The Nation's Founders Expected Us to Think
The Declaration of Independence was a triumph of the Age of Reason, the eighteenth century’s commitment to apply rational thought to the design of a government that would secure freedom, restrain its own power and protect human dignity.
Two hundred and fifty years later that foundational faith in the power of rational thought is under threat from the spread of political conspiracy theories. The latest is Vice-President J.D. Vance’s assertion that “the deep state took down Richard Nixon.” Assertions, however, don’t qualify as evidence. The evidence against Nixon was voluminous and included, for example, testimony of multiple witnesses under oath before the Senate’s Watergate Committee, White House tapes containing Nixon’s voice demanding the CIA choke off the investigation of where the money for the Watergate break-in came from and the conclusion of 27 members of the House Judiciary Committee (including 6 Republicans) who voted for the first Article of Impeachment’s nine specifications of how Nixon obstructed justice.
Conspiracy theories are not new in American history but they proliferate in a polarized political environment where demagogues and their followers use them to stoke Americans’ anxieties and gain their support. The “Red Scare” of the 1950s is evidence of this danger. Millions of Americans, as other examples, believe that Jeffrey Epstein was murdered to silence him, that the 2020 election was “stolen,” that massive voter fraud continues and that the attack on the Capitol was orchestrated by the FBI or Antifa.
Conspiracies may exist, but only objective, factual evidence can prove them. Without that, a conspiracy theory is just an opinion. With the rise of social media and the ability of technology to misinform, create fake news, images and videos and spread them virally, conspiracy theories have taken on a power unhealthy for a republic founded on faith in reason. Where most of Americans used to cast a wary eye on the wild claims of conspiracy theorists, now tens of millions suspect there actually is a fire when they are fed what at best is smoke.
Thomas Jefferson, in sharing his hope for the University of Virginia he helped found, offered the Enlightenment promise that “here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” But what if reason is not free? Reason depends on citizens willing to question what they’re told.
Many obstacles that line the path of conspiracy thinking are self-imposed. For those who want to believe a conspiracy theory, almost no amount of evidence can dispel it, and the tendency is to get angry and dig in when contrary evidence is presented. Adherents facing the lack of evidence for the “deep state” argue that the proof it exists has been covered up by its perpetrators. Those convinced of massive voter fraud in recent elections discount contrary evidence in scores of court cases by claiming the evidence has been manufactured.
Another obstacle is confirmation bias, in which believers always find “facts” to prove a conspiracy because they only seek out “facts” that agree with it. Rationalization, another obstacle, claims to act on reason failing to see that such “logic” is the result of emotions. As Benjamin Franklin wrote in his Autobiography: “So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.” The negativity bias is another obstacle. We are psychologically drawn to bad news which conspiracy advocates may tie to an “obvious” conspiracy. The conspiracy, which always aims at provoking anger, goes to the top of news feeds. Then, extensive sharing of the alleged conspiracy uses the “illusory truth effect” by which people assume something repeated so often is probably true.
Ill-founded conspiracy theories impact us well beyond the issue they thrive on. They weaken the public’s trust in the institutions on which government and the social good depend. As Pew Research summarized, the percentage of Americans who have “a great deal or a lot of confidence” in nine major institutions is now at 26 percent, a decline of nearly half since 1979. Trust in Congress, the presidency and the Supreme Court has seen dramatic declines. Abuses by some leaders of these institutions account for part of the decline, but so do conspiracy theories that lack factual evidence.
Unfounded conspiracy theories foster distrust in truth and that the truth can be found. Recent years have seen increasing resort to claims that there are “alternative facts.” The willingness of conspiracy adherents to call facts “lies,” “fabrications” and “politically motivated untruths” makes many citizens unsure of what to believe. Without the energy, commitment or skill to question conspiracy theories, people may outsource the search for truth, deciding to believe what those they trust believe. If those they trust are demagogues, democracy is in danger.
As we celebrate our 250th anniversary we must recommit to the use of reason that brought our nation into being, sustained us and is so essential to our future. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Cassius argues for the importance of taking personal responsibility for preventing tyranny. "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves," he warns. Avoiding this is a challenge to all Americans. It requires thinking critically when confronted with conspiracy theories. That’s what the Founders on July 4th expected of each of us.
Photo Credit: chatGPT
