The Mystery of Bilderberg

With the Bilderberg Group’s annual pow-wow currently underway, I thought I would take a moment to add a few of my thoughts on the matter amongst the flood of speculation currently floating around the interwebz.  I’ve often thought about starting a separate blog which would cover politics, although it would have absolutely nothing to do with political ideology the way we know it today.  Rather it would be about the dark arts of politics, the manipulation, propaganda operations, how populations are managed, and the shady activities of elites all while (I hope) steering clear of the more ludicrous conspiracy theories.  Maybe I will get to this project after I finish college.  However, I do want to throw a few thoughts out there in regards to Bilderberg since my novels do involve lots of conspiracy.

What is the Bilderberg Group?  The best information we have is that the Bilderberg Group is an informal organization in which the most powerful individuals hailing from both the public and private sectors meet and discuss global issues.  Attendees include the CEO’s of major corporations and heads of state, many lists of these attendees has been leaked over the years and can be found on the internet although it seems fairly certain that other guests attend who require more discretion and do not appear on the official rolls.  These would include US Presidential candidates for instance.  Apparently, the Bilderberg attendees split into four separate steering groups each day, each to discuss a different topic (ranging from cyber security to energy issues to the invasion of Iraq) and then at the end they come together as one to try to find common ground on the issues previously discussed.

So what do we have here?  First, we have an elite affinity group, an elite network.  Second, we have elite consensus building.  Does this constitute a “shadow government” that secretly yanks on the levers of power?  No, I don’t believe that for a moment.  Bilderberg discusses policy issues within a highly influential group but I see little indication that this group goes back to their respective countries and then enacts said policy.  The process is much more complicated than that.

Rather than a shadow government, we have an affinity network or group.  An affinity group is any organization in which individuals come together, formally or informally, and build relationships and rapport, and perhaps work towards a goal.  This is a common theme in civil society and other examples could include everyone from the Masons, to labor unions, to a butterfly collecting association.  I could be seen as belonging to an affinity network myself as a Special Operations veteran.  When I meet others who served in the Ranger Regiment or in Special Forces we certainly have an affinity for each other as we have a shared experience, served in the same elite units, and know lots of the same people.  For this reason, there is a lot of inherent trust between us right off the bat and we can work together as civilians on a handshake without any issues.  The Bilderberg Group provides a similar function for the Western elites.

But here is the rub…  Bilderberg is also an elite consensus building network.  Me and my Army pals are not policy makers and are normally only making decisions that effect each other or those immediately surrounding us.  Same goes for the guild of butterfly collectors, the association of wood furniture makers, and professional beer drinkers association.  The difference is that Bilderberg is a group of elites who are often the decision makers for national and international policy within their respective countries.  At Bilderberg they are building a consensus with other elites…completely outside any democratic process with zero accountability to their constituents and no peer review. The Bilderberg Group operates outside the bounds of the checks and balances found in the US Constitution.  What they are doing is probably not illegal but certainly unseemly and should be unacceptable to voters who put the elected official who attend Bilderberg into office.

For this reason, I do not think that Bilderberg is necessarily always discussing policies which are intrinsically evil, but the manner in which they are talking about them is unacceptable to a free and open society.  That said, some of the consensus that is built should certainly rise eyebrows.  Global warming agendas, global government, and international intervention (last year a anti-Assad opposition leader attended) are all controversial topics that should be debated openly, not in secret behind closed doors.

Taking this into account, I still find Bilderberg to be one of the more benign internationalist organizations out there.  There are others which appear far more sinister, such as The Circle, an annual meeting of intelligence officials.  In my studies I’ve also run across other very secretive cliques.  These are not just affinity networks, but also operational organizations, some with access to large amounts of money, and filled with members who believe in fringe ideologies.  Yes, there are much more frightening groups out there and many of them are right here in America.