With the recent death of Lyndon Larouche in February 2019, the subculture of conspiracy politics has lost an often (obscurely) highlighted eccentric public figure.* (Well honestly for those of us following conspiracy politics ,can we not be called eccentric ourselves?).
Larouche was somewhat well known in the public consciousness as a political crank and Bombast. He amassed an almost (some would say for sure) cult like following, with every political opponent and or detractor being compared to Hitler himself. He ran for president 8 times from the late 70's into the 2000's,becoming a perennial fixture on the fringes of electoral politics.He was a candidate in nearly every presidential election for 40 years,even while incarcerated in a federal prison.
The one thing that set Larouche apart from any old plain vanilla politician were his own (Conspiratorial) ideas and statements, which leeched their way into the mainstream consciousness via grassroots activism and derision from the media. Larouche's worldview came from a decidedly conspiratorial view of history as a conflict between Platonism(Moral virtue,metaphysical knowledge) and Aristotelianism ( logic,moral relativism),with the latter being the dominant philosophy( of the oligarchical Elite's) that seeks to keep the general populace blinded by a mechanistic worldview.
His most notable conspiratorial enemy was the British monarchy( With queen Elizabeth II being the head of an international drug cartel) which (still) controls the world through covert means.
Larouche had been qouted as saying "Of course she's pushing drugs. That is, in the sense of a
responsibility, the head of a gang that is pushing drugs, she knows it's
happening and she isn't stopping it."
According to Larouche,he saw the British monarchy as representative of a(n) still imperialistic oligarchic financial consortium headquartered in the City of London. Unsubstantiated rumors had placed Lyndon larouche as one of the prime promoters of the Princess Dianna murdered by the royal family conspiracy theories, though there is no confirmation directly from Larouche or anyone inside of his organization that can be directly sourced.
Larouche was one of the most vocal critics of the Trilateral commission which were the (In vogue) conspiracy overlords of the 1970's & 80's, mostly blamed for every political machination by the far right, Larouche's criticism stands out as he was (at the time) part of the Far left. Other notable adversaries plotting against Larouche and his movement were the C.I.A, The K.G.B. and the environmentalists of the W.W.F (World Wildlife Fund,not the Wrestling company of the 80's). When you have as many (perceived) enemies as Larouche had, you would naturally want to keep tabs on what's happening around you,and of course he did just that. With the formation of his own private intelligence network.
Throughout the late 70's and into the 80's The Larouche movement assembled a worldwide network of Government and Military contacts,at one time described by a (Reagan administration) member of the National Security Council (NSC) as " One of the best private intelligence services..They do know a lot of people around the world..They do get to talk to prime ministers and presidents". Not a small feat for an organization viewed as a bunch of Wingnut's.
Unsurprisingly Larouche's growing paranoia,over his perceived (and or real) enemies bled over into the Larouche movement itself, which throughout the 70's were involved in a series of violent clashes with the American communist part (CPUSA),The progressive labor party and Black power activists. Although not without incitement by the FBI and their COINTELPRO tactics,which makes you ask was Larouche justifiably paranoid?
Among Larouche's (perceived) paranoid rantings,the major one that actually had some credibility and would prove integral to the research of conspiracy politics was the (Reagan administration's) October Surprise . The alleged (yet not officially confirmed) dealing of arms for hostages by Reagan campaign staffers(including VP George H.W. Bush) in the lead up to the 1980 presidential election. The first allegations of the dirty dealings were published in Larouche's Executive intelligence review.
According to the Larouche "intelligence" network the claim is that "pro-Reagan British intelligence circles and the Kissinger faction" had met with Iranian representatives 6-8 weeks prior to the election,and thus secured a backroom deal. Of course the October surprise would live on in infamy in the world of conspiracy politics,being the impetus for Danny Casolaro's research into the Promis/Octopus conspiracy that would ultimately claim his life.
Despite Larouche's reporting on the skeleton's in the Reagan administration's closet,His ideas during the 80's continued to take his movement ever further Rightward. One thing Larouche and the Reagan administration saw eye to eye on (somewhat) was Star war's (A.K.A the Strategic Defense Initiative) As early as 1975 Larouche was speculating about Space based weapons. The Fusion Energy foundation was a front group set up by the Larouche movement, to promote Nuclear power and research into fusion power and Particle beam weapons. LaRouche proposed the development of defensive beam technologies as a policy that was in the interest of both the United States and the Soviet Union, as the alternative to an arms race in offensive weapons, and as a generator of spin-off economic benefits. Ultimately Larouche was rebuffed by all in the administration who he had contacted and tried to collaborate with on S.D.I,including physicist Edward Teller.
Space based weaponry is another topic that rear's it s head in the conspiracy world every so often. The most recent examples being the California wildfires,and the rumored possibility of the WTC being destroyed by space based directed energy weapons.
In 1986 Larouche and his organization found Themselves in hot water with the U.S. government, that would ultimately lead his arrest and imprisonment . Larouche's Virginia compound and other related offices were raided by Federal agents,under the auspices of the Larouche organization being involved with conspiracy to commit credit card fraud,and obstruction of justice.10 other Larouche associates , two corporations, and three campaign committees were eventually indicted by the Feds. Larouche Bombastically claimed on the day of the raid in a telegram sent to President Reagan that an attempt to arrest him: "would be an attempt to kill me. I will
not submit passively to such an arrest, but ... I will defend myself". Afterwords Larouche ridiculously claimed that the raid was an assassination attempt orchestrated by Mikhail Gorbachev: "The man with the mark of the beast on his head Mikhail Gorbachev , has demanded my elimination".
After 2 years worth of frequent trial delays Larouche was eventually convicted on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and tax evasion. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment beginning in 1989 and was paroled 5 years later. Of course Larouche and his organization portrayed this entire episode as a matter of political persecution,and often intimated that Larouche was being held as a political prisoner. Interestingly though there is a tangential basis for this in that the early investigations into Larouche and his organization were initated by the FBI under the auspices of the COINTELPRO program.Concurrent with the FBI's investigation in 1982 One of Larouche's eternal arch nemesis Henry kissinger himself ordered an investigation into Larouche after "increasingly obnoxious harassment". this investigation would eventualy be closed with no evidence of violations of Kissinger's civil rights.
Along with the investigation into Larouche and his organization there is a strange aside with connections to deep politics in the Assassination of Swedish prime minister Olaf Palme in 1986. Not unlike the JFK assassination there is a demonstrable amount of links to deep politics and multiple suspects and or benefactors that would have wanted Palme eliminated. . One of the suspects in the assassination had connections to a swedish political party with links to the Larouche organization. Some sensationalist media reports of the time intimated direct links to Larouche in the assassination.
The suspect Viktor Gunnarson, was said to be linked to the EAP (European Workers Party). which was founded by 2 American Laoruchian's in 1974,The EAP had throughout the 80's launched several campaigns against Olaf palme which were classified as "Palme Hate"( not unlike the future campaigns railing against President Obama). Gunnarson had been a member of the EAP in the year preceding the assassination,but was kicked out in 1985. With tenous links,and a police search of the suspects home, they found several pieces of "Palme Hate" literature. Obviously not enough evidence to convict him on,though the supposed "motivation" was said to be there. Gunnarson was eventually cleared of any suspicion,afterwords he emigrated to the U.S. In 1993 Gunnarson's body was found buried in the woods of North Carolina, shot twice in the head with a .22 caliber weapon. The investigation into his death,led to the arrest and conviction of Lamont C. Underwood,an ex cop who was the ex-Fiance of the woman that gunnarson had been dating. What would at first seem like a politically connected assasination,was eventually ruled to be an unrelated homicide(based on the evidence and confession of Underwood). Though some anti-Larouche critics maintain there are some suspicions to his death, it would seem as though the Swede had simply had some really bad luck with American women....
Throughout the 90's into the 2000's Larouche and his organization continued to see saw between political spectrum's, from far right,back to the left. Surprisingly he endorsed and continually supported Bill Clinton throughout his presidency,even when he was in hot water later on with the Monica lewinski affair ( who according to Larouche was an Israeli intelligence plant in the White House, Hmm now where else have we heard about Israeli spying/compromise operations?).
The new millenium brought with it even more cannon fodder for Larouche's conspiratorial views. from the contentious election of G.W. bush(Skull and Bones Secret Society member), his administrations handling of 9/11 and the ensuing "war on terror" and the military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
9/11 in Larouche's view is an event that was orchestrated by the Saudi (and of course British) royal families.Larouche seems to have advocated the LIHOP ( let it happen on purpose) hypothesis of the 9/11 attacks,with the Bush family/administration playing a key role as facilitators of the operation.
The Bush administration itself, Larouche saw as conspiring against the American public(with Dick Cheney playing the role of Arch-conspirator),by covering up their own complicity and using 9/11 as a pretext for war with Iraq in 2003.(Now... was he far off the mark of truth on this one? I think not) Surprisingly Larouche can be seen to be pretty forward thinking,on the 9/11 truth movement.He had called for the declassification and release of the infamous 28 pages ( linking Unknown,possible Saudi actors in financing the attacks) missing from the original 9/11 commission report,by at least 4 years prior to it's release in 2016.
2004 would mark Larouche's last official run at election to the Presidency,once again playing the perennial dark horse candidate. Despite his defeat (once again) he put his endorsment behind John Kerry(Another Skull and Bones Secret Society member), who would himself despite his own ultra-liberalism distance from Larouche.
After Bush,with the election of the Obama administration,Larouche saw yet another pawn of the Global (British) conspiracy unfolding. Paving the way for certain current conspiracy crowds,Larouche aimed his sights on Financier George Soros (replacing Henry Kissinger) as a prime Arch conspirator behind the Obama administration.
(But can Larouche be blamed for such thinking when it's clearly evident that George Soros has thrown massive amounts of money behind liberal institutions in attemps to influence politics & national elections since 2003? )
Despite the Obama administrations relative popularity amongst Americans through the mid 2000's Larouche's opposition to Obama's policies would ultimately lead to Larouche and the LPAC to call for the impeachment of President Obama.The central gripe of which was President Obama's handling of the financial crisis and his Obamacare proposal's/changes to the U.S. health care sysytem.Commenting on the proposed Obamacare "death panels"(living will,advanced directive voluntary counseling)Larouche compared the programs to Nazi Eugenics. Stating that action is needed to"quickly and suddenly change the behavior of this president ... for no
lesser reason than that your sister might not end up in somebody's gas
oven." Utilizing an old familiar Trope of demonizing one's political enemies, Larouche PAC protestors and operatives nationwide would(absurdly) stage demonstrations portraying Obama as equivalent to Adolf Hitler. Even the nascent far right(Proto Alt-Right) groups, of the Tea party movement wanted noting to do with the Larouchies and their portrayal of Obama,With a representative claiming the "Obama as Hitler" posters "trivializes the travesties that occurred under the Fascist regime of Nazi Germany".
Following the financial meltdown and bailout of the Economy in 2008,Larouche's main push would be behind re-instating the Glass-Stegal act. The repeal of the Glass-stegal act in 1999 was viewed as being the main force behind the collapse of the derivatives/housing markets and only the reinstating of that previous legislation would ease the financial burden of the American economy. Despite what Larouche's opponents would say of most of his rhetoric,he(apparently) formulated a somewhat rational/reasonable proposed solution to the Housing market crisis. Larouche proposed a "Homeowners and Bank Protection Act",which would establish the creation of a Federal agency to oversee all Federal and State banks. Under this newly proposed agency, the Federal government would have the power to freeze,adjust and restructure mortages. Larouche proposed a moratorium on foreclosures,and an end to Big Bank bailouts,forcing banks to restructure according to existing bankruptcy laws. But as we have seen,Debt forgiveness / consolditaion and actually solving the financial market crisis was not in the Federal government's interest, instead the stage was set with bailouts and inflationary "stimulus packages for the next (coming)Economic crisis.
Throughout the mid 2000's and the remainder of the Obama administration, Larouche and LarouchePAC would continue their opposition to the presidents policy's and actions. On several occasions Larouche would warn that Obama was bringing the world to the brink of Armageddon, Nuclear war and destruction by Russia/China and a rouge North Korea. Surprisingly (and on the other hand ,not so surprisingly) Larouche's warnings were echoed by Noam Chomsky,and Alex Jones.In a moment of pure irony Larouche is qouted as saying of Obama : "he's nothing but a British puppet, He's also insane!" I sense a little bit of the Pot calling the Kettle black here Lyndon...
Besides Larouche's dire warning's of Doom and Gloom & Nuclear Annihilation, he provided his followers with the hope that (After Obama) the U.S. would open it's eyes to the machinations of the Imperial (British) world order and move towards establishing a new economic world order. Larouche praised the BRICS alliance and painted it idyllically as a model for a future world order of International(Debt-Free) Cooperation.
With Larouche out of the running in the 2016(Post-Obama) Election,there was it seemed no viable horse for the Larouchites to place their bets on. With an equal distrust of the establishment candidtates,Clinton & Trump there was an equal amount of vitriol for both parties.But after the Election of Trump ,the Larouchites changed their tune of not trusting Trump ("Don't be a chump for Trump") to an almost absurd level of praise for The Don!!!! (Larouche was quoted as saying: Trump's victory is nothing less than a Victory for the universe!) Should we have expected any less of a change of tune from a political Chameleon such as Larouche and his followers ?????
With The election of Donald Trump in 2016, The Larouche Organization found a kindred spirit,in opposition to the World order(Globalization) so hated by Larouche.And strangely enough a kindred spirit in the hate of one of Larouche's own personal enemies from the 80's Robert Mueller (Appointed head of the "Russiagate" counsel in 2017). Who had been Acting attorney general and Federal Prosecutor in charge of going after Larouche in 1986. The Larouchies jumped on the Bandwagon of a (Democrat/"Deep State") coup plotted against Donald Trump in the Russiagate investigations(Curiously spurred on no doubt by the like's of Roger Stone,who had at one time been an opponent & critic of Larouche),that would ultimately lead to the attempted(unsuccessful) impeachment of Trump.
In Larouche's final years he withdrew from the limelight,due to his own dementia (and further) cognitive decline,retiring to Germany with his wife Helga Zepp-Larouche,who has gone on to carry the torch of Larouche(I.E. The British Monarchy bad guys,Anti Globalism,World economic reform). With the LarouchePAC and Larouche Youth Movement picking up the duties of Geopolitical analysis/strategy,and Political Action respectively.
The Dark side of Larouchian (Para) Politics
One of the main charges leveled against Larouche,and the organization is that it is a political cult. While these allegations are somewhat sensationalist, they aren't without basis. The Larouche Organization came into fruition during the Golden age cults in America (Post Manson family era,Hare Krishna's,Moonies, Jim Jone's People's Temple) in the 1970's. Larouche himself (Besides his conspiracy theorizing) exhibited an almost cult like control over the organization at the time. In the aftermath of the late 60's student(Anti Vietnam War) rebellions and his own organizations attempts to "purge" the Left with Operation Mop Up, Larouche had established a cult of personality. Instituting among his followers a strange Psycho-sexual analysis into his politics and subjecting his followers to deprogramming sessions. Interestingly enough this all occurred around the time in the(supposed)waning years of the CIA's MK-Ultra program,Which has had tangential links to Cult activity of the time.With Larouche himself having some shady connections at the time to Intelligence agency affiliated individuals,who would later be connected to the Nugan-Hand bank(which would come up in the aforementioned Danny Cassolaro's research) While the Larouche Organization doesn't exactly check off all the boxes of Cult criteria,It's pretty obvious that Larouche himself (with all his Wing-Nuttery) is (was) the driving force behind the organization. So it's more of a Personality cult centered around Larouche and his ideas/philosophy.
Anti-Semitism rears it's ugly head in the accusations against Larouche, while Larouche himself has made some foot in mouth remarks regarding Jewish culture, there is no(visibly) outright (Neo-Nazi) level blame and or hate ascribed to jews in particular from Larouche or his organization members.Critics though have maintained that Larouche and his ideas are a disguised form of Anti-semitism. Larouche's enemy #1 (Britian's Royal Family) is connected in Dope inc.,a book published by Larouche's EIR to the Rothschild family conspiracy. The book cites the The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion conspiracy, linking the "Elders of Zion" to the Rothschilds,The British Royal Family, The Italian Mafia, Israeli Mossad,B'nai Brith and Henry Kissinger. And so committing Larouche to the same camp as Henry Ford, Adolf Hitler, George Lincoln Rockwell and every other paranoid(O.G & Neo) Nazi. Larouche himself has inserted the term and has been critical of Zionism into his conspiracy theorizing,and of course once you go down that road it's hard to get out of the thorny weeds of Anti-semitism.
Homophobia and Anti gay/LGBT propaganda is another charge leveled against Larouche and the organization. On this topic,Larouche has had more than one instance of choice foot in mouth comments on Homosexuality. Larouche basically in his own words,saw Homosexulaity (Throw Lesbian and Trans in there too) as a form of decadence, or mental illness. Larouche's own criticism of two of his biggest enemies(Roy Cohn & Henry Kissinger) are laden with overt accusations of Homosexuality. With the Advent of the AIDS epidemic in the 80's, Larouche had done a fine job of spreading disinformation on the "casual contact" spread of AIDS and outright conspiracy theories on the origin of AIDS. AIDS was a central plank in Larouche's mid 80's Presidential runs,Fueled by Larouche's Rhetoric on the topic affiliated activists formed the(Aptly named) PANIC committee which would place a proposition on the 1986 California state electoral ballot(Proposition 64) Which was portrayed by opponents as a mandatory forced quarantine of AIDS patients.Throughout the 70's and 80's Larouche and his supporters wrote editorials/articles that openly discriminated against Homosexulaity. An editorial in the LaRouche publication Illinois Tribunal wrote
that "… as a category, gays and lesbians do not represent a valid voting
constituency, and neither do prostitutes, drug pushers, child
molesters, warlocks, witches, pornographers, or others who are morally
equivalent."
So... no grey area there, Though keep in mind this is coming from the mind set of extreme nuerosis and fear of homosexulaity that was latent throughout the early 20th century culture of America. With Progressive attitudes prevailing in the 21st century,there is'nt much note or talk of Homophobia in the Larouche movement of today. Of course the Larouche Youth Movement is one of the main drives in recruiting for the movement,so naturally it will portray itself as progressive and appaeling to the younger generations. However this dark past of overt Homophobia and Anti-gay rhetoric should'nt be ignored.
Larouche the Fascist vs "Fascist "enemies: Many critics of Larouche refer to him as an outright Fascist,or that even the movement is Neo-Fascist. The origin of these allegations are mostly based on the early day's of the Larouche movement,and Larouche's direction to clean up(Violently assault) Left wing groups with Operation Mop up. Dennis King one of Larouche's most vocal critics put forward the notion in his book, Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism According to King, Larouche had an intense interest in Fascism as a political movement, and began to adapt some if it's practices in sloganeering and propaganda. Of course king's analysis and portrayl of Larouche as an open Fascist is a bit oversimplifiedIt should be noted that many of Larouche's critic's come from the Far left, which in recent years has itself exhibited charateristics(utilized tactics) of Fascist movements. However a historical pattern that can be noted is that much like the early Larouche organization, A number of the Fascist movements started out as professed Socialist's and crept ever rightward to full Fascism. The Fascist mudslinging brand and accusations of Fascism of course are'nt just one sided and directed at Larouche. Being the bombast that he (was) Larouche often branded his rivals as being Fascist's.Of course Larouche had no shortage of perceived enemies,He refered to his main rival's (Globalist's,Rockefellers, etc) societal goals as "Fascism with a Democratic Face". Larouche had more than a few daliances and and attempted alliances with Right wing groups(KKK?, Liberty Lobby) but post 70's and 80's Larouche moved away from explicit right wing rhetoric and tried to present himslef in a more mainstream light.
Where to now, Lyndon??
So the question is where is the Larouche organization headed in a post (Lyndon) world? Can they survive without the leadership of their name sake? There was an obvious cult of personality built around Larouche and his ideas,but how long can the organization continue on without his influence? Was Larouche larger than the life he lived,Was he so grandiose and bombastic that he could influence his followers to carry on his work for generations to come? Surprisingly for what started out as fringe political (quasi) cult,it's now a pretty successful social/political/economic reform organization with international branches and front groups.Larouche's widow has taken on the most prominent leadership role as founding head of the Schiller Institute,promoting worldwide economic reform(via BRICS style governance),Challenging the narrative of (human caused) Global climate change(we'll see how that works out in 50 years)and promoting the Eurasian land bridge (A.k.a. Chinese One,Belt,One Road infrastructure development).
Staying true to the nature of Larouche's view of History/ Conspiracy politics, The Larouch(ian's) have glommed themselves onto the Trump presidency,biting into the hook of Trump's PR as a rogue reformer of the global political system.(There seems to be some innate affinity to leaders with a propensity for conspiracy theorizing) So for now it seems they have found a figure who seems to be a temporary stand in for their once courageous leader.
