No need to apologize to me on this one, I'm not in disagreement with you. The origin of this state of affairs is not a political conspiracy, though, it's just plain old greed.

The environmental movement is filled with cranks taking advantage of public interest and well-founded fears to push their own careers.

The advocates of the poor, the homeless, minorities (and immigrants!) are also infiltrated by opportunists who are exploiting valid causes to push their own careers.

Reformers and progressives everywhere are followed by individuals and organizations which take advantage of these movements to push their own careers.

And of course, sometimes even the most righteous causes succumb to corruption, like the labor movement.

I'm sure the Right has its share of wackos and carpetbaggers too, but I won't go into that. Someone might burn a cross in my yard.

I believe where you and I differ is that I see these as extemists and opportunists furthering their own agendas by attaching themselves to popular causes, I don't see it as a monolithic conspiracy of like-minded individuals with a long term goal. On the left or right. History is not driven by conspiracies, it is the result of many competing centers of interest, in shifting conflict and alliance, responding to historical forces and environmental conditions. Failure to realize this is in itsaelf a major factor. Any of these centers, however benign, once it aquires sufficient power, becomes obsessed with its own survival and tends to subordinate its original program to its own self-perpetuation, usually by attacking any movement which might be a potential threat.

There is no black and white, only shades of gray, what is often called the "nuanced" view. It's no surprise that even that term lately has come under attack as relativism and revisionism. It threatens the singularity of vision so essential to victory, and so dangerous to the truth.