In 2008, the Tea Party was bankrolled to the tune of millions by Koch Industries, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, and other multinational companies. But to what end?

Their ultimate goal was to hijack the Tea Party movement in order to prop up politicians who would help deregulate their industries. The Koch brothers had been looking for a bankable political movement like the Tea Party for years.

Their initial experiments in political ventriloquism were significant but remained under wraps due to their charitable donations to social institutions and the arts. But upon the rise of the Tea Party, Jane Mayer of The New Yorker shone light on their activities and uncovered that the Koch brothers distributed $196 million to conservative causes in their own names, foundations, and through super-PACs.

But what is the purpose of all these political contributions? What kind of deregulation does Koch Industries desire, specifically? In sum, Koch Industries and others want to buy Tea Party candidates so that they may pollute, cheat tax laws, and escape liability at home and abroad.