Global Markets & Moral Panics

I have been reading Under the Eye of Power: How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy, by Colin Dickey. He relates various panics in our history, from the Salem witch trials to QAnnon. He states that “enduring narratives (are) that… secret groups are conspiring to pervert the will of the people and the rule of law.” (page 2) The particulars change, but that is a recurring theme.

I doubt if this belief in secret societies and elaborate conspiracies is unique to this country. I seem to recall people had various theories about the causes of plagues, long before infectious diseases were understood. And, I don’t think the United States was unique in the fear of Satanic forces, whether in the form of so-called witches or something else. The Spanish Inquisition springs to mind.

When there are disruptions in society, people naturally look for causes. A conspiracy theory is an oddly reassuring and simple explanation. Rather than believing that life is uncertain, at best, and the future is unpredictable, people would rather believe that there are patterns and certainties, if only we could perceive them. Usually, a conspiracy theory amounts to bad people causing bad things to happen that harm good people, such as ourselves. If we identify and eliminate those baddies, all will be well.

One example of a recent disruption in society was the 2008 financial crisis, which caused many people to lose their homes. This crisis was “the worst since the Great Depression, (it) stemmed from cheap credit and loose lending that inflated a housing bubble. When mortgage defaults rose, major institutions unraveled, culminating in Lehman Brothers’ collapse and a global recession. The fallout brought widespread job losses and foreclosures and led to government bailouts and reforms like the Dodd-Frank Act.” The 2008 Financial Crisis Explained

The financial crisis followed the 2001 attack on the World Trade Centers in New York, and was followed by the global COVID pandemic beginning in 2020. No wonder people were searching for explanations and seized on various explanations that “someone” was to blame. We only needed to find out who.

One popular one promoted by hucksters and conmen was, “let’s all worry about foreigners,” who are supposedly taking our jobs, or costing us money. Or let’s worry about some other dumb thing. Anything to keep the distractions going, while lining their pockets, and the pockets of their family and cronies.

The truth, for those who still care about it, is that immigrants contribute to our economy. I don’t know of anyone who runs out to check if the guys roofing their houses have green cards. Nor those who install their carpets, shovel snow, cut the grass, work in agriculture, food service, hotels, etc. Do you really care if they have their paperwork in order? These people are contributing to Social Security, and if not citizens, will never collect. They commit crimes at a lower rate than natural-born citizens. And, no, they can’t vote. That is just another lie.

In a sensible country, it would be easy for people who want to come here to work to get work permits. Instead, we are, according to Colin Dickey, a paranoid republic.