Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

There were plenty of individuals on the Warren Commission who had no knowledge of the conspiracy, who were told nothing, not before, not after, not ever. And yet, they tried hard to engrave the official story into the social and political landscape. And I'm saying that they were just as driven to do it as the people who had actually done it, who had committed the crime. 

So why? Why did they accept the official story so sweepingly? And I mean to the point that their minds never even broached the possibility that it was wrong, terribly wrong. Why did they have no doubt?

That's actually very easy to answer. It's because the official story- the lonenut story- HAD to be true because if it wasn't true, it meant that America, as they knew it, didn't exist, not any more.

This is America, and in America we don't have coups. We don't have bloody overthrows where elected leaders get slaughtered in the streets. We don't shoot a man with his wife sitting right next to him where she very easily could have been hit. They didn't mean to hit Connally, but they did; and they could just as easily have hit Jackie. The wanton disregard for her safety- for her life- is appalling too.

But, the heart of the matter is that this is supposed to be a GOOD country. It's supposed to be the BEST country, meaning morally the best; the most decent; the most honorable; the most respectful of the rule-of-law, the most democratic, etc. But, if the national security arm of the US government can slaughter the President in broad daylight and get away with it, it means that the Constitution, the elections, and the democratic institutions are just a facade; they are just a show, and the ideal of America is just an illusion. 

So, that was their choice: either believe the official story and keep their vision of America or reject the official story and recognize that America doesn't exist. And the latter was a nightmare that they were not going to invite into their lives. Better to accept, unflinchingly and uncritically, the official story. 

So, that was the core process, but there were also a lot of carrots being waved at them. The people who worked on the Warren Commission got paid and paid well. Furthermore, they realized, because they were told, that it could be a slingshot to their whole career. And that was true at all levels, from high up to down low. Didn't his work in the Warren Commission slingshot Gerald Ford into the White House? Didn't Arlen Specter become a Senator because of it? I don't assume that either one of them had prior knowledge of the assassination, and I don't assume that afterwards anybody ever tapped them on the arm and said, "Psst. You know, of course, that we did it, right?" 

The positive reinforcement that they were given- consisting of not only praise and thanks but also promises of rewards- were powerful incentives to not only accept the official story but sell it. And with the help of all the "group think" that was going on around them by all the respectable people, it was actually quite easy; very easy; extremely easy. 

Statism is a religion. And the American version of it is just as fanatical as the Soviet version or the Nazi version.