The Role Of Conspiracy Theory

Adam Smith is routinely referred to as the father of free market economic thought. Was Adam Smith also the father of conspiracy theory? If not, he certainly explained how natural the formation of conspiracies is a constant influence in economic issues.

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”
? Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

II the value of conspiracy theory was taught in school instead of portraying government as a like benevolent parent, citizens might take their required role of reining in government more seriously.

When a doubt is raised as to the veracity of what is being told by official sources, the doubter is deemed a conspiracy theorist. The purpose of that is to dismiss the observation as conspiracy theory. The fact is that all of collective action is comprised of multitudes of layers of of conspiracies. Independent initiatives by single actors are minuscule in number and never successful. If a person is to understand the process of government or society in general, identifying conspiracies is absolutely necessary. Not focusing on identifying ongoing conspiracies guarantees failure of all attempts to make constructive changes.

The terms conspiracy theory and conspiracy theorist are used to protect a lie. I have never heard either used in any other way.

The truth is a hard sell. Fantasy Free Economics gains readers one at a time. Major search engines simply do not list blogs which disagree with their political agenda. As long as folks share the link to this blog and others speaking out against the grain, the truth will at least trickle into the public consciousness.