Molly Ivins February 2

BERKELEY, Calif. — I have always been fond of international conspiracy theories — the Bilderburgers, the Bavarian Illuminati, the New World Order — because they carry with them the comforting notion that at least someone is in charge here. Without them, we are left with the bleak realization that no one is in charge and that it's all just a vast case of muddling on through the fog.

Conspiracy theorists will want to take a close gander at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where the rich and powerful are gathering to think things over. Everyone from Bill Gates of Microsoft fame to Newt Gingrich of House-reprimand fame will be there for this sort of international Renaissance Weekend. Surely Henry Kissinger will attend — how could there be a conspiracy without Henry the K?

According to the International Herald Tribune, this year's meeting in Davos will have an unusual twist. The elite of all the elitii are assembling to consider the downside of economic globalization, to actually question whether the free market can solve all problems. To this end, they have thrown some theologians, ethicists, academics and labor leaders into the power mix. They are going to contemplate values. This is good. We wouldn't want our values contemplated without Henry K., the old war criminal, there.

One major mover in this international effort to rethink the situation is that useful world citizen George Soros. Soros enjoys the happy credential of being ungodly rich, which gives him standing as a political philosopher at the World Economic Forum. For those of you interested in what manner of philosophy comes from having been persecuted by Nazis, having suffered under communism and then having acquired a pile the size of Mount Everest, I recommend the February issue of The Atlantic Monthly, in which Soros holds forth on the virtues of the open society.

At the minimum, we can say that Soros is a vast improvement over Rupert Murdoch. Much of what he has to say seems to me self-evident — indeed, verging on the platitudinous — but coming from a wealthy financier, it has the charm of a dog dancing on its hind legs.

Certainty is the enemy of truth. Capitalist economic theory is not science. Cooperation is as important as competition. Survival of the fittest is inadequate as an organizational principle for society. We need world order. (His very words — beware the black helicopters!) A capitalist economic system married to a totalitarian political system is still a disaster. Money isn't everything. And so forth.

Perhaps I make too light of his rather well-argued case, but I'm amazed that he even needs to make it, which is what comes of not hanging out much in Davos. I have met people who actually believe that free markets can solve all society's problems, but they're so silly, why would anyone bother to debate them?

If you want political philosophy, try John Rawls.

As one who is interested in how the world wags on a more mundane level, I also recommend the Jan. 27 issue of The Nation, which has a splendid article by Trudy Lieberman on the campaign to privatize Social Security. Lieberman, no fool, follows the money. Who is paying for this vast campaign to convince us that Social Security is broke and that the way to fix it is for all of us to go into the stock market?

It's quite a line-up: right-wing think tanks, Republican pollsters, brokerage firms, banks and insurance conglomerates. The result is "one of the most concerted, sophisticated and deceptive sales campaigns in recent times," says Lieberman. The extent of the resultant advertising campaign, marketing strategies, public relations efforts and media spin is almost staggering. Mountains of studies, polls, faxes, Op-Ed pieces, books, forums, breakfast meetings, media activities. And dozens of public opinion strategists. Practically everyone is getting a cut of this pie, including some allegedly progressive organizations.

One propagandist explained: "It's like marketing in a for-profit company. One hit cannot make a difference. The same clear, concise message must come from every direction."

Whoa! What is a mere journalist to do here? The way our craft is practiced nowadays, we wait for the good guys to saddle up (the good guys by definition are always late and on the defensive) — the AFL-CIO, the AARP and the public interest groups — and fire up their own campaign to save Social Security. Then, we cover both campaigns with splendid impartiality. The good guys will be outspent, of course. Or we could do what Lieberman did: follow the money and track the deceit to its source.

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Molly Ivins is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

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