I remember the good old days when I regarded any talk of a False Flag as tin foil hat conspiracy theory crap.
“I, ____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
Some hard prosecutions, imprisonment, or even a few executions would be useful to remind some of these knuckleheads that Americans demand allegiance and patriotism....but those are considered jingoistic and trite concepts these days.
I have never spent much time studying such for one reason:
As a former minister, I am intimately acquainted with the depraved human condition (myself included). Power corrupts, and humans conspire (literally: breathe together). It is a temporal truth, as long as this fallen world endures. It is the opposite - smugly skeptical - position that is absurd on its face.
Every high school in-crowd clique that excludes the losers from its secrets is a conspiracy. Every water-cooler soto voce scheme by employees against a fellow, unsuspecting employee is a conspiracy. Every back-room closed-door deal that Congress foists upon the ostensible electorate is a conspiracy.
Many are shallow, most are legal. All are functional conspiracies.
If we had lived in ancient Rome, absent electronic surveillance and recording, no doubt many historical conspiracies would have been regarded as tin-foil hat stuff.
Et tu, Brute?