idea: William Kunstler, warmly welcomed on campuses & listed in a recent student poll as the “American lawyer most admired,” incites audiences as follows: “You must learn to fight in the streets, to revolt, to shoot guns. We will learn to do all of the things that property owners fear.” The New Leftists who heed Kunstler’s advice increasingly are beginning to act — not just against military recruiting offices & manufacturers of munitions, but against a variety of businesses:...
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/