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On Thu, 13 Jan 2000 14:04:22 Doug Henwood wrote:
>Charles Brown wrote:
>
>>I am just realizing that there are a whole bunch of people on this
>>list who are energetically trying to squash thinking of the normal
>>and regular operations of the U.S. government
>
>Wait a second. "Conspiracy" suggests plans concocted by a handful of
>people in complete secrecy. The policies of the U.S. government are
>the product of elite machinations, partly constrained by
>quasi-democratic procedures - but an elite that consists of corporate
>executives, financiers, ruling class intellectuals, and assorted rich
>people, often with divergent interests. And lots of it happens
>relatively openly; you can get a good idea what the state is up to by
>reading the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Foreign
>Affairs. Conspiracy theory is a vastly oversimiplified version of
>class analysis - too seamless, too insular, too secretive, too neat.
>
>Doug
>
>Doug, what about Watergate, Iran-contra, the theft of PROMIS software by the Dept. of Justice under Meese, etc. Weren't those conspiracies? Don't you think that the Watergate conspiracy was significant? If not, why not?
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