Identification Cards

Identification Cards

Many people receive got seen the thought of identification (ID) cards every bit a conspiracy against the freedom of individuals; those on the Right receive got unremarkably drawn on biblical prohesies to warn against ID cards, piece those on the Left receive got feared the introduction of increasing regime surveillance in addition to command of workers.

Opponents of mandatory or quasi-mandatory identification cards on the religious Right receive got pointed to the Bible’s alarm against the “sin of David,” whom Satan incited to bear a census in addition to whom God punished for thence “numbering” the people (1 Chronicles 21). Caesar’s all-empire registration that took Joseph in addition to Mary to Bethlehem (Luke 2) has similarly colored the sentiment of many Americans that whatever regime information collection for revenue enhancement purposes is business office of a wider conspiracy.

Likewise, the introduction of a government-assigned number inwards monastic tell to receive got upwardly a task was viewed every bit fulfillment of the biblical prophecy of the “mark of the beast” inwards Revelation 13: “no homo mightiness purchase or sell, salve he that had the mark, or the shout out of the beast, or the number of his name.” The widening job of ID numbers is said to live on mandated yesteryear international organizations such every bit the United Nations (UN) in addition to the European Community, every bit business office of the New World Order predicted inwards Daniel 7:23 in addition to Revelation 13:4–8.

The Social Security Administration’s “Enumeration at Birth” program, inwards which newborns are assigned Social Security Numbers (SSNs), is business office of a “global conception for enumeration,” mandated yesteryear the UN. New identification applied scientific discipline is seen every bit especially worrisome, amongst fears, for example, that bar codes comprise the number 666, the grade of the beast.


On the Left, the assignment of SSNs to workers inwards the 1930s produced concerns, for illustration yesteryear the United Mineworkers, of a potential employers’ “blacklist” of troublemaking laborers. However, much of the opposition to the SSN was fueled yesteryear opposition to President Roosevelt’s New Deal itself, in addition to made job of conspiratorial accusations largely every bit a rhetorical flourish.

Just earlier the 1936 election, Republican presidential candidate Alf Landon asked rhetorically if millions of Americans would at 1 time live on fingerprinted in addition to photographed in addition to “opened for federal snooping.” The Hearst newspapers asked, “Do y'all desire a tag in addition to a number inwards the shout out of simulated security?” in addition to spread the rumor that all workers would live on required to article of apparel Canis familiaris tags displaying the SSN.

Although the fears in addition to conspiracy theories that met the introduction of the SSN tin at 1 time appear farfetched, it is nevertheless the illustration that the numbers receive got give-up the ghost all-purpose identifiers, despite assurances at the time, in addition to fears well-nigh the erosion of freedom in addition to privacy are non unfounded.

However, the U.S.A. does non receive got a national ID carte du jour every bit other countries do. The most-commonly checked regime IDs are the driver’s licenses issued yesteryear the 50 states, but less than xx per centum of the population has a U.S. passport. More than 7,000 dissimilar jurisdictions number all fashion of nascence certificates, which are the “breeder documents” upon which other IDs are based.

Proponents of universal ID cards outset from the observation that the U.S.A. already has a de facto national ID card, inwards the shape of driver’s licenses, in addition to a national ID number, inwards the shape of the SSN. In the wake of the terrorist assail on September 11, for example, advocates for a national ID carte du jour argued that the existing scheme had to live on made to a greater extent than robust yesteryear combining the existing cards into one.

In a similar vein, opponents of national ID cards propose that the electrical current scattered scheme is but the slippery gradient to the introduction of a national ID. These skeptics assert that, because totalitarian systems rely on ID cards (Nazi Germany’s IBMsupplied ID system, the Soviet internal passport, in addition to apartheid South Africa’s locomote yesteryear scheme beingness primal examples), ID cards themselves stand upwardly for the sparse border of the wedge of a Big Brother terra firma apparatus, which could live on introduced yesteryear stealth in addition to inwards a piecemeal fashion, via modest technological improvements in addition to policy changes.

Mainstream civil liberties in addition to privacy advocates such every bit the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, in addition to the Privacy Foundation hit non run into whatever conspiracy inwards this, although slippery-slope arguments tin sometimes play the same role every bit conspiracy theory inwards viewing together what would otherwise live on unrelated, disparate events. Sometimes privacy advocates volition employ the hint of conspiracy to simplify the presentation of what is actually an declaration well-nigh incremental, technological determinism.

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 rather dissimilar grouping of ID opponents does run into a literal conspiracy. In U.S. history at that spot is a longstanding populist, right-wing fearfulness of the encroachment of “big government” into the life of the average American, in addition to ID cards are often seen every bit business office of a larger conspiracy of the federal regime (and the so-called New World Order) to command the private life of citizens. Members of the Patriot movement, inwards groups such every bit the Militia of Montana in addition to the Posse Comitatus, receive got attempted to rescind or revoke their ain driver’s licenses or SSNs, inwards a procedure called “asseveration.”

For example, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols had at 1 indicate attempted to dorsum out of a $20,000 debt yesteryear attempting to repudiate his U.S. citzenship; he destroyed his driver’s license, passport, in addition to voter registration card. Similar ID-revocation techniques receive got been used inwards attempts to avoid child-support payments, dorsum taxes, gun registration, seatbelt laws, speed limits, in addition to similar infringements on “sovereign” citizens.

These groups depict ID cards every bit business office of a conspiracy to claw citizens into rejecting their “sovereign” status. Even the ZIP code is feared every bit a shape of “adhesion contract” to nullify sovereignty. The thought of ID cards every bit an antisovereign conspiracy is by in addition to large employed every bit business office of a strategy for avoiding taxes or other fiscal burdens, although this sort of revenue enhancement avoidance has been universally unsuccessful.

There is, however, a thriving line of piece of work organisation inwards running seminars on the subject, at which attendees mightiness pay several hundred dollars to instruct the appropriate paperwork, addition the powerfulness to themselves concur similar seminars, forming a sort of multilevel-marketing receive for the anti-ID carte du jour conspiracy theory.

In the U.S.A. “liberty” is often a code give-and-take for guns, in addition to fifty-fifty fairly mainstream opponents of gun registration sometimes run into ID cards every bit business office of a much larger pattern, inwards which “fascist” regime agencies such every bit the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, in addition to Firearms (BATF) is targeting gun owners in addition to the “politically incorrect.” The Brady Bill requires that ID such every bit a driver’s license live on shown in addition to checked against a federal database every bit business office of a handgun sale, which has led the gun foyer to equate registration in addition to ID cards amongst gun control.

New forms of applied scientific discipline provoke similar responses from opponents of identification cards. “Smart” cards, which tin ship several megabytes of data, are ofttimes described every bit the adjacent pace inwards bringing well-nigh one-world regime tracking of all persons; the job of such smart cards on armed forces bases has been described every bit a airplane pilot projection to displace the entire civilian population to a trackable, cashless society.

Biometrics such every bit facial recognition, in addition to location tracking via GPS (Global Positioning Satellite), are seen every bit business office of the same plan. The adjacent pace is implantable ID, such every bit the Digital Angel in addition to Verichip products from Applied Digital Solutions. The religious Right banking concern notation that these products inwards business office fulfill the pattern specification of Revelation 13:16 that speaks of “a grade inwards their right hand, or inwards their foreheads.”

Timothy McVeigh, the Oklohoma bomber, spoke of the the world forces implanting a reckoner fighting inwards his buttocks during the Gulf War, but to a greater extent than mainstream commentators at 1 time banking concern notation that such technology is becoming to a greater extent than likely. For the conspiracyminded, high-tech ID systems are seen every bit systems non only for identification, but for heed control.

Attempted U.S. Takeover Of Hawaii

Attempted U.S. Takeover of Hawaii

The U.S. political in addition to economical agenda to dominate Hawaii accelerated inwards 1867–1868. Due to the high tariffs levied yesteryear the the States on imported Hawaiian sugar, both countries sought closer economical ties. Two options were existence considered to better relations.

On an official level, negotiations for a Reciprocity Treaty were nether agency betwixt Charles Coffin Harris, the envoy representing King Kamehameha V’s government, in addition to General Edward Moody McCook, the old U.S. consul to Hawaii.

Yet, a simultaneous force for annexation was besides gaining back upward amid disgruntled U.S. residents. One catalyst that contributed to the worsening relations was the navy’s conclusion to dispatch the USS Lackawanna to Hawaii, where shipping in addition to crew were nether orders to rest permanently.


Screening this deployment of troops equally a reply to a threat of French aggression, the the States insisted that the shipping was at that spot solely to protect U.S. interests in addition to its citizens. Arriving on ix Feb 1867, the Lackawanna anchored inwards Honolulu Harbor, in addition to its presence posed a serious challenge to the independence of the Hawaiian kingdom.

If the U.S. had been sensitive to the delicate relations betwixt the 2 countries, the navy would get got no uncertainty express the duration of the orders, or at to the lowest degree sent about other captain. William Reynolds, the captain of the Lackawanna, was persona non grata inwards Hawaii. He had been stationed inwards the islands betwixt 1852 in addition to 1861 in addition to had earned the reputation of existence an annexationist.

His furnish to Honolulu at the helm of a fully manned vessel of state of war amongst instructions to rest at that spot indefinitely was motility for concern, peculiarly since many resident Americans equally good equally the direction of President Andrew Johnson favored annexation over reciprocity. U.S. expansionist plans inwards the Pacific percentage became evident inwards the summertime of 1867 when Reynolds sailed the Lackawanna due west in addition to on 28 August claimed Midway Island.

In early on 1868, George W. Lendeveg disclosed that a conspiracy to get got over Hawaii was inwards the works. As captain’s clerk, Lendeveg was privy to classified documents equally good equally the individual writings in addition to personal correspondence of Reynolds.

Motivated yesteryear the ask to discovery a fiscal solution to his ain personal problems, Lendeveg broke his oath of allegiance to the U.S. Navy when he drafted a missive of the alphabet to the manful soul monarch inwards which he promised to furnish information that would seek Reynolds was plotting against the monarch. Lendeveg pledged loyalty to Kamehameha in addition to offered his services equally a spy to uncover the machinations of the conspirators; however, he made it clear that he expected to live on rewarded for his operate inwards saving the kingdom.

Alarmed at the extent of the conspiratorial network, Lendeveg counseled the manful soul monarch that fifty-fifty his most intimate advisors were non to live on trusted in addition to insisted on delivering the bear witness inwards person. Since the futurity of the field mightiness live on at stake, a ministerial-level interview amongst Attorney General Stephen H. Phillips was arranged.

Unsatisfied that his tale of subterfuge had been adequately addressed at this coming together amongst the king’s intermediaries, Lendeveg wrote about other missive of the alphabet alert that the crisis was at hand. Arguing that urgency was paramount if the kingdom was to live on saved, Lendeveg revealed the names of those who had been beguiled yesteryear Reynolds in addition to were instantly recommending revolution in addition to annexation yesteryear the United States.

After evaluating the bear witness Lendeveg had stolen from Captain Reynolds, Charles de Varigny, the government minister of unusual affairs, informed Washington of Lendeveg’s treasonous activities in addition to forwarded copies of the 2 seditious letters to Secretary of State William Seward.

Even though the Reciprocity Treaty was ratified yesteryear the Hawaiian Legislature, it was rejected yesteryear the U.S. Senate. The setback halted all progress on a closer economical spousal human relationship at this time. What virtually the threat of annexation? Hawaii had failed to gain the much-coveted elimination of tariffs on its saccharide exports, only its diplomatic maneuvering preserved the nation’s independence.

Official disclosure of Lendeveg’s treachery made the conspiracy to annex the islands world knowledge, in addition to this prevented Reynolds in addition to the U.S. regime from moving unilaterally. On half dozen May 1868, the Lackawanna departed Honolulu in addition to sailed for San Francisco. Once there, George Lendeveg was court-martialed in addition to sentenced to fines in addition to 10 years’ difficult labor. The judgement was after reduced yesteryear Rear Admiral H. K. Thatcher in addition to later commuted yesteryear the attorney general.

Theft of individual correspondences in addition to official documents, which may get got exposed a U.S.backed plot to incite revolution inwards a sovereign state, in addition to the handing over of those documents to a unusual regime are treasonous activities, yet Lendeveg’s penalisation for these actions was expunged. By exonerating Lendeveg, the the States cleansed itself of all involvement inwards a conspiracy that, now, officially never existed.

Freemasonry

Freemasonry

Claims close the Freemasons’ far-reaching influence as well as subversive aims have got played a component division inward about of America’s most enduring conspiracy theories. The Order of Free as well as Accepted Masons, an all-male fraternal organization, has had chapters on the North American continent since the 1730s, as well as has featured prominently inward U.S. conspiracy thinking since the belatedly eighteenth century.

Conspiracy theory close the Freemasons points to the semisecretive nature of the scheme as well as the acknowledged political involvement of many of its members to back upward the allegation that the Freemasons are an extremely powerful as well as wealthy cabal of antireligious subversives who have got infiltrated trouble concern as well as authorities structures worldwide.

Historical Origins

The history of Freemasonry tin live hard to trace, inward component division because many of the sources available are markedly biased. Masonic historians claim that exclusively Freemasons, who have got been initiated into the secrets of the order, tin accurately write its history as well as accuse that non-Masonic scholars are ofttimes swayed past times anti-Masonic sentiment.

Conversely, those who oculus conspiracy theories on Masonry struggle that Freemasons have got participated inward massive cover-ups of their ain activities, which brand the trouble of the “truth-seeking” historian arduous, if non perilous.


Both Masonic historians as well as many anti-Masonic conspiracy theorists assert that the roots of the monastic enjoin engagement dorsum to antiquity, though most third-party historians dispute this claim. The craftsmen’s guild on which the present-day fraternal society was based can, indeed, live traced dorsum to the medieval era.

Some of the fraternal society’s characteristic features, such every bit its ritual initiation as well as hugger-mugger signs of membership, tin also live accounted for past times the nature of masonry every bit a profession; members sought to protect their condition past times developing elaborate forms as well as rituals to ascertain eligibility as well as proclaim membership, as well as since masons tended to live itinerant laborers, they created signs, such every bit the muchtouted “secret handshake,” inward monastic enjoin to assure recognition of guild membership.

The mythology embraced past times Masonic tradition, however, reaches dorsum to a greater extent than than 5,000 years to encompass the architect of Solomon’s Temple, Hiram, who is said to have got been murdered because he would non let on the secrets of Masonry. Some historians also link the Freemasons to the Knights Templar, a crusading monastic monastic enjoin outlawed past times the papacy inward the fourteenth century.

While pro-Masonic historians tend to elaborate a long history of anti-Masonic persecution, conspiracy thinkers reckon inward the same narrative a history of hugger-mugger conspiratorial plots that occasionally come upward to light, but that have got never been fully exposed or interrupted.

Freemasonry step

Notwithstanding these competitor accounts of Freemasonry’s past, most historians exterior the debate empathize the fraternal monastic enjoin of Freemasons to have got emerged inward United Kingdom of Great Britain as well as Northern Ireland inward the early on eighteenth century.

These historians distinguish “nonoperative” or “speculative” Freemasonry every bit a fraternal monastic enjoin whose component division is primarily social, from the much older craftsmen’s guild that served professional person functions as well as which they term “operative” Masonry. “Nonoperative” Masons were attracted to the guild past times its combination of rationalist/scientific query as well as deep abide by for tradition as well as fellowship.

Eventually, every bit the guild scheme died out as well as every bit “speculative” membership grew, the scheme came nether the leadership of the nonoperatives as well as was transformed into the modern order. Membership of the Freemasons grew speedily inward the eighteenth century; the scheme spread across Europe as well as into the North American colonies, alongside the offset American lodges forming shortly after 1730.

Conspiratorial Accusations inward the Eighteenth Century

The offset century of Freemasonry saw explosive growth inward the popularity of the monastic enjoin on both the European as well as North American continents, fueled past times widespread involvement inward the Enlightenment ideas upon which the monastic enjoin based its cardinal tenets and, especially on the American continent, past times the perceived social advantages of membership.

As membership grew, as well as then did world suspicion of the order. As early on every bit the 1720s, charges of immorality as well as lewdness were levied against the Freemasons. Since the proceedings of Masonic gatherings were secret, nonmembers could non uncovering out what the organization really did during their meetings as well as dinners.

Critics claimed that Masons habitually overindulged inward alcohol, as well as many also insisted that the all-male meetings were footling to a greater extent than than majority orgies, at which sodomy as well as ritual flagellation were practiced. These complaints did not, inward themselves, amount to charges of conspiracy, although afterward conspiracy theories adapted as well as reiterated them.

The earliest joint of Freemasonry every bit a conspiracy came from the Roman Catholic Church, which claimed that the monastic enjoin intended to undermine the Church as well as its teachings. The Church’s organized opposition to Freemasonry began inward 1738, inward the shape of a papal bull issued past times Clement XII, which condemned Freemasonry as well as excommunicated all Masons. Numerous other bulls issued inward the next decades denounced the secretive practices of the monastic enjoin as well as declared it an enemy of Christianity.

Masonic chapters were also intermittently defendant of political conspiracy inward Europe. During the 1730s as well as 1740s, Masonic meetings were interrupted as well as fifty-fifty banned, as well as members of lodges were interrogated past times law inward Holland, France, as well as elsewhere, every bit nation forces came to suspect the scheme of subversive political aims as well as antiroyalist beliefs.

The Enlightenment ideals of religious pluralism as well as private freedom embraced past times the scheme increased church building as well as nation suspicion of Freemasonry inward the eighteenth century; it was argued that the conspiratorial actions of the grouping were exactly the logical extension of its radical philosophies.

Conspiracy thinking close Freemasonry on the American continent drew upon all of these charges, though early on American Freemasons tended to live the target of mockery to a greater extent than than of sustained investigation. In the offset one-half of the eighteenth century, American Masonic lodges, to a greater extent than often than non less concerned alongside Enlightenment thought than many European lodges, functioned primarily every bit social clubs.

Following the pattern set past times British lodges, they often rejected membership applications from individuals who did non brand an “independent” living, excluding a sizeable part of the colonial middle classes. After 1750, many of those rejected began to ready their ain Masonic lodges, known every bit “Ancient” Freemasons.

Members of these lodges were strongly inclined to the colonial cause, spell members of the older lodges (dubbed “Moderns” past times the “Ancients”) often tended to loyalism, though neither grouping took an official stance. Nevertheless, the Masonic affiliation of many key players during the American Revolution led the monastic enjoin to seat itself, inward the post-Revolutionary period, alongside the substance values of the novel Republic.

At the 1793 dedication of the U.S. Capitol, for instance, President George Washington wore Masonic garb as well as performed a modified Masonic ritual during the ceremony, assisted past times other Masonic brethren; a silvery plate set over the cornerstone located the dedication inward the 13th twelvemonth of American independence as well as the 5,793rd twelvemonth of Masonic history.

Conspiracy thinkers also indicate to the incorporation of Masonic symbolism inward the pattern of the Great Seal of the U.S.A. every bit proof that Freemasonic influence on authorities was pervasive inward this period; however, Freemasons deny that the all-seeing oculus atop the pyramid is a specifically Masonic symbol, although it resembles about pattern elements used past times Masons.

Even every bit Earth profile of U.S. Freemasonry improved inward the 1790s, the offset major moving ridge of conspiracy thinking close Masonry was cresting inward Europe. John Robison’s exposé, Proofs of a Conspiracy against All Religions as well as Governments of Europe, published inward 1798, set the blame for the French Revolution on the Freemasons, who, he claimed, had been thoroughly infiltrated as well as corrupted past times a supposedly atheistic hugger-mugger society known every bit the Illuminati, which was founded past times Adam Weishaupt, a Jesuit priest, inward 1776.

Weishaupt became a Freemason inward 1777 as well as believed that Freemasonry could assist him to spread Illuminati beliefs, which were based on Enlightenment thought. Those who raised the alert over the Illuminati charged that the extent to which they had infiltrated as well as transformed Masonry was unknown. Robison’s piece of employment raised an alert inward the United States.

Congregationalist government minister as well as Federalist supporter Jedidiah Morse was amidst those who publicly denounced the conspiracy, which he represented every bit a grave threat to the immature republic. Others, such every bit Timothy Dwight, president of Yale University, joined inward the growing alarm. Morse insisted he did non hateful to condemn all Freemasons; rather, he insisted, it was exclusively “Illuminized Masonry” that he meant to warn against.

Morse, a Federalist, claimed that the conspirators planned to brand inroads onto the American continent through the Jeffersonian party. Other Federalists took upward the charges, as well as fifty-fifty Masonic blood brother George Washington admitted to concern over the unsafe presence of “Illuminized Masonry” inward the United States.

Anti-Federalists denied links to hugger-mugger societies as well as responded alongside conspiracy charges of their own, such every bit Abraham Bishop, who, inward Proofs of a Conspiracy against Christianity, as well as the Government of the U.S.A. (1802), charged Robison alongside royalist sympathies as well as defendant his supporters of seeking to undermine U.S. democracy.

“Illuminized” Masonry remains a cardinal subject inward present-day conspiracy theory close the Freemasons, but the Federalist-era disceptation did non tarnish the icon of Freemasonry amidst most members of the post-Revolutionary middle as well as elite classes. On the contrary, the upper levels of U.S. society, as well as those who aspired to bring together them, were increasingly drawn to Freemasonry.

The rigid identification of the monastic enjoin alongside key American values enhanced Freemasonry’s popularity inward the post-Revolutionary United States; fifty-fifty to a greater extent than importantly, the monastic enjoin served increasingly useful networking functions inward a acre that was actively rebuilding its ain political as well as social infrastructure. Masonic membership was associated alongside condition as well as power; accordingly, those seeking condition as well as ability also sought to travel Masons.

Anti-Masonic Movement

The identification of the Masonic monastic enjoin alongside the nation’s most powerful as well as influential citizens drew increasing suspicion inward the offset component division of the nineteenth century, culminating inward the offset national anti-Masonic motion inward the belatedly 1820s as well as early on 1830s.

In contrast to the alert raised inward the wake of Robison’s book, which, for the most part, confined itself to members of the clergy as well as authorities officials, the anti-Masonic motion of this menstruation was a truly populist movement.

The motion was touched off past times the abduction as well as suspected murder of William Morgan, who was inward the procedure of publishing an exposé of Freemasonry, inward 1826. When his abductors received low-cal sentences, many charged that a cover-up was inward process.

The reformist motion that developed inward the wake of the Morgan thing claimed that Freemasons were anti-Christian as well as antidemocratic, that they deliberately sought ability as well as conspired to elevate the social seat of Masons, as well as that, if unchecked, their growth would have got disastrous consequences for the immature nation.

They supported this claim past times pointing out that hugger-mugger societies were on the rise; for instance, a Massachusetts congregationalist, the Reverend Peter Sanborn, argued inward 1829 that a hugger-mugger alliance existed betwixt Freemasons as well as Phi Beta Kappa. Noting that upward to a tertiary of college-educated men were yearly inducted into the hugger-mugger accolade society, Sanborn argued that a subversive plot supported past times educated youth as well as well-placed older Masons would destroy the nation. In response, inward 1831 Phi Beta Kappa abandoned its hugger-mugger practices.

The anti-Masonic motion also argued that Freemasonry undermined spousal human relationship past times forcing husbands to maintain secrets from wives, who were non allowed to have got component division inward Masonic proceedings. Women, alienated past times the all-male order, joined the anti-Masonic motion inward meaning numbers.

Suspicion of Masonic practices led to the formation of an Anti-Masonic Party, the offset major independent U.S. tertiary party, inward 1827. The political party held its offset national convention inward 1830 as well as inward 1832 ran a candidate for president against the Masonic incumbent, Andrew Jackson. After 1833, the political party withdrew every bit an active forcefulness inward national politics, focusing on nation as well as local-level campaigns. The motion continued to decline inward the belatedly 1830s as well as the political party had disbanded past times 1843.

During the years of the anti-Masonic crusade as well as its aftermath, national membership inward the Freemasons declined significantly, as well as the menstruation saw the formation of a number of competitor fraternal organizations such every bit the Odd Fellows. However, past times the 1850s, Masonic membership was over again on the rise. During this decade as well as especially after the Civil War, the Freemasons reformed their reputation as well as regained much of their old prestige.

Changes inward the organization’s self-presentation implicitly addressed about of the charges of conspiracy thinkers; the novel Masonry professed Christianity, refuting claims that they sought to undermine organized religion, as well as countered claims of self-interest as well as greed past times actively promoting charity. Masons also responded to the long-standing objections to the all-male nature of the society past times forming a woman somebody order, the Order of the Eastern Star, inward 1869.

In 1867, the National Christian Association revived conspiracy charges against the Masons; their crusade led to the presidential candidacy of General John Wolcott Phelps on an anti-Masonic platform inward 1880. Phelps performed real poorly inward the polls, receiving exclusively a few hundred votes. After this campaign, anti-Masonic groups avoided electoral politics. Conspiracy charges against the Freemasons, however, travel on until the introduce day.

Conspiracy theory close the Freemasons to a greater extent than often than non does non straight engage the legacy of the Prince Hall Freemasons, an African American Masonic scheme founded inward Boston inward 1775. The African American lodge received its charter from the British Grand Lodge during the American Revolution; after the Revolution, other U.S. lodges refused to recognize the group, ostensibly on the grounds that it was non “regular” because it had been chartered past times a unusual power.

Racist as well as segregationist catch amidst many members of the Freemasons, especially inward southern lodges, prevented their recognition of the Prince Hall order; this nonrecognition lasted inward many cases until the 1990s. Prince Hall Masonry is rarely charged alongside the form of far-reaching influence as well as subversive aims of Freemasonry inward general; many conspiracy theories produce non fifty-fifty bring upward its existence.

The Present

Christian conspiracy theorists inward detail travel on to struggle that the group’s agenda is both antiChristian as well as antidemocratic. Late twentieth- as well as early on twenty-first-century conspiracy theorists reckon Freemasons every bit the key to the New World Order conspiracy. Others allege that the grouping is satanic, that it worships a goat-headed Luciferian god known every bit Baphomet, as well as that it is actively involved inward plots to covert upward UFO discoveries.

Freemasonry has been tapped every bit component division of the conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy, as well as also plays a key role inward conspiracy thinking close the Oklahoma City bombing and, to a greater extent than recently, the bombings of the World Trade Center as well as Pentagon on September 11.

In add-on to forming the oculus of many conspiracy theories, Freemasonry, every bit ane of the oldest U.S. conspiracy theories, also acts every bit an index of thinking close conspiracy. Anti-Masonic catch inward full general as well as the anti-Masonic political motion inward detail have got been cited past times mid-twentiethcentury political theorists every bit a key instance of the “paranoid style” inward U.S. politics.

These scholars struggle that such large-scale suspicion of the Freemasons, a harmless fraternal organization, reflected U.S. xenophobia as well as anxiety. More recently, about populist historians of the menstruation have got suggested that, inward fact, many Masons did possess a groovy bargain of influence as well as often used it nepotistically, if non conspiratorially.

Since the post-Revolutionary era saw a concentration of ability as well as wealth amidst the U.S. upper classes, they observe, antebellum anxiety close Masonry reflected non paranoid suspicion but a well-founded as well as legitimate concern over the unequal distribution of wealth as well as ability inward the republic.

Federal Reserve System

Federal Reserve System

It was a conspiracy theorists’ dream come upwards true: a grouping of wealthy bankers, supported past times academics as well as politicians, skulking off to a secluded isle to concoct a consummate transformation of the U.S. banking system. The coming together inwards Nov 1910 on Jekyll Island, Georgia, which established the pattern for the Federal Reserve System, played to long-held Populist fears of “Eastern Money Interests,” Jews, as well as large banks. When the programme was presented to Congress, it effectively increased the potency of the federal government—at least, indirectly—over the nation’s banking system.

Ever since concerns nigh “foreign interests” inwards the First as well as Second Banks of the United States, about Americans had viewed banks suspiciously. Writers such every bit William Gouge as well as politicians such every bit Thomas Hart “Old Bullion” Benton advocated a metallic element criterion of aureate as well as silvery money only. These “hard money” proponents supported Andrew Jackson’s “war” on the Bank of the US as well as distrusted all forms of newspaper money.

Although “hard money” advocates were inwards the minority inwards most states, they appealed to farmers as well as laborers who distrusted moneyed elites. After the Civil War, ironically, this same distrust evidenced itself inwards a demand for newspaper money (“Greenbackism”) and/or for coinage of silver, a seat best associated with William Jennings Bryan.


By the tardily 1800s, however, although most Americans were satisfied with the nature of the banking system, they realized that of import weaknesses existed. The banking organization was non sufficiently “elastic,” pregnant that it could non expand or contract the money provide when economical weather condition changed.

Another occupation concern for those familiar with the financial sector was that inwards several panics—1873, 1893, as well as 1907—a unmarried banker, J. P. Morgan, had stepped inwards with a consortium of bankers to rescue the system. After the 1907 panic, fifty-fifty Morgan admitted that whatever hereafter banking concern runs mightiness live beyond his powerfulness to contain.

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 serial of commissions as well as studies past times the American Bankers Association as well as the federal authorities produced a number of recommendations, most notably the demand for a fundamental banking concern as well as nationwide interstate branch banking. (Many states did non permit intrastate branch banking, as well as interstate branch banking was viewed every bit illegal, although no limited challenges to interstate banking had occurred.)

Virtually all of these studies concluded that whatever reforms inwards the banking organization would require a powerful national banking concern capable of acting every bit a “lender of final resort” as well as tasked with providing liquidity to the banking organization every bit a whole to permit for greater “elasticity.”

An unstated, but widely held, destination of many of the reformers was also to bound or bring down the powerfulness of the New York banks, such every bit National City Bank, J. P. Morgan, as well as Kuhn, Loeb, as well as Company. Despite the fact that Morgan himself as well as most of the officers of National City were Protestants, a widely held suspicion existed inwards the rural US that the New York banks were dominated past times Jews. (The presence of Paul Warburg of Kuhn, Loeb with the Jekyll Island grouping of “conspirators” reinforced the fright of “powerful New York Jews.”)

Federal reserve building

Whether many Americans indeed feared a Jewish chemical factor inwards the “money power” or not, a pop innovation was that banks inwards New York wielded inordinate power. Thus, the reformers’ plans also involved dissimilar strategies for minimizing the influence of the New York banks.

By 1913, the US had what is termed a “dual banking” organization consisting of state-chartered banks (which could non number money), as well as national banks, chartered past times the federal government, which could number banknotes. The comptroller of the currency had potency over all national banks, piece nation authorities (bank examiners as well as such) supervised the nation banks. There was no fundamental banking concern or “lender of final resort,” or whatever national origin of credit expansion.

Following J. P. Morgan’s formation of a consortium of banks to bail out the banking organization during the panic of 1907, concerns arose over the “consolidation” of banking power, particularly inwards New York. Congressman Arsene Pujo’s House Banking as well as Currency Committee, which convened inwards 1911, investigated Morgan as well as First National’s George F. Baker, as well as concluded that New York banks controlled far to a greater extent than financial assets than they truly owned through diverse investments, interlocking directorates, as well as trust companies. New York, Pujo claimed, controlled 43 per centum of the money inwards the United States.

When the Jekyll Island coming together took place, all of these concerns played upon the reforms to which the participants agreed. The fundamental individuals who drafted the reason of the Federal Reserve Bank organization were Senator Nelson Aldrich (head of the National Monetary Commission); Henry P. Davison of J. P. Morgan; Charles D. Norton of First National Bank; Paul Warburg of Kuhn, Loeb; as well as Colonel Edward House (one of President Woodrow Wilson’s closest advisors).

Not solely was this a little group, but conspiracy-minded people could betoken to the fact that Warburg was Jewish, or that House had connections to London banks as well as that he had written a futuristic novel Philip Dru, Administrator, a story inwards which Marxist socialism triumphed. Worse, the coming together took house inwards secret. Aldrich, especially, was concerned that if a programme was non drafted inwards secret, “special interest” lobbyists would nitpick it to death.

Aldrich’s presence convinced about that John D. Rockefeller was manipulating the meeting. Morgan, according to i conspiracy view, was a “Rockefeller stooge”—an astonishing claim nigh i of the richest men inwards the world. Morgan controlled the Fed nib through Aldrich, his “floor broker inwards the Senate”.

Rockefeller as well as so used the Fed, according to this view, to “bankroll” the Bolshevik Revolution inwards Russia, manipulate stock prices through inflation, as well as force the agenda of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) as well as Trilateral Commission inwards afterwards years.

There is no query with historians that the Jekyll Island coming together resulted inwards the essence of the Federal Reserve Act, introduced past times Congressman Carter Glass of Virginia, chairman of the House Committee on Banking. Far from beingness drafted inwards secrecy, the Federal Reserve Act was debated extensively as well as was subjected to much compromise earlier beingness passed overwhelmingly past times the House (298 to 60) as well as the Senate (43 to 25).

Under the act, twelve Federal Reserve District Banks were established inwards dissimilar regions across the United States. Each of these banks was a corporation owned past times the fellow member banks inwards its district, as well as piece all national banks had to live members, nation banks were non required to bring together the Federal Reserve System.

Member banks had to house six per centum of their uppercase as well as surplus inwards the district bank. One of the important factors of the human activeness was the location of the district banks: New York, of course, had one, every bit did Philadelphia as well as Boston.

But Minneapolis, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland, as well as Richmond all had district banks, as well as the nation of Missouri—the pump of the Midwest—had ii (St. Louis as well as Kansas City). Clearly, Congress had gone out of its agency to dilute the “money power” of New York.

Any district banking concern could human activeness to halt runs past times providing emergency cash from its vaults, as well as inwards theory, if i entire district was inwards trouble, other districts would come upwards to its aid. The “elasticity” work was addressed through the Fed’s manipulation of discount rates to lend money to fellow member banks to either expand, or contract, credit.

In reality, though, New York retained its powerfulness through its overall influence, its dominant leadership, as well as its connections to corporate America. Congress intended that a Federal Reserve Board of Governors should live instituted, made upwards of v members appointed past times the president as well as confirmed past times the Senate, every bit good every bit the comptroller as well as the secretarial assistant of the Treasury.

The Banking Act of 1935 changed this past times moving key decisions to the Federal Open Market Committee, composed of 7 members of the Board of Governors as well as v of the twelve district banking concern presidents, including the New York president.

The Federal Reserve Act was established on the supposition that the nation’s money provide would rest tied to gold, as well as so its open-market activities were e'er balanced with an oculus toward the aureate stockpiles. When the stock marketplace crashed inwards 1929, many contended that the Federal Reserve had encouraged the stock marketplace “boom” past times providing “easy credit.”

Subsequent inquiry has shown that if anything the Fed failed to expand the money provide inwards proportion to the rapid growth inwards the industrial sector, as well as that a irksome but destructive deflation had occurred. After 1930, the Federal Reserve engaged inwards a deliberate massive credit contraction that helped plunge the nation into the Great Depression, silent nether the supposition that the Great Bull Market had resulted from “loose money.”

The contraction also ensued, however, because every bit other nations left the aureate standard, as well as every bit the aureate backing of U.S. banks eroded, depositors withdrew funds at an alarming rate. President Franklin Roosevelt took the US off the aureate standard, stabilizing the banks. But his prohibition of private aureate ownership inwards 1934 was viewed every bit percentage of the conspiracy to house all financial powerfulness inwards the hands of the Federal Reserve System.

The entire aureate criterion disceptation pits a number of conspiracy theories against i another. For example, if the Bank of England sought command over the U.S. economy, it mightiness receive got attempted to weaken the economic scheme past times leaving the aureate standard. With the US left every bit the solely nation inwards the the world whose currency was silent tied to gold, U.S. aureate reserves would receive got flooded out, as well as U.S. banks would receive got collapsed—as nearly happened.

On the other hand, the solution, as well as the path taken past times Franklin Roosevelt, was to secure the banking system’s aureate asset base of operations past times prohibiting private aureate ownership, except for jewelers as well as dentists. Yet this is viewed past times other conspiracy theorists every bit bear witness of Roosevelt’s programme to centralize the economic scheme as well as brand citizens dependent on worthless newspaper money.

In fact, solely a perfectly coordinated international conspiracy, assisted past times the deliberate actions of totalitarian states that hated each other—Germany as well as the Soviet Union—could receive got mayhap manipulated such events. Not solely would the Bank of England as well as the Federal Reserve System receive got needed to operate inwards unison, but so would the Bank of France, the Reichsbank, as well as virtually every other fundamental banking concern inwards the world, all coordinating vastly dissimilar command-and-control structures, governance systems, as well as national goals.

Over these conspiracies, i tin give the sack stretch yet about other layer, namely that of “international Jewry,” which was manipulating economical developments to its ain ends, about inwards concert with, as well as about antithetical to scenarios involving the British or a Roosevelt dictatorship.

Since World War II, about receive got been convinced that the Federal Reserve’s open-market activities were designed to ensure that those presidents favored past times the Fed maintained their office, as well as those who displeased the Fed lost theirs. Despite the Fed’s supposed independent status, many struggle that it has conveniently lowered rates to back upwards the economic scheme of leaders to whom it was favorably disposed.

Yet i of the most despised presidents of modern times, Bill Clinton (whom conspiracists receive got defendant of beingness a “Trilateralist as well as Bilderberger”), witnessed multiple interest-rate hikes past times the Fed during his two-term presidency. Thus, either he had no command over the Fed, or the Fed was working inwards direct opposition to the ends of the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as the Bilderberger group.

In the post–World War II era, the Bretton Woods understanding pegged unusual currencies to the dollar, as well as although the dollar was legally required to live convertible into gold, it was nevertheless pegged to aureate inwards price. That organization collapsed inwards 1968 after consistent federal budget deficits made it impossible for the dollar to grip its value. After that, the world’s currencies entered a to a greater extent than competitive era inwards which they “floated,” or competed, against each other.

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 to a greater extent than consistent criticism of the Federal Reserve is that it has virtually eliminated aureate as well as silvery coinage, supposedly inwards violation of the Constitution. With all newspaper money inwards the command of the federal government, the economic scheme would live at the mercy of either the White House or the Fed, as well as individuals would move slaves to “fiat money.” For to a greater extent than than ii decades after the Great Depression, the prohibition against asset aureate remained inwards place, but inwards the early on 1970s, the authorities in i lawsuit once again allowed individuals to purchase as well as sell aureate coins.

Although the value of Canadian Maple Leafs as well as other pop aureate coins fluctuated wildly with the cost hikes inwards stone oil emanating from OPEC, inwards the 1980s the Fed’s anti-inflation policies nearly eliminated whatever premium on gold. For the side past times side xx years, aureate hovered steadily at historically depression prices, causing consternation with those who pointed to aureate every bit a key indicator of government-generated inflation.

If anything, the Fed has consistently lost command of the banking organization as well as seen its influence over the economic scheme weakened. The appearance of electronic funds transfers as well as high-speed satellite transmissions made data on financial markets available anywhere inwards the world, instantaneously.

No authorities could shroud weaknesses inwards its monetary or financial policy for to a greater extent than than a few hours. Meanwhile, the speed of banking transactions brought the United States— as well as the world—increasingly closer to competitive money, if non inwards actual newspaper form, at to the lowest degree inwards electronic cast as well as inwards credit/debit bill of fare substitutes.

Executive Word Review

Executive Intelligence Review

Executive Intelligence Review is a weekly newsmagazine published yesteryear the Lyndon LaRouche organization. LaRouche, the magazine’s contributing editor, published articles in addition to “exposés” that contributed to the evolution of his conspiracy theories involving Jewish politicians, international bankers, the British regal family, in addition to drug dealing. The editors of the Executive Intelligence Review too published books in addition to shorter monographs on a diverseness of topics yesteryear expanding articles originally published inwards the magazine.

The mag emerged out of Lyndon LaRouche’s 1971 innovation to prepare a worldwide intelligence operation. He proposed that the functioning live on organized similar a major national intelligence weekly. The New Solidarity International Press Service (NSIPS) was incorporated yesteryear 3 LaRouche followers inwards 1974.

As a intelligence service, LaRouche’s intelligence operatives used journalistic embrace consummate alongside press passes to gain access to authorities officials. Executive Intelligence Review was created equally coin flowed into the operations of the NSIPS.

During the Ford in addition to Carter administrations, Executive Intelligence Review operatives gained White House press accreditation in addition to participated inwards a issue of presidential press conferences. The intelligence service too opened bureaus inwards capitals some the world. By 1979, Executive Intelligence Review was producing virtually $4 billion inwards revenue—not surprisingly, since the annual subscription charge per unit of measurement was nearly $400.


Many of the articles that seem inwards Executive Intelligence Review were expanded into books. One of the to a greater extent than famous books was Dope, Inc.: the Book that Drove Henry Kissinger Crazy (1992). In this book, the editors exposed what they saw equally the existent aims of the U.S.A. government’s “war on drugs.”

According to the book, “the kingpins of the U.S. branch of the drug cartel, led yesteryear Henry Kissinger in addition to the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith launched a years-long sweat to quiet the authors [of an before edition], starting alongside LaRouche, who was railroaded to federal prison theatre inwards belatedly 1988.” President George H. W. Bush kept LaRouche inwards prison, according to the book, because LaRouche was virtually to expose the complicity of the federal authorities inwards the drug trade.

In The Ugly Truth virtually the ADL, the editors of Executive Intelligence Review exposed the Anti-Defamation League equally “one of the most unsafe organizations inwards the world.” The mass portrays the ADL equally a spy organization supplying intelligence information to unusual governments. It cites the 1994 San Francisco spy scandal equally an lawsuit of the utilisation played yesteryear the ADL inwards spying on the United States.

At the halt of 1993 it was revealed that an ADL operative inwards San Francisco, Roy Bullock, collected in addition to traded information inwards a covert spy network involving the San Francisco police, some xx other California police line departments, in addition to police line departments exterior of California. Over 30 years Bullock compiled a huge computerized information banking concern including files on closed to 1,000 groups in addition to 10,000 individuals.

Bullock provided information to the FBI in addition to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, in addition to Firearms, in addition to sold information on antiapartheid activists to both South African agents in addition to the ADL. The Ugly Truth too linked the ADL to organized criminal offence yesteryear connecting contributions from reputed gangster Meyer Lansky to the Anti-Defamation League.

Despite the connector to Lyndon LaRouche, the Executive Intelligence Review received some attending from the mainstream press. In 1988, Nelson Benton, a reporter for the magazine, asked President Ronald Reagan virtually the fitness of Democratic Party nominee Michael Dukakis to live on main executive of the United States. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 rumor had been circulating for some fourth dimension that Dukakis twice underwent psychiatric handling inwards the 1970s.

President Reagan answered the question, thence allowing the rumor to gain additional credence. Jeffrey Steinberg, a senior reporter for Executive Intelligence Review, appeared on British television set inwards 1998 to acquaint the theory that Prince Philip ordered British intelligence to assassinate Princess Diana. The latter incident indicated how much the British regal menage unit of measurement was a target of the LaRouche network.

Executive Intelligence Review regularly reported that Queen Elizabeth ran an international cocaine smuggling cartel in addition to that Italian banker Roberto Calvi was murdered yesteryear the Duke of Kent. The Executive Intelligence Review too claimed that the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was a get-go strike inwards a British endeavor to possess got over the U.S.A. alongside the eventual destination of footing domination.

Western Saharan War

The Spanish withdrawal from the Saharan region

Spain ruled the western Saharan region known as Río de Oro as part of its colonial empire. The region was sparsely populated by mostly Sunni Muslim nomadic peoples of mixed Berber and Arab ancestry who were Arabic speaking.

The region contained some of the world’s richest phosphate mines but was otherwise desperately poor. In the early 1970s the Polisario Front (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia al Hamra and Río de Oro) initiated an armed nationalist struggle for independence from Spain.

After the death of Francisco Franco, a committed imperialist, the new Spanish government granted the territory independence in 1975. Although the United Nations declared that the Sahrawi should have self-determination, Morocco and Mauritania both immediately claimed the territory. King Hassan II of Morocco launched the "Green March" of over 300,000 unarmed Moroccans to march into the territory and incorporate it into Morocco.


Because of its rivalry with Morocco as well as its desire for access to a port on the Atlantic Ocean, Algeria supported the Polisario, supplying it with arms and assistance. The Polisario proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in 1976. Recognized by some 70 nations, SADR became a full-fledged member of the African Union.

The war between the Polisario, Morocco, and Mauritania lasted from 1975 to 1984. The Polisario was able to defeat Mauritania, which withdrew its claims in 1979, but it was largely defeated by Morocco, which obtained arms from the United States.

Moroccan troops moved into the northern sector of the territory and occupied the huge phosphate mines at Bu Craa. The war and Moroccan occupation resulted in the displacement of over 200,000 Sahrawi, who continue to live in refugee camps in surrounding regions to the present day.

Polisaro front

By the early 1980s Morocco controlled the majority of the territory, and SADR administered the remainder as liberated territory. To protect its holdings, Morocco built a 380-mile earth wall studded with electronic sensors and antipersonnel radar provided by the United States. The wall effectively enclosed the Moroccan-held sections of Western Sahara.

The United Nations called for a referendum, for the people to vote for independence or for union with Morocco. The Polisario supported the referendum, but Morocco moved in settlers, who probably now outnumber the indigenous Sahrawis, to the territory it held.

Morocco argued that the settlers, presumably all in favor of union, should be allowed to vote in the proposed referendum. Not surprisingly, SADR and its supporters strongly rejected Morocco’s claim.

Saharan transportation

Both the United Nations and the United States attempted to mediate but failed to break the impasse. It appeared that Morocco would refuse any referendum until it could guarantee a victory in the election.

An estimated 160,000 Moroccan soldiers continued to occupy the territory, which had a population of some 267,000 Sahrawi people. In 1983 King Hassan II negotiated an agreement with Algeria, which then halted its support for the Polisario, although many Sahrawis remained refugees in Algeria and other neighboring countries.

After Hassan’s death in 1999 his son King Muhammad VI announced his desire for a resolution to the problem, but he also opposed holding a referendum on independence.

In 2005 riots by supporters of the referendum in Moroccan-held territory broke out; Moroccan forces quickly quelled the riots and repressed SADR supporters. Hence one of the longest liberation struggles in the contemporary kala continued to be unresolved.

Encryption

Encryption

Encryption, which derives from the Greek give-and-take “kriptos,” refers to the concealment of information through the conversion of obviously text into ciphered or encoded text. So pervasive is this ancient facial expression of secrecy that encryption powerfulness live read as the physical manifestation of conspiracy inwards language.

From the courtroom conspiracies of the Middle Ages to the footing of mutual depression temperature state of war espionage, countless conspiracies together with conspiracy theories convey been based on the encoding or decoding of encrypted messages. The earliest illustration of encryption tin live traced dorsum to 1,900 B.C. when unconventional hieroglyphics were found on the tomb of Khumhotop II inwards the house of to a greater extent than touchstone inscriptions.

While their intent was non to brand the message secret, precisely rather to obscure its pregnant together with therefore attract the attending of passersby, it all the same stands as i of the maiden of all known examples of codemaking.


The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana catalogs encryption (or, “secret writing” together with “secret talking”) as the forty-fourth together with forty-fifth of the sixty-four arts, along alongside others such as meditation, cooking, together with bookbinding. Other examples include cuneiform tablets inwards ancient Mesopotamia together with the atbash zilch of the Old Testament. Yet it was non until the mid-ninth century that cryptography developed into an actual science.

Arab scholars produced influential treatises together with studies of the subject, together with invented the as of import dependent area of cryptanalysis (the decipherment of encrypted messages) primarily through methods of frequency analysis. This legacy tin silent live identified inwards the give-and-take “cipher,” which originates from the Standard Arabic sifr, or “zero.”

One of the earliest together with simplest methods of encryption is the commutation cipher. This scheme is credited to Julius Caesar together with employs an alphabet inwards which plaintext letters are replaced past times the tertiary missive of the alphabet that follows inwards the alphabet; therefore Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 becomes D, B travel E, together with and then on.

The closely related transposition method involves the rearrangement of plaintext letters inwards a give-and-take or a sentence, creating a form of anagram. More often, the transposition method relies on a preestablished key possessed past times both the sender together with receiver of the message, such as a parallel listing of plaintext together with ciphertext alphabets.

Closely allied to encryption, together with oft used inwards conjunction alongside it, is the exercise of steganography (from the Greek give-and-take for “covered writing”). Steganography, which according to Herodotus is at to the lowest degree as one-time as 440 B.C., refers to the hush-hush transmission of a message.

In classical times this powerfulness hateful using invisible inks, such as milk or urine, or fifty-fifty going as far as tattooing a message on the caput of a slave together with allowing his or her pilus to grow back. In modern times, messages convey been photographed together with reduced to the size of microdots, electronically embedded inwards ikon files, together with placed inwards obviously stance on the Internet.

Since its beginnings, encryption has emerged as i of the key necessities of statecraft. Its utilization inwards political affairs became good established inwards the Western footing inwards the seventeenth century when dark chambers were established past times nations across Europe.

The dark chambers, such as France’s Cabinet Noir together with Vienna’s Geheime Kabinets-Kanzlei, operated as hush-hush rooms where messages betwixt diplomats together with other regime personnel were intercepted together with cryptanalyzed, earlier proceeding through the postal service to their addressees.

In France, Cardinal Richelieu recognized the value of decrypting the messages of unusual powers, together with alongside the assistance of Antoine Rossignol (and subsequently his son, Bonaventure), began developing novel methods of cryptanalysis, fifty-fifty inventing the Great Cipher (“le chiffre indéchiffrable”) of Louis XIV.

Encryption has proved no less of import inwards the twentieth century, having had far-reaching effects inwards both the Machiavellian intrigues of political life together with inwards wartime. One of the most famous episodes inwards the history of encryption together with cryptanalysis occurred during World War II, inwards which codebreakers at Bletchley Park, notably Alan Turing, cracked the German linguistic communication Enigma code past times developing on the operate of Polish mathematician Marian Rejewski.

The powerfulness of the Allied forces to decipher all German linguistic communication communications enabled them to protect transportation lanes, monitor troop movements, together with ameliorate coordinate attacks, ending the state of war far sooner than if they had been unable to scissure the code. The other famous codebreaking machine to emerge from the operate at Bletchley was Colussus, which was used to interruption the German linguistic communication Lorenz cipher, together with subsequently became the forebear of the modern computer.

In recent times, in that location has been no shortage of regime attempts to command the spread of rigid encryption, peculiarly after the conception of Public Key Encryption past times Whitfield Diffie. Of item depository fiscal establishment complaint is Phil Zimmerman’s populace key encryption programme PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) which was posted to a Usenet bulletin board as freeware inwards June 1991 together with has since spread across the globe.

Zimmerman wrote together with released PGP inwards 1991 inwards social club to preclude Senate Bill 266, an anticrime nib that would convey forced the manufacturers of communications devices using encryption to install dorsum doors through which the regime could easily read all correspondence. The distinction of PGP is that it allows individuals alongside conventional abode computers to transportation RSA-encrypted messages via e-mail that are effectively impossible for tidings organizations to decode.

By September 1993, Zimmerman was existence investigated past times the San José Office of U.S. customs for the illegal “export” of his program, a illustration that was finally dropped. Since the U.S. Department of State classified encryption technologies as “munitions,” to live regulated nether the Arms Export Control Tax, Zimmerman was considered an illegal arms exporter.

The eventual furor created past times the publish of PGP together with the investigation of Zimmerman brought the number into populace awareness similar never before. On i side, in that location existed an unlikely wedlock of civil libertarians, privacy advocates, together with large concern (concerned almost corporate safety together with the protection of Internet transactions).

On the other side, the regime together with safety agencies argued that they would live unable to read the communications of drug cartels together with terrorists, thereby hampering their investigation together with prosecution of criminals.

Various compromises convey been proposed past times the U.S. government, such as key escrow, inwards which all private encryption keys are held past times a neutral tertiary political party together with relinquished to constabulary enforcement bodies inwards criminal investigations, yet it has non had broad back upward together with the number of regime controls on encryption remains largely undecided.

Although rigid encryption has inwards recent years entered the populace domain, the National Security Agency (NSA) is silent largely responsible for its evolution together with control. The NSA has stood at the forefront of cryptanalytical scientific discipline for the lastly one-half century together with has played a purpose inwards almost every encryption-related number since its inception.

Established inwards 1952 past times the presidential directive of Harry S. Truman, the NSA began its life as the Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA), eventually expanding to travel larger than the CIA. For many years, its call did non look on whatever governmental documentation together with its budget remains a thing of peachy secrecy.

Though the NSA is inwards i feel a modern-day dark chamber, it is also the largest information gathering together with cryptanalytical trunk history has e'er seen, administering the ECHELON program, employing to a greater extent than mathematicians than whatever organisation inwards the world, together with cryptanalyzing both domestic together with international communications for utilization past times U.S. tidings together with constabulary enforcement agencies.

There is also around evidence that it has been involved inwards industrial espionage past times passing on information to U.S. companies inwards social club to win lucrative international contracts. Unsurprisingly, modern conspiracy theories, novels, together with films such as Sneakers (1992), Mercury Rising (1998), together with Enemy of the State (1998) convey cited it, rather than the CIA, as the newly definitive enemy of the people.

Drugs

Drugs

Apart from the possibility that the excessive utilisation of for sure drugs tin brand the user paranoid, illicit drugs conduct hold been at the pump of a number of conspiracy theories over the yesteryear century. One cluster of conspiracy theories surrounds the utilisation of opiates, together with some other focuses on marijuana.

Opiates

Opiates—opium, morphine, together with heroin—have figured largely inward drug conspiracies. One of the earliest conspiracy theories surrounding opiates inward the U.S. concerned Chinese immigrants on the West Coast. When Chinese immigrants began arriving inward the U.S. to a greater extent than or less 1870, their habit of smoking opium drew condemnation.

Chinese laborers, derogatorily called “coolies,” were essential to the completion of the showtime transcontinental railroad, but when economical depression beset the reason inward the belatedly nineteenth century, white fears of task competition, combined amongst Chinese opium smoking, led to repression of the Chinese population.


Nativism, xenophobia, together with the conviction that opium smoking posed a threat to U.S. club helped Pb to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigration to the United States. Other repression came inward the shape of local together with province laws that targeted Chinese Americans, equally good equally harassment yesteryear native-born whites, especially on the West Coast. In 1875 a San Francisco City ordinance banned opium smoking.

Stories of Chinese immigrants who lured white females into prostitution, along amongst media depictions of the Chinese equally depraved together with unclean, bolstered the enactment of anti-opium laws inward xi states betwixt 1877 together with 1900. On the federal level, inward 1909 President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Opium Exclusion Act, which forbade the importation of smoking opium.

Although no fully formed conspiracy theory emerged amidst anti-opium advocates, yesteryear the plow of the century the association betwixt Chinese immigrants, opium, together with societal decay illustrated the widespread belief that opium smoking (or the consumption of whatever psychoactive centre for nonmedical purposes) threatened to erode the Anglo-Saxon race’s might to propagate itself. Put some other way, during the Social Darwinist–infused days of the belatedly nineteenth together with early on twentieth centuries, drug addiction amidst white Americans was idea to termination inward racial suicide.

More delineated conspiracy theories concerning opiates materialized during together with afterward World War II. Propagating numerous drug conspiracies was Harry J. Anslinger, who served equally commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) from 1930 to 1962. Anslinger had an imposing physical appearance: somber-faced, bald, thick-chested, together with square-jawed, he resembled a cross betwixt Benito Mussolini together with the infamous British satanist Aleister Crowley (Sloman, xi).

As caput of the FBN, Anslinger dominated U.S. drug policy for 30 years, during which fourth dimension he maintained the link betwixt foreigners together with drugs, brought a high degree of bureaucratic monastic tell to federal drug policy, embarked upon a effort to demonize together with limit marijuana, melded antinarcotics policy amongst U.S. unusual policy together with safety issues, together with sought repressive measures to bargain amongst addicts together with dealers.

During World War II Anslinger charged the Japanese amongst conspiring to spread narcotics addiction throughout the West, remarking that a drugsodden patch could offering petty resistance to an invading Japanese military.

The Japanese were flooding Communist People's Republic of China amongst narcotics during the state of war but no prove corroborated their supposed programme to foment addiction inward the United States. Similarly, inward the early on mutual frigidness state of war years, Anslinger unrelentingly maintained that heroin addiction was role of Communist China’s programme for subversion inward the United States.

Lacking whatever proof of such a conspiracy, Anslinger withal fostered stories together with images of syringe-wielding Chinese soldiers poised to conduct hold over the gratis world together with outlined the details of the Chinese Communist Party’s heroin conspiracy inward his 1953 majority The Traffic inward Narcotics.

Anslinger’s conspiracy theories demonstrated the link betwixt federal drug policy together with national safety issues, which is to say that the FBN’s claims were inward line amongst America’s anticommunist mission inward Asia. The commissioner never recanted his accusations together with his claims persisted into the 1970s.

In a reversal of Anslinger’s claims, 2 other drug conspiracies emerged during the mutual frigidness war, which charged the U.S. government, non unusual nations, amongst spreading narcotics addiction together with using drugs for undemocratic purposes.

One conspiracy theory defendant the CIA, from the 1950s through the 1980s, of willingly allying itself amongst narcotics (opium, morphine, together with heroin) traffickers inward Burma, Thailand, Laos, Afghanistan, together with Islamic Republic of Pakistan equally role of the agency’s anticommunist crusade inward Asia.

By supplying these unsavory elements amongst funds, equipment, together with intelligence, the CIA provided a zone of protection to a greater extent than or less drug lords together with blocked investigations of their clients’ drug running. Ultimately, the CIA contributed to the global narcotics merchandise yesteryear sanctioning their allies’ involvement.

Researchers, such equally Alfred W. McCoy, conduct hold unearthed prove corroborating the link betwixt the CIA together with narcotics traffickers inward Asia but deny the existence of a full-blown conspiracy inward which the CIA intended to foster trafficking together with addiction internationally, including Europe together with the United States.

Rather, the CIA’s short-term destination of using narcotics traffickers equally self-sustaining paramilitary forces during the mutual frigidness state of war blinded the way from foreseeing the long-term increase inward the region’s drug merchandise afterward the U.S. authorities no longer needed its clients’ services. In essence, the CIA, narrowly focused on anticommunism, deemed its clients’ expanded drug trafficking abilities equally entirely “fallout” from overriding mutual frigidness state of war concerns.

For instance, when narcotics produced yesteryear CIA allies supplied U.S. addicts—as inward the instance of U.S. soldiers inward Vietnam using heroin trafficked yesteryear South Vietnamese, Laotian, together with Thai officials—the CIA, jump yesteryear law to provide intelligence on drug trafficking, illegally prevented investigations of Southeast Asian officials. Damning facts such equally these conduct hold lent the air of conspiracy to the CIA’s human relationship to the international drug trade.

Another drug conspiracy leveled at the U.S. authorities involved the Nixon administration’s drug policy together with the White House’s reorganization of federal drug enforcement agencies. In the early on 1970s President Nixon launched his “war on drugs” inward response to a burgeoning heroin epidemic inward the United States.

Like Harry J. Anslinger, Nixon cast blame on unusual nations for America’s addiction problem. Nixon favored the utilisation of federal drug command agencies equally the response to the country’s supposedly growing rates of drug abuse.

Part of Nixon’s solution entailed the creation of the Office of National Narcotics Intelligence (ONNI), Office for Drug Abuse together with Law Enforcement (ODALE), together with Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which replaced the Bureau of Narcotics together with Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), the FBN’s successor agency. The executive branch oversaw these agencies together with critics defendant the president of using them for purposes non related to drug control.

Specifically, skeptics argued that Nixon manufactured a drug scare that distracted the U.S. populace together with Congress together with allowed the direction to practise White House– controlled federal agencies that were used for surveillance together with harassment of political enemies, non apprehending drug dealers.

Critics charged ODALE together with ONNI equally beingness petty to a greater extent than than a White House soul constabulary force. ODALE, housed inward the Justice Department, was authorized to comport no-knock search warrants together with warrantless raids, equally good equally to utilisation court-ordered wiretaps. Such an way had the capacity to human activeness higher upwards the law together with did on occasions. Indeed, telephone substitution figures inward the Watergate scandal—G. Gordon Liddy, Egil Krogh, E. Howard Hunt, together with Lucein Conein— were all involved inward federal drug command agencies.

Liddy developed the creation of ODALE. Conein, a CIA agent, evidently developed a special assassination force—ostensibly aimed at major drug traffickers—within the DEA afterward that organization’s creation inward mid-1973. Krogh served equally deputy assistant for the president for law enforcement together with helped gear upwards the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP), which established federal methadone clinics.

Interestingly, the federal methadone clinics—aimed at helping heroin addicts— drew criticism from African Americans equally a ploy to maintain inner-city populations addicted to difficult drugs. In the end, the Plumbers, drawn from the Nixon administration’s drug command apparatus, together with the resulting Watergate scandal derailed Nixon’s cry for for unchecked executive power.

Marijuana

Like the opiates, conspiracy theories formed to a greater extent than or less marijuana, a drug outlawed inward 1937 yesteryear the Marijuana Tax Act. Similar to the Chinese immigrants’ negative association amongst opium smoking, marijuana was linked to some other stereotyped immigrant group, Mexicans.

During the showtime few decades of the 1900s local together with province restrictions on marijuana, especially inward the West together with Southwest, were established equally the drug was purported to get smokers to commit crimes. Tales of stoned Mexicans who craved violence together with were immune to hurting were common. Throughout the showtime one-half of the 1930s Anslinger resisted calls for federal legislation banning marijuana, believing that the states could best command the matter.

But yesteryear 1936 Anslinger reversed course of report together with embarked on a effort inward which he showtime stated that he had underestimated the marijuana threat together with and therefore proceeded to describe the weed equally worse than heroin, together with the harbinger of decease together with discord. Drug policy scholars conduct hold attributed Anslinger’s turnaround to his sharp concern for bureaucratic survival—he used the marijuana number to justify his together with the FBN’s existence.

According to this line of thinking, Anslinger did non practise a marijuana scare; he joined ane already inward progress together with bolstered it to best of his might amongst lurid testimony at congressional hearings together with inward paper together with magazine articles. Anslinger’s article “Marijuana: Assassin of Youth,” which appeared inward the July 1937 edition of American Magazine, was a prime number illustration of FBN antimarijuana propaganda.

The article, equally did well-nigh of Anslinger’s marijuana horror stories together with other sensationalized accounts similar the Hollywood celluloid Reefer Madness, involved American youths together with linked the drug amongst serious crimes (such equally murder, rape, together with mutilation), insanity, promiscuity, together with full general immorality.

For Anslinger, the consequences of inhaling the killer weed ranged from patricide together with fratricide—as the commissioner oftentimes recounted inward the instance of a Florida youth—to the possibility that a user would plow into a “philosopher, a joyous reveler inward a musical heaven,” a contestation that linked marijuana together with jazz music (Anslinger 1937, 150). The outcome of all the scare tactics together with misinformation was the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, which initially curtailed hemp production, but ultimately served equally the footing for criminalizing marijuana users.

Countering Anslinger’s persuasion of marijuana equally a generator of offense together with decease is the conspiracy theory best articulated yesteryear Jack Herer inward Hemp together with the Marijuana Conspiracy: The Emperor Wears No Clothes. According to Herer, bureaucratic survival was non at the pump of Anslinger’s antimarijuana campaign. Rather, Anslinger’s role inward demonizing marijuana stemmed from his participation inward a concerted essay yesteryear powerful economical interests to postage out contest from the hemp industry.

Specifically, Anslinger, the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (DuPont), work organisation magnate Andrew Mellon, together with the media giant William Randolph Hearst worked paw inward paw to forestall a growing hemp manufacture from offering cellulosebased products, such equally paper (and potentially textiles together with plastics), from competing amongst DuPont’s products. By the 1930s DuPont had developed patents for producing paper from woods pulp together with likewise had plans to brand plastics from fossil oil products.

Andrew W. Mellon, secretarial assistant of the treasury together with possessor of the Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh, which was ane of entirely 2 banks DuPont dealt with, appointed his time to come son-in-law to caput upwards the newly created FBN inward Dec 1930. Anslinger’s solar daytime of the month to the FBN, housed inward the Treasury Department, tied him to Mellon’s together with DuPont’s fiscal interests, which included stunting a hemp manufacture that had grown over the 1920s together with 1930s.

The Hearst paper syndicate, the nation’s largest, was likewise tied economically to the woodpaper industry. Moreover, Hearst, known for his disdain of jazz music, Mexicans, together with African Americans, readily published antimarijuana tracts that seat his newspapers inward line amongst the federal government.

Ultimately, all of these actors constituted a conspiracy orchestrated to brand hemp illegal. According to this theory, the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, far from outlawing a supposedly murderous drug, was inward fact legislation designed to farther DuPont’s fiscal fortune.