So a couple thoughts on this. First, in terms of the conspiracy theory angle, have you read Sheldon Wolin's work on Inverted Totalitarianism? He posits a form of government that has the trappings of democracy, but none of the actual citizen involvement due in part to making everyone feel like their voice doesn't matter. As for the information war, I think you're largely right. Really this is an unfortunate case of a lot of people being left behind by their country. But I think that they're actually the canaries in the coalmine. Those of us in white collar jobs have a much greater cushion against the greed of the 1%, and unemployment remains a lot lower among our cadre. But you'll notice it's getting worse, and if nothing changes, I expect another generation or two will see levels of poverty and drug addiction from college-educated households approaching those that we see in Coal Country right now. Thankfully, once enough senators' kids can't find work, I think we'll start seeing some policy changes.