I've been reading Jane Mayer's "Dark Money: the hidden history of the billionaires behind the rise of the radical right" [in the USA], New York, Doubleday, 2016. The little Dutch saying just kept heaving up from my gut as I read the horror story of how some of the wealthiest elites of American society use their money effectively to dominate the USA political scene. Their "investments" impact state governments, the US Senate and House of Representatives, the Oval Office and the overall socio-political culture - especially, right wing.

Part of the reason the barbed Dutch saying kept refluxing acidly for me was because the primary operators in this Machiavellian drama were also of Dutch background - the Koch brothers, sons of Dutch immigrants, based in Kansas, made rich, in part, by buying cheap and dirty Canadian tar sands bitumen!! and profiting greatly as they sold refined products in thirsty US oil and gas markets.    

They and elite homologues of the 1% effectively use their wealth to set up networks, institutes, "charities", CPACs, and other shadowy organizations to influence Americans with their political ideology and to ensure that elections result in more voices controlled by or sympathetic to their individualist libertarian agenda.   

Canadians will not be totally surprised by this phenomenon. We too have very rich people and powerful interests using their money and connections to shape government actions. Both Liberal and Conservative Parties owe a lot to wealthy individuals and interests. [A recent issue of Tyee reports: Corporations and rich individuals quietly funnel money to Canada’s police forces, subverting, say critics, democratic control.] But in Canada the practice is happily still in the apprentice stage and has more legislated controls.

I won't redo the work of Jane Mayer in this brief blog; but I will share with you my utter abhorence of the influence and impact on democracy in the USA by the Koch-led network. By a 2014 decision of the US Supreme Court third parties like that network are now free to use their money to finance virtually any aspects of the political sphere.  

Usually the wealthy try to hide their involvement putting up camouflage to ensure their privacy and create the semblance of "grass roots" involvement in the various nefarious organization shaping the culture. Secrecy, denial, deception, and amorality are standard modes of operation in this money-driven conspiracy. The ultra-wealthy want to create and protect a benign and philanthropic image to keep the spotlight off themselves.  

Mayer has done an amazingly courageous job of "following the money" and penetrating the murky hideouts that obstruct transparency. She reports that "the top 0.04 percent of donors contributed about the same amount as the bottom 68%" in the 2012 presidential elections, according to Politico's Kenneth Vogel. (p. 314) Such disparity is a disaster for democracy. To whom will the political leaders listen?

The goal of the conspirators: to elect people committed to reduce government and to provide unfettered opportunities for the wealthy and powerful to nurture their self-interest.   

Wealth dollars fund organizations that appear to do scientific research but produce reports aiming to debunk serious science and justify the production of unhealthy and dangerous products. The aim is to grow the profitable industries and to generate more wealth for the "donors" in order to fund more control. Reducing government, lowering taxes for the already wealthy, as with Trump's tax "reform," and plundering the earth for extracting profit.   

No unions welcome in the enterprises of the wealthy because then there would be a political counter-weight to give voice to their workers. Anti-union legislation is a priority for the Network, as is, the gutting of the EPA - Environmental Protection Administration. Mayer reports (p. 275) that Koch Industries was the number one producer of toxic waste in the US, generating 950 million pounds of hazardous materials in 2012 and the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, spewing 24 million tons of CO2, according to the EPA. The fabulously wealthy care little about the environment or Creation, except when it affects their lifestyle or assets. They don't want any of their money wasted on pollution control or clean up after the enterprise has monetized the resource.

Healthy civil society is threatened by the greed of the oligarchs. Usually this self-serving agenda results in greater burden and deprivation for the "little people" - the women and men who want to make a living, but too often are forced to work in risky, dangerous, toxic, and underpaid conditions or are limited by age, disability, or other impediments. 

I will rely mainly on political economists, sociologists, and historians to draw out the consequences of this type of oligarchical regime and disparity of wealth and power in the USA. But my role here is to relate this perverse reality to the Way of Jesus and my Judaeo-Christian heritage.

Treasure is, in Jesus' wisdom, larger than money. But he also warns that whatever your treasure may be - money, self, power, even family - treasure can become the idol taking the place of the Holy. "Where your treasure is, there will you heart be as well." (Matthew 6:21) "You cannot give yourself to God and Money," because you will either hate one and love the other or be attentive to one and despise the other." (Matthew 6:24)

For sure, wealth puts one on an insecure footing with God and our companionship with Jesus. This is particularly the case as one reads the epistle of James, which softens no punches:

The point here is not that being wealthy in and of itself is breaking the divine law; rather, it has to do with how personal wealth affects who we are and what we do. If all we (individually and collectively) do with our wealth is to inflate our own ego, increase our own power, increase our greed, insulate ourselves against the poor and oppressed, try to reshape our world in our own image or by our own prejudices, then wealth has become the barrier between us and God and our neighbour.   

The Great Commandment is "love God above all and neighbour as self."  All humans have been blessed with the gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and awe for God. And when these gifts are part of our being, then the fruit of the Spirit will be evident: love, joy, peace built on justice, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

I believe God is calling the super-wealthy and all who share their faithlessness to repent, change their ways and learn the lesson Jesus died to communicate to God's entire human family: self-giving love awakens new, more faithful, hopeful, and blessed life in its fullness.