The rise of complex conspiracy theories has divided our country. There is a counter narrative, known only to a select few who insist that reality can only be known when interpreted through this narrative. The result is that their choices and statements seem counterintuitive, at best, to others. Ironically, behind Q-anon, Pizza-gate, and Obama-gate is a conspiracy much simpler, more pervasive, and more powerful. Like a hall of mirrors, these conspiracies deflect from the conspiracy they serve to obscure. The conspiracy lies in the foundational idea of the Virginia School of Economics. It runs like this
1. If people like and benefit from their government they will vote in more people to do their will.
2. Politicians will do the people’s will to stay in power.
3. This will create a system that will benefit the masses and exploit the minority (that is the wealthiest one percent who will be taxed to fund the people’s programs).
4. So how do you get people to vote against policies that benefit them, and dismantle the system that protects their rights?
5. Convince them that their government is evil, coercive, and cannot be trusted. Then they will work to dismantle the very system that protects them.
The Virginia School of Economics claims it is about Public Policy, Public Choice, and Property Rights, but it is a system founded on racism and classism. It protects only the rights of the very wealthy. It arose from the same impulse that brought us the electoral college. It is the school of thought that gave rise to the Tea Party Movement. The greatest threat to this way of thinking is something that is most American, the right to vote.
Majority rule, they say, is coercion. No, it is not, we respond, that is democracy.