@krnel your post is rational, well thought out and articulated.
I think the problem though is not necessarily that those who would call themselves the arbiters of truth are deluded or lying; they simply seek to rule through brute force.
Might makes right.
One must be searching for the truth in order to find it; it is rare to merely stumble across it and recognize it for what it is.
They are deluded to think might makes right ;)
But they've also got most of the guns and all of the prisons.
The good thing is that the blockchain has the potential to effectively neuter them.