August 21, 2013

Quick Reads: “The United States of Paranoia” by Jesse Walker


 

The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory
By Jesse Walker
HARPER

Democrats didn’t engineer a malaria outbreak to halt Andrew Johnson’s impeachment. Zachary Taylor didn’t eat poisoned cherries. Safeway isn’t controlled by the Illuminati (so far as we know). Reason editor Jesse Walker doesn’t just catalog conjured cabals, but offers his own conspiracy theory, too: that paranoia isn’t limited to the fringe—it’s everywhere, from post-9/11 foreign policy to liberal backlash against the tea party. Conspiracy theories “are not simply a colorful historical byway,” he writes. “They are at the country’s core.” And the dark and powerful force that penetrates the farthest reaches of society while remaining unknown to most Americans? That’s just our psyche.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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