20 May 2023
I am normally not a conspiracy believer. Most conspiracies are either too complicated (Bush blowing up the world trade center), have too many people involved (Watergate and the trade center), or have no reasonable reason for the assumed purpose (the trade center again).
As we speak there are three ‘conspiracies’ being perpetrated by the right (Republicans and politically right leaning people) that are worth looking at. In no hierarchical order.
One: The destruction of education
There were a few beginnings to this: one was a reaction to desegregation when southern states closed schools and opened white private schools to prevent blacks and whites mixing; another, was the rich elite forming their own schools; and religious schools, although public school’s groundwork was in Sunday schools, once the state took over education the religious content waned due to constitutional necessity where private schools can still maintain a religious bent.
Additionally, the disrespect for public schools has a beginning in the fifties and sixties. It began with desegregation. It was bolstered by the Why Johnny Can’t Read arguments in the seventies. It gained “statistical” argument with the Bush I administration No Child Left Behind policy. I remember constant arguments about how bad public schools were while in my Ed. Program in the eighties. Public schools were, and are, constantly being compared to private schools and “failing”.
The result of this was to cut funding for public schools. Everyone in my generation remembers that all school supplies were provided by the schools. The teachers were respected in society. Teacher’s salaries stagnated, they began to supplement the school supplies, they began to be disrespected in society. The voucher system has been floated off and on. This would further remove funding from public schools and add it to private schools. The purpose of education transitioned in the guise of preparing students for life but in reality, it was preparing them for capitalism—wage slavery.
The detractors then were able to use all this to perpetuate the perception that the system was falling. Now we have Florida deciding what books are allowed in schools, what topics can be talked about, eliminating anything that makes the white people look like they may not have been good all the time.
Why do this? What is the purpose? The purpose of the political rights education attacks and destruction of the institution of public schools is to create an ignorant population who turn to ‘leaders’ for all decisions. Educated and rich people have control over policy, jobs, and supply chains. One only need remember life under the robber barons of the nineteenth century—read your Dickens. Destroy support for public schools and then argue that the people are not smart enough to run things and the rich get to run the country.
Two: The destruction of the rule of law
There are two ways to control policy. The legislative way is ponderous and incomplete. A quicker way is to have the courts make rulings that are essentially legislation. The political and religious right have been complaining about this most of my life (Roe was the poster child of this). Until the Obama administration when Mitch McConnell found a way to destroy the integrity of the courts by not allowing Obama to exercise his constitutional rights under Article II Section 2 as President to appoint judges. He refused to schedule hearings for confirmation. McConnell’s hope was to create a right leaning conservative courts who would judge against liberal policies or for the policies of his donors.
Again, why do this? The right knows that they are losing the battle against progressive ideas and the liberal left. They know their policies are increasingly unpopular to the general population. Essentially two-thirds of the population disagree with their policies in general, though one-third will vote on the right regardless of policy or behavior. Elections are still close because voters simplify their reasoning; they prioritize their issues, and they vote those prioritized issues not for the general left or right philosophy (e.g., ‘It’s the economy, stupid’). The unpopularity of the right’s general ideas makes legislative methods more and more difficult, but ‘legislative judges’ require no popular opinion and thus policy change is easier.
Recently Justice Thomas has been criticized, among other supreme court judges, for receiving financial incentive to vote for a certain person’s interests. In Thomas’ case these included private school tuition for his ward and luxury trips to Italy. This is not technically illegal at the supreme court level–it certainly looks really bad. However, the Republican party will not, in fact cannot, criticize this. One of the first votes the McCarthy led republican house proposed was to do away with the ethics committee in the house. They took ten years but got the supreme court filled with right leaning justices by McConnell’s denying Obama’s constitutional right to appoint judges. They want the court to make legislative decisions, contrary to all the complaining they did when the court was middle or liberal leaning.
Most of this is about legislation but what it can also turn out to be is a great excuse to ignore the courts later. They can argue the court is corrupt and making decisions based on financial incentives or political bent even though it is their own judges doing it. The argument goes like this: If justice Thomas is getting kick backs; all judges are getting kickbacks; you need not respect judges; neither should you respect the rule of law. The fact they made the courts corrupt is never mentioned.
As a caveat: Blacks and minorities have always suffered from a corrupt and biased court system, these republican doings have just made it worse.
Three: The destruction of democracy
This is the main goal of all the above. As stated, the right knows that the majority of the population do not agree with their attitudes about humanity–that only the elite should have their way.
The right has been trying to eliminate voting for a long time. They have been doing the little things to make voting harder for minorities. A Florida law where it is illegal to provide water to those standing in line to vote is just the most blatant callous inhumane outpouring of this long-standing attitude.
Pre-civil war, Antebellum, the country had literacy laws, land requirements, gangs like the Ku Klux Klan, and traditions or rules to prevent unwanted votes—blacks and minorities. The modern version of this is specific ID laws where the ID office either costs money or is open limited hours, mid weekdays only, or only located in richer suburbs where poor and minorities could only get with great cost or by losing their jobs. Limiting poll hours, removing polling stations from poor neighborhoods to increase lines in the limited opening hours—and topping it off by not allowing water to be provided for those in line. All these are a return to antebellum control of those who vote.
The new trend, since Trump, is the idea that no election, not producing a republican winner, can be valid. Any non-Republican win must have been rigged. Proof be damned. As we speak Republican led state houses are passing laws to allow them to throw out any election result they do not like. As I understand it, they are mostly allowing legislative oversight of the person in charge of elections. If that person certifies votes that show a Democratic victory the legislature can remove them and have the votes certified the other way. Once this happens and Republicans get into office democracy in America will end. No election will ever be trusted and no Democrat, or other party, with be able to win again. If Republicans win control of congress and the white house they will enact federal law that will expand the ability to remove officials if Republicans lose an election.
The Democrats will say the election was fixed. In this case with proof. Republicans will say the last two presidential elections were rigged (without proof) and Democrats did nothing, so it is obvious Democrats are only complaining because Republicans won. The downfall of democracy increases with the police being ordered to enforce the republican win.
Conclusion
My original statement, ‘Most conspiracies are either too complicated, have too many people involved, or have no reasonable reason for the assumed purpose’ applies here. I do not believe for a second that all the people involved in these conspiracies actual have any idea what they are doing in an overall coordinated scheme, much less any personality running the show—not the Powell Memo or Donald Trump. Members of the right are being manipulated on several levels. Media, personal wants, self aggrandizement, belief in the American myth (Every man can become president) and the self-made man myth, etc.
Conspiracies, so called, are usually a bunch of disparate parts and events that get lumped together selectively to create the appearance of cohesive planning and control. The three I spoke of above fit this. People try something, it appears to work, someone else tries too. This is what has worked in voter suppression. Now most republican states have made voting more difficult. What has worked for voter suppression also worked for abortion rights. In abortion rights they began making abortion clinics struggle to meet the required business and building code specifications, they moved to eliminating clinics so poor women could not get there or had to stay several days for the anti-abortion propaganda and scare campaign required by local and state health legislation. All the time they worked to stack the supreme court to help in both purposes—curtailing the long-established rights of both.
The goal here is to tell other people how to live and think. The ultimate goal is the become the elite that makes all the decision for everyone. To control thought, to control activity, to be in power. All in the name of keeping America great. Or as MAGA puts it making it great again only means, ‘making me great’. What most of the people on the right do not understand is the political order that they are helping to create through manipulation of building codes, limiting voter and abortion rights, intimidation, violence, threats, book banning, and the destruction of education will only bite themselves in the ass. The elite, the rich white men, who are now in control of business and government are only giving themselves more control and will sacrifice the poor white people after they help them consolidate power. As Gandalf put it, “There can be only one Lord of the Rings, only one who can bend them to his will. And he does not share power!”. As I write the Congressional House Republicans are trying to cut Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps or tank the world economy. Of course, the world economy crashing does not have a great effect on the rich as they usually increase from government bailouts. This was amply demonstrated during 2007 recovery and again in the covid crisis.
Once well established rights are gone (abortion and voter rights); elections are not respected, even though caused by republican policy and propaganda; the courts are not respected at all, which has been true for centuries in America by Blacks and other minorities but is spreading as rich white men are not charged or prosecuted or get ridiculously low jail time; once education is not just disrespected by the majority but poor when given to them; chaos will ensue. Dictators offer control and answers in chaos. People forget much of the chaos is caused by the dictator’s worshipers themselves. Trump is the master of this, but this has been to motion of the Republican party since the southern strategy in 1968.
There are two items that should be read: Adam Copnik’s book A Thousand Small Sanities and The Powell Memorandum, 1971
Hark 