Lyndon H LaRouche - The power of reason.jpg
 | Lyndon H LaRouche - The power of reason.jpg Rozmiar 49 KB |
There are sharply contrasting opinions on LaRouche. Supporters have described him as the greatest living economist, and a political leader in the tradition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Martin Luther King. Critics have called him an extremist, a theorist of conspiracies, a political cult leader, a fascist, or an anti-semite. The Heritage Foundation has said that he "leads what may well be one of the strangest political groups in American history". In 1984, LaRouche's research staff was described by Norman Bailey, a former senior staffer of the National Security Council, as "one of the best private intelligence services in the world". In 2008, Russian economist Stanislav Menshikov described LaRouche as being "among those few economists who look at the root causes, and therefore see what others cannot see".
LaRouche was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in 1988 for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and tax code violations, but continued his political activities from behind bars until his release in 1994 on parole. His defense attorney, Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. Attorney General, argued that the case represented an unprecedented abuse of power by the U.S. government in an effort to destroy the LaRouche organizations. LaRouche and his defenders believe the prosecution was a politically motivated conspiracy involving government officials, numerous others, and a mass-media brainwashing campaign.
LaRouche is currently listed as a director and contributing editor of the Executive Intelligence Review News Service, part of the LaRouche movement. He has written extensively on economic, scientific, and political topics as well as on history, philosophy, and psychoanalysis.