THE MEN BEHIND THE CURTAIN

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”

Those lines were uttered by a frustrated Frank Morgan, as Toto pulled back the curtain revealing him frantically pulling the levers to control the booming hologram of the powerful Wizard. The Professor turned out to be a kindly old hustler who helped Dorothy return home to Kansas. But the men behind the curtain in this nation are not nearly that benign. They have many names: the power brokers; the men behind the throne; the fat cats; the robber barons; the prime movers; the owners(George Carlin); the top 1%; oligarchs. But who are they? Name names.

They are not the ultra conservative politicians in state and federal houses around the country. Nor are they the radical right radio and TV talk hosts. These demagogues are not the puppeteers but merely the puppets that are on strings that cause them to prance around the stage in a public display of feigned patriotism and fiscal integrity. We need to know who the puppeteers are ; what they do and where they live. We have a few names but only a very few. The Koch brothers down West Texas , that wonderful state that we stole from Mexico. These sinister siblings come from a powerful old Dutch family who own the second-largest privately held company by revenue in the United States. Charles was ranked 24th on Forbes World's Billionaires list of 2011 with an estimated net worth of $22 billion. We also know much about craggy old Rupert Murdoch who controls the right wing media in both England and the United States. In recent days, they are beginning to pull the curtain away from him gradually to unravel the sketchy behavior of some of his minions. He just had too much public exposure.

In an excellent article by Aerik Vondenburg in the consortium news entitled The Robber Barons Are Back, the author traces the history of an emerging Facism in American history from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama. His own words say it more eloquently than I can:

Since the Gilded Age of the 19th century, the wealthy financiers and "robber baron" industrialists have been effectively purchasing power – and creating further revenue for themselves – by directing money into the coffers of business friendly politicians, who in turn vote for lower taxes, special exemptions, tax loopholes, deregulation, etc.

But ,as I wrote in a previous post, “Who are these people”. It shouldn’t be too difficult to identify what their names are and what interests they represent. Harold Ickes, FDR’s brilliant Secretary of the Interior, initiated a campaign to go after the “superrich sixty families” whom he identified as the prime power brokers of the era. Isolating only the richest in 21^st Century society as the targets of our scorn would be a mistake. Billionaires like George Soros and Warren Buffett publicly admit that they would have no problem paying higher taxes to support the government. I doubt very much whether Mark Zuckerberg complains that he has to give out too great a percentage of his resources to support the government

We need to know the identity of those families on the Koch Brothers’ Christmas list. You know the ones who tie their sailboats together for the Fourth of July to watch the fireworks off of Shelter Island. Publish their pictures in Newsweek or Time. Tell us where they live so that we can demonstrate in front of their property Identify the industries they represent so we can boycott their products or services. Let us know who regularly wires those funds into Grover Norquist’s accounts in the Cayman’s or Switzerland.

Toto, do your job