- Many Americans are “conspiracy theorists” — and that’s good…
- All government is against liberty…
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Dear reader,
I am informed that 25% of Americans believe the recent shooting at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner was “staged.”
Over 60% of Americans believe the United States government is concealing evidence of unidentified flying objects — despite the recent release of files concerning the phenomenon.
Meantime, many Americans believe the gunman who allegedly assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk acted with external assistance.
Here I say nothing about the Kennedy assassination, the lunar landing or any other controversial incident.
The simple fact is that legions of Americans embrace “conspiracy theories” of one sort or other.
And today I reiterate my defense of the conspiracy theorist.
That is, I reiterate my defense of the man donning the tinfoil headpiece.… be he right… or be he wrong.
That is because he serves a very high purpose in American life.
Eternal Vigilance Is the Price of Liberty
As I have argued before: I rise in defense of the conspiracy theorist because he is a deeply suspicious man.
And a suspicious man is an alert man. What is more, an alert man is a superior citizen.
Did not Mr. Jefferson argue that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty?
He may have said it and he may not have said it. But if he did not say it someone else said it.
And whoever said it was a very wise fellow.
The free society must remain perpetually upon its toes… alert to threats that menace its liberties.
And who is more alert to threats than the conspiracy theorist? Who spends more time upon his toes?
The answer is no one. Hence, his inestimable value.
Only a suspicious and distrustful people will keep an eye on their government — and if necessary, get their hands on their government.
If the people take their eye off their government their government will soon have its hands on the people.
The eyes of the conspiracy theorist are perpetually glued to government.
They are not… like so many others… glued to his smartphone.
We Should All Be Suspicious of Government
Are certain conspiracy theories preposterous, debunkable and absurd?
I believe many conspiracy theories are preposterous, debunkable and absurd.
So the conspiracy theorist hallucinates. So he chases phantoms. So he connects dots that do not in fact connect.
So he is — in many instances though perhaps not all — lunatic.
Yet it makes no nevermind.
Once again, his incomparable contribution to society is his suspicion. In particular, his suspicion of government.
And what if, in certain instances at least, he is correct — that a true conspiracy exists?
Has there never in history been at least one authentic conspiracy theory?
All Government Is Against Liberty
I concede the fact that not all governments are equal brigands. Not all governments are equally contemptuous of liberty.
Yet I believe, strongly, that all government distrusts liberty. Here I cite the great Henry Louis Mencken:
- All government, of course, is against liberty…
- It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume… that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions…
- Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those that are most tolerable are arbitrary, criminal, grasping and unintelligent.
Give Government an Inch and It’ll Take a Mile
The thing described is to be constantly and eternally watched.
Cede it its proverbial inch and it will seize its literal mile.
Against this tremendous fiend the conspiracy theorist is arrayed. Against this tremendous fiend the sound citizen is arrayed.
Is government — at times — innocent of the roguery and criminality the conspiracy theorist suspects?
Perhaps at times it is. Government may not always and in every instance menace our liberties.
Yet the default assumption of a free people must be suspicion that government is always and in every instance a menace to their liberties.
What is history but a 5,000-year validation of that suspicion?
Bless the Conspiracy Theorist
Let us then lift a hymn of praise for the conspiracy theorist.
He is the prickly thorn in the government’s flesh.
Without him government would — in many instances — proceed against us unwatched, unchecked and unstopped.
The mainstream media will not track government’s movements, so he must.
A free society requires him and his dark suspicions — be they anchored in truth — or be they unanchored from truth.
For his vigilance is the price he pays for his liberty… and our liberty.
Thus I speak my piece for the conspiracy theorist.
Be he right, or be he wrong… long may he live!
Regards,
Brian Maher
for Freedom Financial News
