I wouldn’t call that a kernel of truth so much as having a tenuous connection to some pre existing collective schema. Companies lobby the government to get law

I wouldn’t call that a kernel of truth so much as having a tenuous connection to some pre existing collective schema. Companies lobby the government to get laws passed that positively impact their bottom line. However I would not consider this some kernel of truth supporting the theory that “big seatbelt” is trying to take away your freedom, and seatbelt laws are part of a boiling the frog approach to turn the US into a totalitarian state. Another class of BS “conspiracy” theories are simply contested political issues. Here the wacko conspiracy part usually comes into play as some erroneous motive ascribed to one of the parties.