Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> Actually, conspiratorial views of the state and elections do play a very
> similar role - albeit with different constituencies. There are ritualistic
> methods of empowerment for those who have little or no control of the
> political process.
Wojtek may be on to something here. It used to be a joke in the anti-war movement every two years that we'd have to wait until the elections were over before we could get back to serious politics. Electoral activity was a constant drain on the resources of the movement.
Wojtek is a bit too dismissive of symbolic action (or perhaps his definition of symbolic action is too broad), but the concept is useful in getting a grip on the strange attraction of both electoral activity and conspiracy theories.
Incidentally, the anti-imperialist movement would probably be better off today had the Iran-Contra "conspiracy" never been exposed. Exactly as with elections, it deflected energy and attention from the fight against the *visible* policies of capitalists and the capitalist state to a little hole-in-the-corner conspiracy. And I would agree with whoever it was that suggested that LBJ was considerably to the left of Kennedy -- though as with Bush (either one) and Clinton, the degree to which Bush is to the left of Clinton and Gore hardly makes it worthwhile to vote for him as the lesser evil.
Carrol