MACHIAS – Last week I traveled to Wichita, Kan., at the invitation of the higher education arm of the Koch Foundation for an intensive seminar with 40 business and economics professors from across the country.

We met with one of the two Koch brothers, Charles, and top Koch (pronounced “coke”) managers, and discussed economic freedom and prosperity, intellectual diversity in our institutions, mutually beneficial exchange opportunities, and the ongoing targeting and demonization of the Kochs and their enterprise by the vast left-wing conspiracy.

The central theme of the three-day event was “Market-Based Management” (MBM), the corporate philosophy and culture of Koch Industries Incorporated (KII). MBM is a melding of Austrian economics, Midwestern values and entrepreneurial and technical excellence.

The results have been pretty impressive. Charles Koch has used MBM and built KII into one of the world’s largest privately held companies. KII is a producer of value and wealth and a force for freedom and prosperity.

AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS

Austrian economic policy prescriptions favor maximum economic freedom, limited government, the rule of law and respect for property rights. That in itself is enough to explain the left’s hostility to Koch.

When you add in Kochian corporate values of humility, respect and entrepreneurial and engineering excellence, progressive panic is understandable.

After listening to Mr. Koch address and interact with 40 professors and some of his top executives for almost three hours, I was most impressed.

I’d much rather be allied with the Kochs than George Soros, Jeffrey Imelt and Donald Sussman. I suspect that puts me in a decided minority within the members of the University of Maine System’s faculty and administration.

What I saw in Wichita was a large corporate presence, but not an overwhelming one. I saw entrepreneurial excellence and determination.

I saw creators of value and opportunity. I saw some of the top leadership of a company that is prospering and that has a vision for a prosperous America. No wonder the left has concluded they must be attacked.

REVELATIONS IN THE AIR

My trip included connections in Detroit and Atlanta on the way to Wichita, and Memphis and New York on the way back.

Detroit’s economic devastation and loss of population are visually evident from the air. In Memphis, the huge corporate HQ Fed Ex fleet speaks to entrepreneurial success.

The infrastructure and tremendous wealth of the country is on display from Chesapeake Bay to New York. The Manhattan skyline is no less impressive.

A large group of Marines awaiting transport was sprawled around the Bangor airport as I arrived late Saturday night. Luggage takes a long time to arrive. Rumor had it the Marines were headed to Iraq, and the luggage delay was caused by some FAA snafu.

I don’t know, but regardless, to all of them I say, “Thank you for your service.”

I should have been exhausted, but I was wide awake, happy and intellectually charged all the way down the Airline in my 1997 Ford Ranger. I had some “caffeinated Koch” along the way.

– Special to the Press Herald

 

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