By Douglas V. Gibbs
There’s something fascinating about conspiracy theories, isn’t there? While some occasionally turn out to have a kernel of truth, and every once in a while one of them becomes a headline that was true all along, most spiral into elaborate narratives that defy logic and evidence. As conservatives who value constitutional principles and limited government, we should approach these theories with both healthy skepticism and critical thinking.
The Moon Landing and Flat Earth: When Observations Contradict Narratives
Let’s start with the most easily debunked theories. The moon landing conspiracy and flat earth theory fall into what I call “observational conspiracies” – they directly contradict what we can observe and verify.
For the moon landing, the evidence against the conspiracy is overwhelming:
The lunar laser ranging retro-reflector arrays placed on the moon during Apollo missions are still used today to measure the distance to the moon with millimeter precision. In fact, the fact that those reflector are there was once highlighted in an episode of “The Big Bang Theory” titled “The Lunar Excitation” that aired on May 24, 2010.
In this episode, the main characters set up an experiment on the roof of their apartment building to bounce a laser off the retro-reflector arrays left on the moon by the Apollo 11 astronauts.
Leonard invites Penny to watch, and she brings along her new boyfriend Zack, who is portrayed as not particularly intelligent. Zacks asks about the experiment: “How can you be sure it won’t blow up?”
The question highlights Zack’s lack of scientific understanding, as the laser being used was nowhere near powerful enough to damage the moon. Leonard sarcastically responds, “Don’t worry about the moon. We, we set our laser to stun.”
The characters successfully fire the laser and detect its return signal 2.5 seconds later, which excited the scientists but didn’t impress Zack.
Later in the episode, Penny complains to Leonard about Zack’s intelligence, saying, “Yes he was! He thought you were going to blow up the moon!”
The episode actually featured a real laser prop on an equatorial mount, though a powerful enough laser to actually reach the moon would have been too dangerous to use on set.
The show’s depiction of the experiment was based on real science—astronauts on Apollo 11 did indeed position reflectors on the moon’s surface in 1969, and scientists have been bouncing lasers off these reflectors to measure the distance between Earth and the moon ever since.
Also, to get back to our proof regarding visiting the moon, the 382 kg of moon rocks brought back have been independently verified by thousands of scientists worldwide as being non-terrestrial. And, the Soviet Union, America’s Cold War adversary, tracked the missions and acknowledged their success.
Modern imaging from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has photographed the Apollo landing sites.
The flat earth theory contradicts basic physics we can observe daily. As a constitutional conservative, I value empirical evidence over unfounded claims, and when it comes to the moon, and the flat earth theory, the evidence against the conspiracies is overwhelming.
9/11: The Cognitive Dissonance of Competence vs. Conspiracy
Here’s where things get interesting. Many who believe 9/11 was an inside job simultaneously argue that President Bush was among the most incompetent presidents in history. The cognitive dissonance is staggering – how could someone they consider bumbling mastermind one of the most complex conspiracies in history?
I have a retired SEAL and CIA friend who offered an interesting perspective on Building 7. He told me that after the 1993 World Trade Center attack, Building 7 was constructed with munitions in the walls. If the towers were attacked again, they could bring down Building 7, which contained critical intelligence they didn’t want accessed by enemies. While I don’t doubt my friend’s testimony, I’ve never found evidence to validate his claim. I suppose that would be my version of an unproven theory. But, to be honest, it sure seems much more plausible than the theory that the federal government secretly placed munitions in the walls of two bustling office towers and timed the explosions perfectly with the arrival of the inbound planes on that fateful day.
The 9/11 Commission Report documented numerous intelligence warnings that weren’t properly connected or acted upon. This points more to institutional failure – something conservatives should be concerned about – than conspiracy. It’s easy to connect the dots with hindsight. When one is in the middle of a situation, the vision regarding what could have been done, or should have been done, is not as clear.
JFK: Where Documented History Meets Speculation
The JFK assassination presents a more complex case. Many point to Executive Order 11110, which conspiracy theorists claim threatened the Federal Reserve’s power. The reality is more nuanced:
EO 11110 didn’t actually threaten the Federal Reserve’s authority to create money
It only delegated to the Treasury the authority to issue silver certificates against existing silver holdings. The order was part of a broader transition away from silver certificates that began before JFK and continued after his death
What gives this theory more credibility than most is that the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1979 that JFK was “probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy,” though they couldn’t identify the conspirators. This official acknowledgment of possible conspiracy is noteworthy. While files have been released, and we don’t have all of the answers, for those who dig their nose deeply into these kinds of historical events, the fingerprints of the CIA is all over it.
Chemtrails: The Kernel of Truth Phenomenon
Chemtrails illustrates perfectly how conspiracy theories often work. Yes, governments have conducted weather modification experiments:
- Project Stormfury (1962-1983) attempted to weaken hurricanes
- Cloud seeding is used in some regions to enhance precipitation
- The UK conducted dispersal trials between 1955-1979
However, these documented programs are limited in scope. The theory that aircraft are spraying harmful chemicals for population control lacks credible evidence. Contrails, in most cases, are simply water vapor that freezes at high altitudes and can persist depending on atmospheric conditions. That said, is it possible that some of the “chemtrails” are up there for nefarious reasons? As with the lack of evidence to support the claim that chemtrails are largely nefarious, we can’t say for sure that every single trail we see isn’t.
A Conservative Approach to Conspiracy Theories
As a constitutional conservative, I tend to approach conspiracy theories with discernment. I consider them as possible, but I try not to take a binary view of either it is 100% or it is 100% not true. Sometimes, the answer lies somewhere in between.
The most credible theories tend to:
- Make the fewest assumptions (Occam’s razor)
- Are falsifiable (can be proven wrong)
- Have supporting evidence from multiple independent sources
- Don’t require impossibly large conspiracies that would inevitably leak
The reality is that governments do sometimes act in secret and against public interest, as we’ve seen with programs like COINTELPRO, MKUltra, and the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. But these documented conspiracies are typically limited in scope and eventually come to light; unlike the grand, all-encompassing conspiracies that remain perpetually secret despite involving thousands of people.
Our constitutional framework provides checks and balances precisely because our founders understood the nature of power. While we should remain vigilant about government overreach, we shouldn’t fall into the trap of believing every elaborate conspiracy theory that comes along. Healthy skepticism combined with critical thinking serves our constitutional principles better than either blind trust or unfounded speculation.
The truth is often more mundane, and more telling, than the conspiracy theories that capture our imagination. And as a constitutionalist, I believe we should be more interested in the documented ways government exceeds its constitutional authority than in speculative theories that require us to suspend disbelief.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
