" According to some historians, the Founding Fathers were moved to write the Declaration of Independence by GOUNDLESS FEARS of a British plot" Just when you think you heard it ALL. Now the Declaration of Independence was written because of Paranoid Fantasies and Conspiracy Theories. Who knows, they may either cover it up with a cloth or burn it. We wouldn't want to hurt the feelings of the BRITISH, would we? "Outsiders have always had a weakness for paranoid fantasies. Now OUR LEADERS are conspiracists, too." "America has always had a weakness for PARANOID FANTASIES. According to SOME historians, the Founding Fathers were moved to write the Declaration of Independence by GROUNDLESS FEARS of a British plot. “Conspiracy Theories in American History,” a two-volume encyclopedia, runs from “Abolitionism” to “ZOG.” (ZOG, an acronym used by survivalists, is shorthand for the “Zionist Occupied Government,” which, the encyclopedia explains, refers to an “international Jewish conspiracy to undermine U.S. sovereignty and true Christianity.”) In between are some three hundred entries, including “Black Helicopters,” “Contrails,” “Illuminati,” “Moon Landings,” “Pan Am 103,” and “Roswell.” In this context, Pizzagate and QAnon could be considered madness as usual—just two late-alphabet entries in the annals of national crankdom. But is that all there is to it? Or are deeper, darker forces at work? A confirmed conspiracist NOW OCCUPIES the WHITE HOUSE and, “no collusion” notwithstanding, there’s evidence that an international conspiracy put him there. Coincidence? To paraphrase Q, perhaps it’s time to “expand our thinking.” Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum are professors of government at, respectively, Dartmouth and Harvard. A few years ago, they found themselves, in their words, “startled into thought.” Yes, they knew, crazy ideas were a fixture of American life. But not this crazy. “The subject required more detailed and thoughtful interpretation,” the two write at the beginning of “A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/22/whats-new-about-conspiracy-theories?utm_source=pocket-newtab