This year, Americans roll their eyes once again at a campaign to vilify the age-old practice of rich people spending their money to spread political messages. The attacks are mostly one-sided, with Democrats using both the campaign platform and the floor of the Senate to denounce two people in particular.

They are, of course, Charles and David Koch, billionaire philanthropists who have used some of the money they earned to advance their libertarian view of the world. Their flagship group, Americans for Prosperity (which is actually not exclusively funded by them), spent an impressive $37 million on ads to affect election outcomes in 2012.