Conspiracy Theories

Real and Imagined

It is impossible to pause on September 11th to remember the fallen innocents and recall the personal feelings as the horror unfolded, without also seeing actual pictures again and again, of those buildings imploding, crashing down in thunder, endless billows of toxic smoke rolling heavenward with the souls of thousands within.

And with the pictures of the almost symmetrical collapse of those twin skyscrapers come the doubts and websites and words of the thousands, perhaps millions, who sincerely believe the story of how they fell is a lie…a lie that confronts the reality of architecture, engineering and physics.

Could two buildings of that size and engineering implode from airplane strikes and the heat of airplane fuel? Could that be true when all of the facts say ‘impossible’? Can we look at those buildings dropping straight down and not see them looking exactly like the televised implosions of buildings that must be destroyed to be replaced? When seen in super, super slow motion isn’t there visual evidence of little puffs of explosions taking place floor by floor as the buildings collapse?

We call the answers to these questions conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories exist on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; the bombing of Pearl Harbor; the Gulf of Tonkin incident that led to a great expansion of the Vietnam War. They do not stop. They will not stop. Years from now someone or something will reveal the essential truths – even if the presently accepted explanations are true.

Most of us do not question, do not bother to consider.

But other explanations exist.

And it is with that understanding that we look at politics in New York – and America and consider the possibilities.

NEW YORK AND THE MAYORAL RACE
A year from now we will be in the middle of a Mayoral election. There will be a lot more noise and TV commercials and social media posts then there are now in the Presidential race…though the essentially New York contestants stop occasionally to use the media outlets.

So next year it will be Mayor Bill DeBlasio taking on candidates who feel that he does not deserve a second term and that they can find the votes to defeat him. We don’t know who those candidates will be. A Democrat or two, remembering that DeBlasio was elected by 60% of the 17% of eligible voters who bothered to vote, might decide to take a stand against the Mayor in a primary. They know that he beat a Republican who had already been promised a top administrative job in a major medical center if he would just take a little time to run for Mayor. Joe Lhota didn’t do much. He never smiled, didn’t spend much money on TV and still got 40% of the vote.

But what about that scenario seems odd? The suggestion that the Republican Party didn’t want to win. The real estate industry controls NYC in many, many ways. Bill DeBlasio has bent that tall frame of his in half to please them in every way possible. Some of his activities are now under Federal and State investigation.

If they didn’t support a strong candidate against him before, why would the Republican leadership want one next year? Do they really want DeBlasio defeated? Do they want the precious status quo disturbed?

Now consider the Republican choice for Governor of New York to run against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, seeking reelection. Why would the Republican Party select the Westchester County Executive with little or no record of excellence, and absolutely no statewide reputation of any sort, and then permit his announcement as the Republican candidate to include his vigorous anti-abortion stance and his opposition to a woman’s right to choose.

The first thing he says is that? In New York? When no one asked him and the entire matter is essentially moot throughout the State?

And we know something else too. Donald J. Trump told the Republican leadership that he was eager to run against Cuomo and would finance the campaign. His only stipulation: He didn’t want to run in a primary.

And they told him no. So he walked away and decided on another course of action…

A theory is that the Republican Party whole-heartedly supports Cuomo’s power position and gains enough from it to want things to stay just as they are.

That’s a theory but is it a conspiracy theory?

Not at all if you consider that Cuomo controls both houses of the infamous State Legislature. The Assembly is almost entirely Democrat. And the State Senate would now after all these years have a Democrat majority but for the existence of the Independent Democratic Caucus…a small group of Democrats led by State Senator Jeff Klein which votes according to which way Gov. Cuomo says the wind is blowing. No conspiracy theory here…just naked conspiracy keeping the State Senate in Republican control. Pure Cuomo at his controlling best!

This one keeps on going. Recently, the newly elected Democratic State Senator from the a district in the Bronx announced that she was immediately going to join the IDC, once again insuring that the Republicans (ie: with Cuomo pulling strings) would control the majority.

So as all these events take place, can we say that the Republican Party in New York likes the status quo well enough to insure its continuation even if it means selecting weak candidates who will not be elected? And if we say that, is it a conspiracy or just a theory?

HILLARY AS PRESIDENT
If Hillary becomes America’s first woman President, something else is extraordinarily true. That her husband is not only America’s “First Man” but is also America’s First Man who has been its President.

There are deep puzzlements in Hillary’s two campaigns for President. In the losing one in 2008 to a man of color with very, very little experience in government and none as an executive, and now in this one which has exposed the fact that despite her deep experience and genuine understanding of how government works and all policies across the board, what is obvious is that she is not a good campaigner. Why hasn’t she surrounded herself with people who know how to make her better and protect her from herself?

We know that in 2008 it appeared that Bill Clinton was the Number One voice in her ear. Clinton the President who was impeached but remained because his staggering political skills had aroused a deep sympathy and empathy for unforgiving personal behavior – even before his mistaken judgement calls had come back to bite America where it really hurts.

There seemed to be no other explanation for some of the moves that came too late to overtake an early Obama lead as she went on to win a number of primaries in major States.

And now this. And Trump.

And activities with e-mails. And a minor health problem that Bill mistakenly said she experienced all the time and calling it the flu and not pneumonia…and correcting himself on both occasions. (Is he OK?) And the inability to get rid of the lasting opinion that she is too ambitious and greedy…as if that were true and would ever be a charge against a man…ever!

So is Bill still the man behind the scenes? Well Hillary is careful to turn her head away from the demand that Glass-Steagell be restored to keep the banks and investment houses from ever causing a 2008 crash; a crash made possible by Bill’s removal of those regulations as a favor to his Financial Secretary, Wall St.’s Robert Rubin. As was Bill’s actions to remove regulations governing student loans so that banks are able to demand any interest rate, garnish at will and never be concerned about bankruptcy. Also a favor to Rubin. There are critical among other actions that has caused student loan debt to be a serious problem facing 43 million Americans.

If not Bill than who are the voices behind the scenes? Certainly not the young people we see making statements for and about her.

And so at the moment we’re left with the theory that we have a husband not wanting his wife to outshine him as President of the United States?

And perhaps making the chess moves that lead her away from victory?

Now that is a conspiracy theory…isn’t it?