Conspiracy theories abound in American politics

The U.S. has a tradition of being suspicious, and the Internet is feeding that skepticism. As of late, there are tales spinning about Osama bin Laden and Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Osama bin Laden is alive and well. President Obama is a closet Kenyan. Arnold Schwarzenegger hid his out-of-wedlock child with the help of scheming reporters.

Most people dismiss such talk as obviously untrue, if not downright nutty. 

The last few weeks offer a case study. Within hours of Bin Laden's death, the Internet was flooded with claims that the story was, in fact, an elaborate hoax aimed at boosting Obama's reelection hopes and lulling Americans into a false sense of security. 

Americans are by nature suspicious, Goldberg said, and have been since the country was created. The founders were godly people who believed the country embodied all that was good and virtuous. The obverse of good is evil, and from the start there has been a belief — expressed anew by President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — that some would destroy America simply for its goodness....