Conspiracies Quotes
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
McCarthy had turned hyperbole into an art form.
This quotation is typical of the anti-government intense feeling, paranoia, and hyperbole of the early 21st century. While a minority of the American population identify with the Tea Party, the Center for a Stateless Society, and other anti-government groups. However, the orthodox members of both of the major political parties tended to avoid publicly criticizing these individuals and organizations lest they end up with an opponent in their next primary election which did not succeed in the majority of cases, but in all cases, it cost the politician a great deal of money, time, and energy to run a primary campaign which often weakens them for the general election that follows.
Ironically, until after the assassination of JFK, the United States did not have a specific crime against killing the President.
By secret societies, de Tocqueville meant societies or organizations where the membership was secret. He was not referring to organizations like the Masons which had secret oaths and rituals. Secret societies had historically been destabilizing forces in societies. At the time this was written, there were no secret societies in America, but in 1855 a major one developed—The American Party whose members were better known as “Know Nothings” as when they would be asked anything about the party and its organization of beliefs, they would claim that the knew nothing. They were virulently anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic. Subsequently, there have been secret organizations in American politics from time to time, but they have generally been few compared to other countries, and their influence was not long lasting. Most recently, quirks in legal decisions and their interaction with the Constitution have produced non profit organizations which are financed and influenced by unknown people. The major officials of the organizations are known but the members and contributors are secret. These organizations then operate campaigns, most often to attack and damage the reputation of politicians running for political office—most frequently, the Presidency.
Yale University had announced the discovery of a Norse map called the Vinland Map. It was an old Viking map that showed the East Coast of America and Canada as well as Greenland and Iceland. It purported to prove that the Vikings had been to America before Columbus. This was shocking and unbelievable to large numbers of Italian Americans many of whom lived in New York City. Most Italian Americans rejected the possibility that the map could be genuine, but there had to be a reason that it was forged. In the midst of the Cold War, there was an obvious villain and it did not take long before large numbers of people believed and repeated the headline. The quotation shows how rabid the anti-Communism of the Cold War was. The authenticity of the Vinland Map is still debated. Ironically, Columbus—the “discoverer” of America, never got to North America at all. He landed in and captured some islands in the Caribbean. The Daily News was then the largest circulation newspaper in the United States.
This quotation is particularly noteworthy as it is a classic example of a modern conspiracy theory. In this literal case, the author actually uses the word “conspiracy,”
Such as slavery in the early days of the Republic.
