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Let's see now, Microsoft is too big to be effective? The Kennedys have no chance of being elected to any office they want? These conspiracies, of which there are none, have done what to high school graduates? Talk to one lately, or his teacher? If it is not a conspiracy then the last 300 years of this country have been an accident.

Thank you for proving my point. There is a difference between a conspiracy and a group of people getting together as a political group to achieve their political ends. If you're going to define the NEA as a conspiracy, then the word has lost any reasonable meaning. As to Microsoft, it's a public corporation with announced business plans and goals. That it got caught allegedly "conspiring" (legally, a corporation cannot conspire with its officers) again proves my point. To successfully take over the world, a conspiracy must be large - even economy sized. The larger it is, the more likely it will break down or leak.

Conspiracies - at least the ones being discussed here, are generally secret.

Conspiracy: 1 : the act of conspiring together 2 a : an agreement among conspirators b : a group of conspirators.

Main Entry: con·spire

Pronunciation: k&n-'spIr

Function: verb

Inflected Form(s): con·spired; con·spir·ing

Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French conspirer, from Latin conspirare to be in harmony, conspire, from com- + spirare to breathe Date: 14th century

transitive senses : PLOT, CONTRIVE

intransitive senses

1 a : to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or an act which becomes unlawful as a result of the secret agreement

b : SCHEME 2 : to act in harmony toward a common end -- i.e., circumstances conspired to defeat his efforts

And, before you jump all over the second definition, ask yourself - do I really want to argue that anyone working in harmony toward a common end is engaged in a conspiracy? Such that Republicans are conspiring, Libertarians are conspiring, FReepers are conspiring? Lots of luck if you do.