http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north470.html - - - A successful conspiracy is one which is so in tune with the faith and aspirations of its day that it offers to men the fulfilment of the ideals of the age. It is an illusion to believe that dangerous or successful conspiracies represent no more than a small, hidden circle of diabolical men who are manipulating the world into ruin. Such groups often exist, but they only exist and succeed because their plan and hope is closely tied to the public dream and the faith of the age. If the threat were only from small circles of hidden men, then our problem would be easy. Then, as Burton Blumert has observed, "if we only unmasked the conspiracy, all our problems would be solved, but if the trouble is in all of us, then we really are in trouble." ... If tomorrow the secrecy were stripped from all conspiracies, and their goals revealed, most people would merely say, "Well, isn't that what we all believe?" and go on with their daily lives. - - -
A friend of mine who frequents libertarian sites sent this to me today; I read it and immediately thought of our buddy Bill Arnold. It articulates my bottom line with regard to the neo-con cabal about as well as any other perspective I've read on the matter of cabals generally. I should like to point out that the Lew Rockwell folks are von Mises followers, and that IMHO von Mises is one of the key players in 20th century economic theory. He's had impact on both 'liberals' and 'conservatives'--indeed Al Gore used many of his arguments in favor of free trade generally and NAFTA in particular in his so-called debate with Ross Perot. I have a VERY deep knowledge of von Mises theory, and I view his *economic theory* as such to be practically unassailable but his *philosophy* to be way off the deep end of humanism, right along side the Marxism and socialism it so effectively debunked as economic doctrines. It is the latter that really inspires the neo-cons on economic policy (at least in theory; in practice they've fallen short of just about any and every ideal), and explains why so many of them are (supposedly) ex-socialists. For the record, I view von Mises' _philosophy_ as more of a pernicious influence than Strauss' ever could be. The cognitive dissonance between his economics and his philosophy is, btw, perfectly reflected in that of his followers (witting or unwitting) in both parties, but especially in Republicans. No, I don't think this "proves" the conspiracy (ie, that the von Mises folks would be poo-pooing conspiracy theories at the moment of their ultimate influence); I just think it makes sense. "Cabals" in the conspiracy theorist's lexicon are merely popular movements with which they disagree that have attained power via the activism of some group of dedicated zealots; they'd go nowhere without that popular support. As soon as a "cabal" they agree with attains power, they herald the obvious victory of the "little guy" -- i.e., them and their ideals. But then the other side's conspiracy theorists crank up and trumpet the impending end of the universe. - Bob _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
