Conspiracy: A Biblical View, by Gary North - EntreWave

THE PEOPLE'S WILLassemblies and traditional common law liberties.) 3Anti-Conspiracy TheoriesThere are numerous "establishment" theories that are used byconventional historians to explain the past: technological determinism,psychological determinism, economic determinism, geographicaldeterminism, and random indeterminism. To this, add politicalhistory, military history, population history, the history of ideas, andtoo many other subfields to mention, let alone summarize. But in thiscentury — indeed, since Rousseau's late 18th-century writings — oneview seems to prevail, at least in the history textbooks: the will of thePeople.The concept of "the People" has, for over a century, served the"toreadors" of professional historiography as a red cape: to focus theattention of the victims away from the sword. The People's willcannot be thwarted, we all know. Watch the People march forward!The People will control the evil special-interest groups. Federallegislation will protect the People, for the People have so willed it.Forget about actual individuals; keep your eyes on the People.Does all this sound vaguely familiar? We can almost see Dorothy infront of the screen, with the Wizard's glaring face looking out at her."Don't mess with the People! The People's will is sovereign!" she iswarned. Meanwhile, Toto is behind the curtain, pulling at an oldman's pants leg. "Pay no attention to the old man behind the curtain,"she is sternly warned by the image.There are some people behind that curtain who don't want you to payany attention, and they are not "the People." They've even gone to theexpense of training and employing three generations of professionalhistorians to explain to you why nothing important is going on backthere.Naive ConservativesThe problem is, too many conspiracy theorists naively believe in aconservative version of the will of the People. They understand thatthe People do not, in fact, understand what is going on, and that thePeople do not control the drift of events. Nevertheless, these theoristshttp://freebooks.commentary.net/freebooks/docs/html/gnco/html/2.htm (3 of 10) [5/26/2000 1:48:04 PM]