America's unfaltering obsession with secret societies and conspiracy theories

“The United States was born in paranoia.”

That’s the first line in Colin Dickey’s new book, “Under the Eye of Power: How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy.”

From there, Dickey argues that politics in the U.S. have continually been shaped by secret societies and the conspiracies that surround them.

In the Antebellum South, conspiracies spread about slaves and those who helped them, especially on the underground railroad.

“Conspiracy theories were absolutely essential as one of many tools that enslavers and their allies used to avoid confronting the country’s original sin,” Dickey writes.

History moves forward with many more recent examples. Think QAnon and Pizzagate.