Editor's Desk

TRUST NO ONE: The paranoids are out to get you. Or so it seems in this era of conspiracy theories. To conspiratorialist wingnuts, the world isn’t ruled by ideas and physical laws. No—powerful plotters operating At The Highest Levels are running things.

That premise is the standard storyline for great thrillers and science fiction. A beleaguered Everyman stumbles upon secret machinations, then spends the rest of the, er, plot on the run from (fill in the blank) zombies/body snatchers/enemy agents/greedy business tycoons. But what are we to think of those who take Dan Brown, Oliver Stone, and Lyndon LaRouche seriously?

In our cover feature, I take on the conspiratorialists, whose paranoia fuels their sense of grandiosity: the satisfying belief that they alone know what is really going on. On a more upbeat note, Ed Hudgins interviews Eduardo Marty, who heads up Junior Achievement in Argentina. Marty is an Objectivist who believes that real-world experience is the most persuasive argument for Ayn Rand’s ideas—specifically, hands-on experience with the capitalist system. And that is what his program provides to thousands of Latin American youngsters.

They’ll need such reinforcement if they ever encounter the likes of New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer. In his review of a new Spitzer biography, senior editor Roger Donway likens the man to Robespierre—a comparison that may be unkind to the father of ideological terrorism.

Much better role models, especially for kids, can be found in An Airplane Is Born, a children’s book by Ilana Dover that celebrates the lives of the Wright brothers. Reviewer Marsha Enright is impressed by this first volume in a projected series of real-life heroes for children.

Returning to the conspiracy theme: entertainment editor Robert Jones finds something downright sinister in A Prairie Home Companion, the recent film version of Garrison Keillor’s annoying NPR radio program. He suspects it’s part of an NPR plot to take over the world. You decide.

Then Robert and Jennifer Litz team up to review A Scanner Darkly, a film about the world of drugs—and the “war on drugs”— based on Philip Dick’s sci-fi novel. Is it an upper or downer? Read on.

Sometimes capitalists are capitalism’s worst enemies. My closing editorial bashes big corporations that fund their own enemies through grants to leftist groups and individuals.

Let me now take this opportunity to publicly welcome aboard TNI’s new managing editor, Sherrie Gossett. In the few weeks that Sherrie has been in place, she’s already proved herself an immeasurable help to me in taking control of our production schedule. That’s no surprise: she’s a skilled investigative journalist with extensive experience in editing, circulation management, public relations, marketing, and media. These wide-ranging skills have allowed me to delegate to her all production and marketing tasks, freeing me at last to focus solely on the editorial side.

So, as you observe further improvements in The New Individualist, you can thank Sherrie. I certainly will.