Thanks for your comments! 1980 was an interesting year--Jimmy Carter, one of the most decent men to ever set foot in the Oval Office, was seeking reelection, Ronald Reagan was persuading the have-nots that sacrificing more for the haves was actually to their benefit, Rep. John B. Anderson thought the nation was ready for a blunt, truth-speaking alternative to politics as usual and David Koch was convinced that so many Americans had embraced libertarianism that he and Ed Clark might actually throw the presidential election into the House of Representatives. He was mistaken ... and sadly, so were the majority of voters.

But you are right ... that was the year the Koch brothers decided that they were better off behind the scenes, investing in a sophisticated network of propaganda outlets, than seeking office themselves ... and 2010 was the year that they finalized their control of the G.O.P. policies that mattered to them. It was a major 'tell' that both Obama and McCain emphasized the seriousness of global warming in 2008--but the issue had disappeared on the Republican side when Romney won the nomination in 2012.

There has never been a time when humanity needed to work together, and work smarter, than we do now ... and instead, we are moving in the opposite direction.

Mahalo,

Don