Is this how are country got so bad? "Leo Strauss"

[dave502d]

Strauss is a popular figure among the neoconservatives. Adherents of his ideas include prominent figures both within and outside the administration. They include 'Weekly Standard' editor William Kristol; his father and indeed the godfather of the neoconservative movement, Irving Kristol; the new Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, Stephen Cambone, a number of senior fellows at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) (home to former Defense Policy Board chairman Richard Perle and Lynne Cheney), and Gary Schmitt, the director of the influential Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which is chaired by Kristol the Younger.

http://www.alternet.org/story/15935

[cali]

1. I read a fascinating piece recently

about how Strauss' philosophy had been twisted in on itself by his diciples. I've never read any Strauss, so I can't really comment, but i'm curious now.

[joemurphy]

2. Neoplatonists are scary people. Read "The Republic"

sometime and you won't think so much of Plato. Strauss and his followers see themselves as the elite. Those most fit to rule.

But they have proven themselves to be a group of incompetent fools. Their pet project -- Iraq -- has blown up in their faces. The Democrats will have to clean up their sorry mess.

[dave502d]

4. Check this one too."Albert Wohlstetter "

http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/042003H.shtml

[ourbluenation]

3. I think this para sums the neo con view up nicely.

"It's hardly surprising then why Strauss is so popular in an administration obsessed with secrecy, especially when it comes to matters of foreign policy. Not only did Strauss have few qualms about using deception in politics, he saw it as a necessity. While professing deep respect for American democracy, Strauss believed that societies should be hierarchical – divided between an elite who should lead, and the masses who should follow. But unlike fellow elitists like Plato, he was less concerned with the moral character of these leaders. According to Shadia Drury, who teaches politics at the University of Calgary, Strauss believed that "those who are fit to rule are those who realize there is no morality and that there is only one natural right – the right of the superior to rule over the inferior."

[Emit]

5. Fits right in with John Dean's most recent book

Conservatives Without Conscience about "conservative authoritarians."

[ourbluenation]

6. I have got to order that book - I keep hearing about it. n/t

[alfredo]

7. Do it. Dean's writing is very good, no matter the subject.

It's even more chilling than Kevin Phillips' "American Theocracy."