Conspiracy Thinking

An acquaintance (I like to think 'friend', but we seldom agree) has recently advised me to 'stop my conspiracy thinking as we all die in the long run'. Damned hard advice to follow....for me, at least.

History, and I'm no serious history buff, seems full of conspiracy. It seems, by definition, that every time anyone seeks to gain, with the cooperation of others, that to which he is not necessarily entitled, by means of subterfuge, it qualifies as a conspiracy, particularly if it is outside the law and at expense to the welfare of a majority of the population.

Caesar seemed, by some accounts, to have earned a prominent place in Rome. Done in by a conspiracy.

Hitler would likely have had less success if his plans had been made in the open light of day. His planning required conspiracy.

More recently, the financial collapse seems to have been the brainchild of many bankers, brokers, and politicians who knew quite well that they were selling, literally, houses of cards.

With someone paying a broadcaster like Rush Limbaugh to do what amounts to preaching against the doctrines of ecology (and common sense), the continuation of national policy more in the interests of corporations than people, never-ending devotion to an oil-based economy, and the failure to notice the dangers of nuclear power, when options to all of these situations exist, even now, simply must be the result of people who conspire to gain wealth and power at the expense of humanity.

So, I ask, "Is my acquaintance really a better friend than I know? Is he saying there are no conspiracies, or is he saying it is pointless to speak out against such things because nothing, really, will ever change?"

I do know one thing. Mr Obama is not the president we elected. He is the president he conspired to be.