Michael Cumiskey
Would it be so easy to successfully challenge our democracy and alter our value system?Imagine a wealthy American determined in his belief and practice of the cult of Scientology, landing in Great Britain with the intention of pursuing a wholesale conversion of the country to a very different economic and belief system...In this instance, two serious criminal events presage Stanley Groom’s arrival in Britain and signify the start of a well-planned campaign (if not an invasion). Initially, it is via the adoption of an established criminal empire that Groom seeks to finance his operation. In the beginning, his influence and his progress are due in part to the lack of a proper moral dimension.Although the American’s background is drawn from a situation of extreme penury and petty crime, he is a high achiever and quickly surrounds himself with those of similar ilk. His plan is opposed in England by two senior policemen and later by the leader of the original Scientologists movement back in America. In both instances, both opponents eventually feel it necessary to resort to extreme measures to defeat Groom’s intentions employing similar measures to those he has already demonstrated. Given the political implications, there is no easy answer or convenient resolution.
