The fear is that we'll move in the direction from being a democracy to an oligarchy. Jane Mayer More Quotes by Jane Mayer More Quotes From Jane Mayer [Donald] Trump comes along and is singing a different song. He says, "I don't need your money; I'm rich enough on my own to run." And he says, "I think we need these programs." And, lo and behold, a lot of Republican voters liked what he said. Jane Mayer running song thinking So you've got these regular, middle-class voters who don't hate the government as much as the Kochs do. They're Republicans, but they still want government programs. They want Social Security, they want Medicare. They need it. Jane Mayer government hate class This year [2016] we're seeing a really strange upending [of the party]. The money was coming from these super-wealthy donors who were really on the far, hard right, people like the Kochs. So the party and the candidates moved so far to the right that a lot of people who don't share their point of view were unhappy. Jane Mayer party views years There's been a 40-year effort on the far right to build up think tanks, academic programs, advocacy groups, to push a particular ideology. That's really where the impact is that people don't see. Jane Mayer impact years thinking What I write about is how much influence it's had in things like state legislatures and governorships and congressional races. The other thing that's even more important in the long run is that very extreme money has affected the ecosystem of ideology in the country. Jane Mayer writing running country The smaller the office, the more power individuals with big money have. Jane Mayer individual bigs office Money has much more power down the ballot. Jane Mayer ballots The Kochs have been activists since the 1970s. You can go back and look at the platform of the Libertarian Party in 1980 and see what they really believe in. They wanted to abolish huge swaths of the U.S. government, including the Internal Revenue Service. They want to get rid of Social Security. They'd like to get rid of Medicare. They'd like to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency, which directly affects their business. Jane Mayer agency party believe The concern that I have is that, as wealth continues to concentrate in the hands of a few, economic inequality grows, and power also becomes more unequal. Jane Mayer economic-inequality wealth hands There have been waves of reform in the past. I see no reason why they wouldn't happen again. Jane Mayer reform reason-why past It's quite amazingly radical, what their [the Kochs] vision of America would be. Jane Mayer vision would-be america It's hard for them to run away from their record. The Kochs are businessmen. Jane Mayer businessman records running People I've interviewed say they're terrified there may be boycotts of their [the Kochs] products, which include so many household items that everybody's familiar with, things like Stainmaster Carpet and Dixie Cups and Brawny paper towels and Lycra. Jane Mayer dixie paper-towels people It's hard to look at [Donald] Trump as a hopeful sign because, in his own way, he is offering false solutions to many problems. Jane Mayer hopeful offering looks The possibility exists that the Kochs will walk away with even more power if [Donalds] Trump's defeated. Jane Mayer trump defeated possibility I think the scary thing is that there is in place already a sprawling infrastructure of advocacy groups, think tanks, academics and candidates and politicians funded by the Kochs and other deep-pocketed groups on the far right ready to attack Hillary Clinton. Jane Mayer tanks scary thinking Barack Obama was elected President in 2008 and re-elected in 2012. The natural thing would be to suggest money on the right [wing] doesn't really matter that much. The first thing you have to know is that the presidential elections are the ones where it's most difficult for money to hold sway, in that they're the most public elections. Jane Mayer presidential would-be wings The Kochtopus is the nickname that people who've worked for the Kochs came up with because there's so many tentacles and it likes the shadows. I really feel the first step is to provide the information. Jane Mayer nicknames shadow people Let's face it, the subject of campaign finance is not always scintillating. But it's incredibly important. Jane Mayer campaign-finance campaigns important I kept thinking maybe in the future editions [of Dark Money] I should sell it along with, like, some kind of, you know, Pepto Bismol or something. I wanted it to read a little bit like a thriller, so that it truly grabbed people. Jane Mayer dark people thinking
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