The Koch Network and Republican Party Extremism Theda Skocpol and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez
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Articles The Koch Network and Republican Party Extremism Theda Skocpol and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez Presidential election years attract attention to the rhetoric, personalities, and agendas of contending White House aspirants, but these headlines do not reflect the ongoing political shifts that will confront whoever moves into the White House in 2017. Earthquakes and erosions have remade the U.S. political terrain, reconfiguring the ground on which politicians and social groups must maneuver, and it is important to make sure that narrow and short-term analyses do not blind us to this shifting terrain. We draw from research on changes since 2000 in the organizational universes surrounding the Republican and Democratic parties to highlight a major emergent force in U.S. politics: the recently expanded “Koch network” that coordinates big money funders, idea producers, issue advocates, and innovative constituency-building efforts in an ongoing effort to pull the Republican Party and agendas of U.S. politics sharply to the right. We review the major components and evolution of the Koch network and explore how it has reshaped American politics and policy agendas, focusing especially on implications for right-tilted partisan polarization and rising economic inequality. he Republican Party has become ... ideologi- legitimacy of its political opposition.”1 This startling “T cally extreme; contemptuous of the inherited description appeared not in a broadside issued by the social and economic policy regime; scornful of Democratic National Committee but in a wonkish 2012 compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding book, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American of facts, evidence, and science; and dismissive of the Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism, co-authored by two sober-minded analysts of different personal political persuasions, Thomas Mann A list of supplementary materials provided by the authors and Norman Ornstein. Breaking from the pundit consen- precedes the references section. sus that polarization in contemporary U.S. politics must always be even-handedly blamed on “extremists” in both Theda Skocpol is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of political parties, Mann and Ornstein pointed out that Government and Sociology at Harvard University and the even though the two parties did move symmetrically Director of the Scholars Strategy Network (skocpol@fas. apart from the 1960s to the 1980s, since then continuing harvard.edu). Her current work focuses on recent trans- U.S. partisan polarization has mainly been driven by the formations in U.S. civic life, politics, and public policies. She unremitting rightward movement of the GOP. Tellingly, is currently leading a project on the shifting U.S. political this far-right lunge has not slowed in the 2000s, not even terrain. Alexander Hertel-Fernandez is an Assistant Pro- during the presidency of self-declared “compassionate fessor at the Columbia University School of International conservative” George W. Bush nor after Democrats won and Public Affairs ([email protected]). His work major electoral victories in 2006, 2008, and 2012. examines the political economy of organized interests, Traditional political science models predict that losing especially business and labor, and public policy. He has parties will move toward the middle to attract “median published research on the politics of U.S. taxes, unemploy- voters,” but that has not happened for the present-day ment insurance, health insurance, and corporate lobbying. Republican Party, whose politicians increasingly embrace The authors thank the other members of the Shifting U.S. unpopular stands and obstruct routine governing Political Terrain team for their work and discussions, functions.2 especially Angie Bautista-Chavez, Sarah James, Why has this happened? Standard wisdom blames Daniel Lynch, Jason Sclar, and Vanessa Williamson. We also current GOP extremism on unruly party base voters—on thank participants at presentations at the Southern Political Tea Partiers, or Christian conservatives, or working-class Science Association 2016 meetings, the Midwest Political nativists. In safely-conservative legislative districts and Science Association 2016 meetings, and workshops at Cornell presidential primaries dominated by base voters, GOP and Harvard for very helpful comments and feedback. stances on social issues like abortion or immigration can be doi:10.1017/S1537592716001122 © American Political Science Association 2016 September 2016 | Vol. 14/No. 3 681 Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. Harvard Library, on 17 Sep 2016 at 00:09:26, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1537592716001122 Articles | The Koch Network and Republican Party Extremism attributed to such pressures from below. But this expla- coordinates big-money funders and an integrated set of nation sheds little light on accelerating GOP economic political organizations operating to the right of the extremism. On one economic issue after another, virtually Republican Party. As we will show, the rise of the Koch all Republican politicians—including contenders for the network may help to explain the increasingly-extreme presidency and candidates for the Senate in large, diverse economic positions espoused by most GOP candidates states—have moved toward unpopular far-right positions. and officeholders. Not even conservative populist voters are demanding cutbacks or privatization of Social Security or Medicare, An Organizational Approach yet virtually all nationally prominent Republicans now Forthisanalysis,wedrawdataandfindings from push these overwhelmingly unpopular ideas.3 Americans a new research project on “The Shifting U.S. Political in general increasingly favor higher taxes on the rich, Terrain.”11 Focusing on organizations rather than simply but Republican politicians universally call for massive, on mass publics or aggregates of wealthy donors, this upward-tilted tax cuts—and such proposals have become project uses data on the founding dates, goals, budgets, more sweeping in each successive presidential contest personnel, and inter-group ties of key organizations from 2008 through 2012 to 2016.4 Large majorities of active on the right and left in U.S. national and cross- Americans, including many Republicans, favor modest state politics. The project examines both party commit- increases in the minimum wage and new social supports tees and extra-party organizations, ranging from think such as mandated paid family and sick leave, but GOPers tanks and donor organizations to advocacy and constit- in office have become increasingly dug in against all uency groups. Where wealthy funders are concerned, we such steps.5 pay especially close attention to “donor consortia”—that The rightward lunge of the GOP is undoing long- is, organizations such as the twice-yearly Koch seminars standing compromises. For decades, many Republican convened by Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce governors and legislators coexisted with public-sector on the right and the meetings held by the Democracy unions; but recently, in state after state, GOP governments Alliance on the left. A focus on such coordinated funding have abruptly taken unpopular steps to destroy unions groups, rather than just on individual donors or partic- and eliminate established collective-bargaining rights.6 ular PACs, makes sense because concerted and sustained Most voters, along with many prominent business orga- funding efforts are much more likely to have an impact nizations, favor increased government investments in on political parties and governing agendas than one-shot infrastructure, but more and more Republicans seek to donations to single-issue campaigns or to candidates unravel longstanding federal or state highway and construc- running in particular elections. tion programs.7 Finally, most Americans, including major- Information about organizational budgets and, in some ities of Republicans and GOP-leaning Independents, cases, on leadership and staffing allow us to ask and endorse many environmental protections and want carbon answer fresh questions: How have balances and relation- dioxide to be regulated as a dangerous pollutant.8 But with ships shifted between party committees and extra-party increasing unanimity, Republican politicians rail against groups; between old-line organized players and newly- climate-change reforms and seek to undercut environmental formed efforts; and between consortia of wealthy political regulations of all kinds. As Vox reporter David Roberts has donors and broad-based associations? Can we identify detailed, popular views are not sufficient to explain why the genuinely new kinds of formations that might help to U.S. Republican Party has become “the world’sonlymajor explain extreme GOP stances on economic issues? climate-denialist party,” an outlier even compared to other Drawing from our larger project, the following sections conservative political parties worldwide.9 provide an overview of recent sharp shifts in the universe Clearly, many Republican candidates and officeholders of GOP and conservative political organizations and then are responding to elite-driven forces, not just to voters. explore the structure and goals of the Koch political But in the elite realm, too, we must look beyond the usual network that has recently amassed extraordinary capaci- suspects—lobbying groups and individual big-money ties to wage policy