In what might be considered a belated April Fool's gag, the Wall Street Journal has an editorial by Charles G. Koch, CEO of Koch Industries, in which he explains why he is taking the actions he is, politically. Here's a sample:
A truly free society is based on a vision of respect for people and what they value. In a truly free society, any business that disrespects its customers will fail, and deserves to do so. The same should be true of any government that disrespects its citizens. The central belief and fatal conceit of the current administration is that you are incapable of running your own life, but those in power are capable of running it for you. This is the essence of big government and collectivism.
More than 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson warned that this could happen. "The natural progress of things," Jefferson wrote, "is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." He knew that no government could possibly run citizens' lives for the better. The more government tries to control, the greater the disaster, as shown by the current health-care debacle. Collectivists (those who stand for government control of the means of production and how people live their lives) promise heaven but deliver hell. For them, the promised end justifies the means.
To make this even more bizarre, what I see in my web browser to illustrate this editorial is a certain piece of clip art that should be very familiar to those who hang out around here - a figure waving a striped flag in shades of orange!
Go read the whole thing. If it's actually for real, it's an interesting window into the mind of one of the richest people in America. And if it's not for real, well it's a little too true to be truly funny. The link that led me to this is at the Huffington Post.
UPDATE: teacherken commented on the Koch editorial last night. Kevin Drum is amused by the WSJ choice of Clip Art. Charles P. Pierce is on target as usual. And the Great Orange Satan himself has weighed in!