Progressive-era muckraking was conspiracism fused with a theory of democracy

Evidence

A high point of conspiracist thinking tethered to political theory was Progressivism in the late nineteenth century. The apparatus of political parties and the interests they served amounted to a system of corruption, collusion, and fraud, the argument went. Think party bosses, smoke-filled rooms, patronage and spoils, and voters not persuaded but bought. Progressives ferreted out the facts “all tending the same way,” revealed patterns of corruption, and wove them into narratives of a covert combination of corporate monopolies and party bosses. We call it investigative reporting; they called it muckraking. The Progressives’ purpose was to break up the corporate forces combining to subvert democracy and to wrest politics from political machines. In their place, they championed nonpartisan local government, reliance on expertise, and, above all, direct democratic participation. Progressives’ conspiracy theory about schemes to capture democracy was inseparable from a theory of democracy. They had a political ideology and program of action. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 72

Categorization

• SEED: Possible essay: investigative journalism as the respectable wing of conspiracism — when does pattern-finding about corruption become illegitimate conspiracy theory, and what distinguishes muckraking from the new conspiracism?
• XREF: Connects to the recurring modern question of whether investigative reporting and conspiracy talk are the same epistemic genre with different legitimacy. — connects to: New conspiracism is antiparty, not “just fix it” pragmatism or reform-minded Progressivism — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 219; Progressive muckraking saw conspiracy in monopolies and party bosses — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 215

Broader Connections

• Progressive muckraking saw conspiracy in monopolies and party bosses #exemplifies (0.90) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 215
• New conspiracism is antiparty, not “just fix it” pragmatism or reform-minded Progressivism #complicates (0.85) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 219