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Political interference occurs when a well connected person of power asks a well connected colleague to “create a situation” that will result in the specific and desired end result of the first well connected person of power. Most people of power and means who have the resources to request/accomplish such acts are considered to be of the white collar persuasion. Now in no way am I implying that all who fall under the white collar banner are corrupt. I am however saying that the opportunities for corruption are increased by virtue of being a member of the white collar class. Having said that, the FBI as defines white-collar crime as “those illegal acts which are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and which are not [usually] dependent upon the application or threat of physical force or violence.” How very perfect is that?
I first heard the term political interference while watching an episode of Bill Moyers’ Journal last May (2008) as I watched a report where among other things, Alphonso Jackson, former Secretary of HUD considered making the life of a land developer in Philly “less happy” by “possibly withholding” monies from that developer in order to coerce him into dealing a piece of land to one of Jackson’s cronies. Jackson, who was testifying before Congress, refused to confirm that the two above emails which appeared to have been written by his staff, were actually written by his staff. He subsequently stepped down from his position as HUD secretary under a cloud of suspicion to “spend more time with family.” This is a prime example standard ops among people of power. They have and keep each other’s backs and do what is necessary to make sure the world turns just the way they want it to.
Answers.com defines a conspiracy as an agreement between two or more persons to commit an unlawful act or to accomplish a lawful end by unlawful means. Some U.S. states require an overt act in addition to the agreement to constitute conspiracy. Individual conspirators need not even know of the existence or the identity of all other conspirators. In New York State a conspiracy may include omissions, meaning a failure to perform an act as to which a duty of performance is imposed by law. Based on the above, since political interference always involves action taken in partnership. the act or acts of political interference inherently comprises the act or acts of conspiracy.
It’s interesting that most people view the notion of conspiracy so negatively. Granted, there are some folks who are clearly members of the “tin foil hat crew” but considering that those types, when encountered are easily identifiable and few and far between, the only folks who truly benefit from the prima facie dismissal of all things “conspiracy” without possibility of any further examination just happen to be those persons of power who have more opportunities to engage in such behavior in the first place, AND who have the resources to pull these types of transactions off, AND who are most likely to control the media, AND who in the end stand to benefit the least from the possibility of any type of oversight re: their activities. Political interference cannot oppose conspiracy because political interference always gives birth to conspiracy.
At the end of the day, a discussion on conspiracy absent a nod to political interference is like talking racism in America absent the mention of white privilege. Hmmm…I guess that’s just some kind of a coincidence though because it can’t possibly be part of a greater plan…