Right-wing billionaires buy their way into social studies classes
The Bill of Rights Institute. It’s a benign-sounding name. Every year, the Arlington, Virginia-based Bill of Rights Institute (BRI) offers curriculum workshops throughout the country, distributes teaching materials, holds essay contests for students, and displays its wares at the National Council for the Social Studies conference.
What BRI representatives fail to mention when they speak with teachers is that they have been the conduit for millions of dollars from right-wing billionaires Charles and David Koch, as the brothers seek to influence the country’s social studies curriculum. (When I attended a BRI workshop at an NCSS conference, I asked the presenter who funds their organization. “Donations,” she replied.)
With assets of more than $80 billion, the Koch brothers, who control Koch Industries, are together richer than Bill Gates. As a recent Rolling Stone exposé (“Inside the Koch Brothers’ Toxic Empire”) by investigative reporter Tim Dickinson details, the Kochs made that money largely by polluting the Earth and heating up the climate, with massive oil and gas holdings. And, through their network of far-right foundations and front groups, they lobby for policies and fund politicians in line with their free market, fossil fuel interests.
One of those front groups is the Bill of Rights Institute, launched in 1999 and funded by the Charles Koch Foundation, the Fred and Mary Koch Foundation, and David Koch. BRI directors include Mark Humphrey, Koch Industries senior vice president; Ryan Stowers, director of higher education programs at the Charles Koch Foundation; and Todd Zywicki, a senior scholar of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, funded by corporate donations from the likes of Koch and ExxonMobil. Until 2013, the BRI president was the Koch operative Tony Woodlief, who headed the Market-Based Management Institute in the Kochs’ hometown of Wichita, Kansas, and served as president of the Mercatus Center.
The BRI says it offers “engaging educational games, videos, and activities for people of all ages, and classroom lesson plans for teachers across the country.” The institute promotes free teacher seminars throughout the United States—on topics like “Being an American,” “Preserving the Bill of Rights,” and “Heroes and Villains: The Quest for Civic Virtue.” Their promotional materials boast that the BRI has offered sessions for 18,000 teachers and provided materials for another 40,000.
In its materials for teachers and students, the BRI cherry-picks the Constitution, history, and current events to hammer home its libertarian message that the owners of private property should be free to manage their wealth as they see fit. As one lesson insists:…..Click HERE TO READ MORE.
Sinnissippi IEA Tri-Regional Office 