Does Cass Sunstein Propose Levying Taxes On Conspiracy Theorists?

Conspiracy theories pose serious risks, including violence, and their existence raises significant challenges for policy and law. Understanding the mechanisms by which conspiracy theories prosper and how they might be addressed is crucial. There are two possible responses to conspiracy theories: government bans or imposing taxes. However, those who hold conspiracy theories often suffer from a “crippled epistemology”, which makes it rational to hold such theories.

In 2010, novelist and far-left activist Marc Estrin found an online version of a paper by Cass Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School. Sunstein and Vermeule’s proposed “cure” for conspiracy theories is unlikely to work and is inconsistent with the values of liberal democracy.

Cass Robert Sunstein, an American legal scholar known for his work in constitutional law, administrative law, and environmental law, has been criticized for his controversial essays. The author argues that their position depends on an equivocation over the meaning of the term “conspiracy theory”. This equivocation reflects a widespread assumption that powerful people have worked together to withhold the truth about important issues.

Conspiracy theories have become a common trope in recent news reporting, with stories like “look at the latest stupid conspiracy theory and the idiots who believe it”. Drs. Nick Chater and George Loewenstein created a stir in the behavioral economics world when they argued that some conspiracy theories are not true.

Karl Raimund Popper, a philosopher who put conspiracy theories on the philosophical agenda, discussed conspiracies as a political reality, while Machiavelli discussed conspiracies as a political reality.