I think I have to change my view of the Koch brothers now (podcast interview)

[ChimpBrain]

Literally nothing about this interview went the way my preconceived notions of Charles Koch would have dictated it'd go. You'd think he just finished watching Leo's Conscious Politics series before going on the air lol. Topics include self actualization, corporate corruption, social change to uplift the poor & down trodden, criminal justice reform, non-partisanship, his organization standtogether.org that gives grants to "social entrepreneurs", etc, etc.   Give it a listen and let me know what you think. I don't want to make him out to be an ultra-progressive but this interview radically changed my view of him based on what I thought I knew going into it.

 

https://tim.blog/2019/08/11/charles-koch/ 

 

Here's the "about us" section from his Stand Together site.

 

"Together, our North Star is a world where people from all walks of life knock down barriers, so everyone can realize their unique potential and contribute to the lives of others. It’s a big goal that guides everything we do.

We know we can’t achieve it on our own.

And starting today, we’re excited to announce that our philanthropic community will now be known as Stand Together. This encompasses all of our efforts to improve education, business, communities, and government policy.

In many ways, this new name already expresses who we are.

Today, we stand together with the people leading over 140 community organizations fighting poverty, more than 700 of the country’s most effective business and philanthropic leaders, over 1,000 professors at 350 universities, tens of thousands of K-12 teachers, and millions of grassroots activists across the country who wake up every day to help people improve their lives.

But this new name also marks a new chapter—and a new call to action.

We live in a period of unprecedented progress—economic, social, technological—but not everyone has shared in that progress. While many people have gotten ahead, too many people are falling behind.

Our charge is clear: we must stand together to help every person rise.

This requires that we do much more—helping social entrepreneurs increase their effectiveness by orders of magnitude. It means living by the lessons we’ve learned from our own experience, from that of our partners, and from movements throughout history that have benefitted millions of people:

Empower those closest to the problems, to help solve them.

Progress comes when millions of people get engaged: bottom up, not top down. It’s the only way.

Unite with anyone, despite our differences, to unleash the potential in everyone.

We now believe, more than ever, that this growing and diverse community of partners can help bring about a better country for everybody. We invite anyone who shares our optimism for the future and our determination to help every person rise, to join us—to Stand Together."