to understand the present you have to understand the past
which brings us to this fascinating story of a guy named William
8 Clark now for our listeners in montana you know what I'm talking about Clark
was one of the
copper Kings a late eighteen hundreds in montana
he made millions in the booming mining industry
he'd be. tried his hand at the electric industry this
brand new thing that thomas hasn't started the newspaper industry
beyond banks he owned insurance excuse me railroad lines
he he was he was involved lot a business he got really really rich
and then you say today let's run for political office be big shot
I want to be this the senator get his lifelong ambition
becoming an elected official end up getting the the fame and power that came
with it
so in 1899
he was this you know the election in nineteen hundred right
in the election nineteen hundred he want to be a US Senator now back then US
senators were not elected by We the People
that was an amendment to the constitution in the nineteen
teens the 17th the moment back then US senators were chosen by their respective
state legislators
so one afternoon clark walked into the montana state legislature
and announced that he would be standing in the back in the room
holding envelopes filled with thousand-dollar bills
and he said he'd give those thousand those envelopes to anyone who voted for
him a
to be there senator to represent them in Washington DC
and enough legislators voted for him and took his money
their montana sent him to Washington DC is there senator for the nineteen
hundred legislative session
pope William Clark's bribery scheme
as was so public I mean he wishes right up front about he stood back there
waving the envelopes
the newspaper reporters got it was so brazen
that even though largely corrupt US Senate was horrified
and they refuse to see him after reading newspaper stories about his passing out
these thousand-dollar bills to get elected
in fact it was the notoriety of Clark's naked bribery attempt in montana which
was well reported newspapers cross-country
that help to help lead to the passage the 17th amendment which says that
we the people get to elect the Senators is that a bar of state legislators
so with all this notoriety Clark
pretty much became public enemy number one in the early nineteen hundred's
Mark Twain yes Sam Clemens good old Mark Twain
wrote about Clark quote
he is as a rock a human being as can be found anywhere under the flag is a shame
to the american nation
and no one who has helped to send him to the senate who did not know that his
proper place was in the penitentiary
with a chain and a ball on his likes now he died 1925
and but his willingness
to corrupts the American
democratic and political process is alive and well today
I Sirsa just look at the Koch brothers
David Charles Koch are worth an estimated sixty eight billion dollars
and they're among the driving forces behind the corruption of our democracy
between 1998 and 2008 Koch brother control foundations
their past nine thousand dollar bills the backer they gave more than a hundred
ninety six million dollars to organizations
which favor policies that would pat the wall to these two brothers
in that same time period
Koch Industries owned by the two brothers spent $50 million dollars on
lobbying in and out eight million dollars in pac contributions
culture also behind groups like Americans for Prosperity and
FreedomWorks which both
gave and continue to give major financial support
to the cokehead Tea Party movement
and freedom partners a coke affiliated organization has doled out grants worth
over
$230 million dollars to a variety of conservative organizations
Tea Party groups in front group that oppose Obamacare
which brings us to the Keystone XL pipeline this is incredible
recently the Koch brothers have been thrown their billions of lobbyists front
groups and lawmakers who support the fossil fuel industry
and the construction Keystone pipeline they are
the fossil fuel industries largest donors to congressmen and women who sit
on the committee that oversees the Keystone XL pipeline in 2010 alone
the coax their employees give over three hundred thousand dollars to members the
House Energy and Commerce Committee
this is the committee that oversees the Kiester by
at the same time Coke Studio more the sixty million dollars over the last
fifteen years to groups that deny climate change
so why are they doing its wire they hand out money is Billy support Keystone XL
pipeline
and support America's taxes toxic addiction to fossil fuels
simple answer to play your mind
money party and lots of it according to a new report released by the
International Forum on globalization
the Koch brothers stand to make up to 100 billion dollars in profits
if the Keystone XL pipeline is approved keep in mind these two guys really worth
$68 billion this could double their net worth
the report found that the coaxing Koch Industries all up to two million acres
of land in Alberta Canada which is the proposed starting point the Keystone XL
pipeline
and many Koch Industries subsidiaries are are gonna make millions on the
pipeline's construction
including coke exploration Canada which is going to profit from oil exploration
as land cock supply and trading
which benefit from the trading oil derivatives I
they're they're looking at a hundred billion dollar when fall down the road
that's more than double their combined fortune today so surprise they're doing
everything they can to make that by Keystone
XL pipeline a reality I mean looking back just just
last week the republicans in congress tried use the Keystone XL pipeline is
leveraging the government shutdown demanding that it be approved
area perverse are we're not gonna raise the debt ceiling right
meanwhile you entire stock with the byproducts at the cokes relentless
pursuit money
and power Koch Industries is already one of the top 10 polluters in the United
States pumping millions of tons of co2 in the atmosphere each year
driving global warming and climate change and if the Keystone XL pipeline
is finished
to make things even worse synthetic crude oil from tar sands generous
three times the pollution regularly crude oil and is
very poisonous I'm just small Texas pipeline could be catastrophic
so today the goes to William A clark is alive and well
in the 400 billionaires like the Koch brothers were corrupting our political
process
on the destroying the environment poison
real shouldn't continue to let the likes of modern-day William A clark's
continue to buy of the American Brussels
and for hot and for information how to fix that but a move to amend
dot for will be