Ron Paul's
fear that the US, Canada, and Mexico will merge is just one example of the plethora of conspiracy theories floating around these days. In the past four to five years, there has been a mainstreaming of belief in conspiracies on the Conservative side of American politics. These conspiracies almost without exception involve non-Americans (with the aid of American dupes or collaborators) planning to displace or subjugate 'authentic' Americans. (See Victoria Jackson's
theories for a more colorful example.) It is difficult to account for this level of paranoia on the right, since there is no obvious connection between such fears and a preference for free markets over government. Unless... belief in smaller, less-funded government is primarily inspired by fear of government oppression and not by confidence in unfettered markets. If this is correct, then most of today's Conservatism is nothing more than a paranoid fear of subjugation.
