9/11 truthers are anti-government?

A while ago, I read this article which somebody had posted on TruthAction. The author, David Swindle, makes a list of how the "Conspiracist Crackpot" mentality works. It was a pretty absurd and generalizing list that for the most part I could laugh at and ignore. There was one point that caught my eye, however, to which I am responding now.

"Conspiracist Crackpots are oblivious to the fact that their conspiracy of choice tends to relate directly to their political views. Not only that but their embrace of the conspiracy actually flows out of their political ideology. Every single Birther is opposed to Barack Obama on policy grounds. Truthers who think 9/11 was an “inside job” done by the government are almost always politically opposed to the government. Leftist Truthers hate America and Right-wing Truthers hate the federal government. Holocaust deniers hate Jews. Afrocentric leftists who think the government engineered AIDS and crack also think America is fundamentally racist. You can do this with virtually every conspiracy."

There is a degree of validity to the statement. A lot of the examples he gives are valid. But I just can't agree with Swindle that all truthers are opposed to the government. First and foremost, and I just have to get this out of the way, since when do leftist truthers hate America? What on Earth makes him think he can make such a broad sweeping generalization like that? It's so astoundingly unprofressional.

But let's look at the overall claim. "9/11 Truthers are politically opposed to the government". Mr. Swindle seems to have a difficult time understanding that a distrust of the government - or certain figures in the government - something that IS fairly common among truthers, is not the same thing as being politically opposed to it's foundation. In fact, it is the love of the ideals which founded this country that is such a strong motivator for many among the movement. What Swindle is talking about is something close to anarchy. While I'm sure there are some in the movement who follow such extreme beliefs, it is most certainly not prevalent.

Of course, you can be politically opposed to the government without being an anarchist. A lot of democrats opposed the Bush administration. A lot of republicans oppose the current Obama administration. But Swindle himself makes the tacit admission that the political spectrum is a broad one among 9/11 Truthers. He refers to both "Leftist Truthers" and "Right-wing Truthers". Indeed, from what I've read of, for example, Julian of TruthMove, he is a fairly liberal person, whereas you take someone like me who leans conservatively. Left, right, in-between, you'll find pretty much any position on the spectrum if you bother to look. Since this is admitted EVEN by David Swindle, this could not possibly be what he is talking about.

Of course, many truthers disapprove of both Obama and Bush. Is this because of their ant-government tendencies which Swindle alleges? No, it seems that the distrust and dislike stems from elsewhere, as many 9/11 Truthers have supported other politicians in hopes of having said candidate elected. Cynthia McKinney and Ron Paul are such examples of politicians who truthers HAVE shown support for, thereby showing some amount of respect for the system. Two candidates who, by the way, have very different ideas on how the country should be run.

Some would point out that McKinney believes the government had foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks, and thus would attract the likes of 9/11 Truthers. But that would be missing the point. What attracts truthers to her would not be the position she holds, but the honesty she presents in publicly announcing something so controversial. But even if this was not the case, this is no different from pro-lifers favoring towards politicians who are heavily pro-life, or people opposed to higher taxes straying away from politicians saying they'll raise taxes. It is a position on which people are passionate about, and it is no different from any other group favoring towards someone who agrees with them. Ron Paul, meanwhile, stated numerous times that he does not believe 9/11 was an inside job, despite many of his followers being truthers. This drew him a great deal of criticism from the movement. He still received a large number of votes. This would seem to contradict the belief that our support of politicians is based primarily on 9/11 Truth.

If he is not talking about a political opposition based on the political spectrum, then he must be referring to an opposition towards the FOUNDATION of government, which is either anarchy or a proposal for a completely different type of government, neither of which is prevalent among the movement. It is, in fact, quite the opposite. Truthers show a tendency towards preserving the foundation of government.

But let's say, for the sake of argument, that Swindle is right. That almost all truthers are anti-government. Does this prove the correlation he claims? No. Why? Because there are many people who are anti-government who do NOT believe 9/11 was an inside job.

Many members of my own family, who for the most part are significantly more liberal than I am, have also been critical of the Obama administration. Yet, they do not, or at least have not bothered to announce as such, believe 9/11 was an inside job. At the very least, they stray away from the issue. Similarly, I know several people who would declare themselves anarchists, communists, and the like who have remained unconvinced that 9/11 was an inside job. People who at their core are opposed to the foundations of this country who believe the official story. If Swindle's proposed correlation was that 9/11 truth attracts anti-government people, then why are there many anti-government people out there who do NOT address the issue?

9/11 Truthers are not opposed to the government. We are opposed to what the government has turned into. We are opposed to what the government and its frontmen have committed. We are opposed to how the government has treated civil liberties, habeus corpus, right to privacy, and other rights which have been all but annihilated in the wake of 9/11.

We are NOT opposed to this country's foundations.