Democracy And Its Subversion

There are those who choose to subvert democracy by using wealth and influence to amplify their voice over yours.

• Olin - John Olin, of Olin Corporation, a manufacturer of blasting powder used by fossil fuel industries and maker of DDT, now long outlawed, believed that universities taught with a strong liberal bias. Olin, having had his hand slapped by regulations designed to promote public health, spent over $60 million to seed law schools with his version of economic law. The thrust is to water down regulations that impede corporate profiteering at the expense of public and environmental health.
• Scaife - Richard Mellon Scaife controlled a number of foundations, notable was the Sarah Scaife foundation which funded organizations that supplied several dozen people to Trump for his transition and beyond. Notable associated influential big money grifters are Rebekah Mercer, Elaine Chao, Newt Gingrich and Betsy DeVos. Richard Scaife died in 2014, but the influence of the Scaife foundation continues.
• Charles Koch - Best known of the conservative big money influence peddlers, Charles, and brother David, have an embarrassingly long list of pollution and dirty process industries that built their wealth. The Koch's spread their money out in an octopus network of foundations, political action groups and gifts to universities designed to influence the formative thoughts of students, edging them closer to libertarian and conservative philosophies. The extent to which the flow and amount of money was hidden and misrepresented was incredible.
• Sheldon Adelson - Probably the envy of Donald Trump, Adelson, once the third wealthiest person (2007) in the U.S., is the founder of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation which operates a number of successful hotels and casinos. He funded the Trump inauguration committee to the tune of $5 million. Adelson pushed about $113 million into the Republican coffers for the 2018 elections. He also made contributions to pay for the legal defense of Trump aides under investigation by Robert Mueller. He is on track to contribute up to $200 million to Trump's 2020 campaign.
• Mercer Family - The Mercers have given $35 million to Republican campaigns. Robert Mercer was also effective in helping Brexit take place by providing data services that manipulated Facebook data and targeted certain members with propaganda. Mercer was THE BIGGEST donor in the 2016 election cycle, donating in excess of $13 million to various canpaigns. Robert and daughter, Rebekah, were instrumental in placing Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway in senior roles under Trump. Robert has declared the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a major mistake. He also is noted to own the country's largest collection of machine guns and historic weapons.
• Elaine Chao - Wife of senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, Elaine had a checkered reputation as the careless custodian of wage and hour law and safety in the workplace when she was Labor Secretary under George W. Bush. Various mining disasters were linked to her failure to insure mining inspectors were covering all the mines in their purview. In 2018 Chao hid 290 hours of meetings as private while she was on the clock. James, her father, is a Chinese shipping magnate. He gifted millions to Elaine and Mitch. Elaine appeared at promotional events with her father who is on the board of a Chinese state owned shipbuilder. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Transportation was seeking to cut funding for American companies. Elaine has also used her department to prevent funding for small domestic shipbuilding. Elaine also shoveled $78 million toward projects in Kentucky where husband, Mitch, is a senator. Coveniently, Donald Trump removed the department's Inspector General who was looking into these improprieties in May 2020. The IG was replaced with someone who answers to Elaine in contravention to the IG's role.
• Mitch McConnell - The senate majority leader from Kentucky, married to Elaine Chao, U.S.Transportation Secretary who directs money into Kentucky projects, has a public image as a virulent obstructionist to bills sent up from the House. Mitch plays the partisan master openly without apology. He changes his tune on application of the law depending on whether the subject is a Democrat or Republican. Mitch has funded temporary fixes for Kentucky healthcare problems while frustrating national efforts for universal healthcare. Declaring an immediate confrontation with Obama after inauguration, Mitch maintained a position that would deny Obama any progress. During the Trump impeachment trial Mitch insured that every Republican senator understood they could not convict the President. Mitch held the election funding purse strings. He initially opposed the coronavirus aid package that later passed. He subsequently stalled proposing any followup package and abandoned negotiations. At present Mitch hovers around 50% unfavorable with Americans.

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