By Jerry Ryberg

Galesburg

The Roberts 5 on our Supreme Court, all Reagan and �W� Bush appointees, have, with the McCutcheon decision, taken us a big step closer to complete rule by the ultra-wealthy. That would be an �oligarchy.�

Sean McCutcheon is a wealthy coal company executive, who thought that �Citizens United� (unlimited corporate money to buy elections) wasn�t enough. So the 5 conservatives on the Supeme Court upped the aggregate limit that INDIVIDUALS can give from $48,600 to $3.6 million dollars. They can spend up to $2,600 dollars on as many candidates as they want, in all 50 states.

But I can�t write about this any better than E.J. Dionne Jr. did in these pages April 8th: �... Chief Justice John Roberts and his four allies always side with the wealthy, the powerful and the forces that would advance the political party that put them on the court. The ideological overreach that is wrecking our politics is also now wrecking our jurisprudence.�

In attempting to justify this furtherance of turning our government over to the very rich, Republicans must conveniently forget/ignore the impact on you and me. Two examples:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH): �What I think this means is that freedom of speech is being upheld.� An obvious LIE. He�s supporting the court�s �money equals speech� decision, where OUR speech is muted by big money.

Senate Minority Leader �Mitch� McConnell (R-KY) said the Supreme Court �Did recognize that it is the right of the individual, and not the prerogative of Congress, to determine how many candidates and parties to support.� Yeah right, and how many candidates can YOU AND I give $2,600 dollars to?

Decisions like these led to four Republican presidential hopefuls (Chris Christie, John Kasick, Scott Walker, Jeb Bush) going to Las Vegas recently to ask for money from casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

But the �poster boys� for destroying our democracy are Charles and David Koch who own Georgia Pacific, Koch Oil, and who make many products you find on store shelves.

Republican columnist Kathleen Parker in last Monday�s piece titled �Demonizing the Kochs,� said that they are only promoting �free-market principles� and �pursuing capitalist endeavors.� She said that Sen. Harry Reid should apologize for calling them �un-American.�

Hogwash. Like most of the few hundred members of the one-tenth percent, Charles and David Koch never have enough money and power. They�re using their billions to buy politicians and steal our democracy, with the blessings of the Roberts 5 on the Court. Their �free-market principles� include NO regulations, and plenty of land, air, and water pollution. Their �capitalist endeavors� are wild, unbridled capitalism, with plenty of advantages for them and none for the rest of us. The Koch brothers are definitely un-American, and as this year progresses, more of the middle class will come to know that. One survey says 48 percent already know who the Kochs are, and most of those don�t like �em.

Charles Koch, irritated that Sen. Harry Reid has started a campaign of publicizing the brothers� attacks on our democracy, wrote a piece in the April 2 Wall Street Journal. In it, he says he�s �devoted to the principles of a free society� and to �the fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before the law and personal freedom.�

That�s more hogwash. He goes on to talk about wanting �to restore a free society and create greater well-being and opportunity for all Americans.�

These good and worthy ideals are the complete OPPOSITE of what the Kochs are doing. With their complex network of �dark money� organizations, they�ve spent $30 million that we know of, trying to win back the Senate. And please, don�t gripe about George Soros. With ultra-rich conservatives spending limitless money to silence our voices in Congress, Democrats have to depend on their own wealthy donors. Meanwhile, George Soros Junior has begun an expensive campaign to get money out of politics.

The unions are far outspent by the super-rich, who don�t have to report much of what they spend. All NLRB-regulated unions must make complete reports of campaign spending.

These people are CHANGING YOUR LIFE, �and not in a good way�. Call and tell them how angry you are about that. It�ll get their attention.

Jerry Ryberg is a graduate of Galesburg High School, served in the Army and later worked as technician and newstape editor at NBC Chicago before returning to Galesburg in 2001.