| By Administrator on Uncategorized On occasion, the Straussians slip and show their real colors. For instance, take William Kristol. On Fox News Sunday, for a brief moment, Kristol, who likes to portray himself as a Joe Regular with a sense of humor, pulled the cover off the Straussian scam. Straussians, as Strauss scholar Shadia Drury has documented, like to come off as flag-waving Americans, nothing more or less than Middle American conservatives, when in fact they are avid supporters of totalitarianism, as envisioned by the Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt, Strauss’ mentor. Straussians “are convinced that they are the superior few who know the truth and are entitled to rule. But they are afraid to speak the truth openly, lest they are persecuted by the vulgar many who do not wish to be ruled by them,” Drury notes. “They are afraid to reveal that Strauss was a critic of liberalism and democracy, lest he be regarded as an enemy of America. So, they wrap him in the American flag and pretend that he is a champion of liberal democracy for political reasons—their own quest for power. The result is that they run roughshod over truth as well as democracy…. In his book On Tyranny, Strauss referred to the right of the superior to rule as ‘the tyrannical teaching’ of the ancients which must be kept secret. But what is the reason for secrecy? Strauss tells us that the tyrannical teaching must be kept secret for two reasons—to spare the people’s feelings and to protect the elite from possible reprisals. After all, the people are not likely to be favorably disposed to the fact that they are intended for subordination.” Thus Kristol let slip on Fox News in response to comments made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khameni: “Maybe we should have Supreme Leader Bush. I kind of like the sound of that.” Bill thought he made a funny. But what he did, for a brief albeit brightly illuminated moment, was reveal the inner most thinking of the Straussians, now in control of the “unitary executive.” Few noticed the glaring truth of this seemingly off-the-cuff comment. It was mentioned on Crooks and Liars, Democratic Underground, Antiwar, and discussion made an appearance on numerous forums. But naturally the corporate media completely ignored the comment. It was allowed to drift up in the air, suspended for a small moment, and then evaporate into the cauldron that is the corporate media news cycle. It was, after all, nothing more than Bill making a funny on Fox News Sunday, another bit of talking head banter. Like Bush’s “so long as I am the dictator” comment, few bother to note the Straussians say what they mean, although usually with a heaping dose of esotericism. It may be unfair to hitch Strauss’ philosophy to the Nazi Carl Schmitt’s wagon, as their interaction appears to be limited. Strauss had more to do with Alexandre Kojève, a Hegelian philosopher, a proponent of universal fascism, often deemed a Machiavellian Mephistopheles (one of the chief demons of Christian mythology), a grand and ingenious defender of evil, and friend of Carl Schmitt. Kojève also claimed to be a Stalinist. “The fact that Leo Strauss considered Kojève his intellectual partner, and the man who brought the element of ‘purgative violence’ to Strauss’ own esoteric power schemes, is of special significance, given the current dominant role that the Strauss-Kojève ‘kindergarten’ is playing in Washington—promoting a U.S.A.-centered global empire, with many Synarchist features,” write Jeffrey Steinberg, Tony Papert, and Barbara Boyd. (Synarchism, from Greek words meaning “to rule together,” is often used in reference to secret societies and “planetary management for Earth,” or one world government; see Joseph George Caldwell.) Among the leading Strauss disciples who dominate the war party in and around the Bush Administration are: Paul Wolfowitz, a personal protégé of Kojève student Allan Bloom; Rupert Murdoch-bankrolled neo-con propagandist William Kristol; Pentagon disinformation czar Abram Shulsky; Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; Attorney General John Ashcroft; Project for the New American Century director Gary Schmitt (he and Shulsky co-authored a paean to Strauss, titled “Leo Strauss and the World of Intelligence” which trashed CIA National Intelligence Board founder Sherman Kent); and “World War IV” propagandist Robert Kagan…. Kojève’s rabid glorification of Jacobinism, Bonapartism, and purgative violence has clearly made its mark on the war party apparatus in and around the Cheney-Wolfowitz cabal…. Leo Strauss, sensitive to postwar Americans’ hatred for all things fascist, deceptively wrapped himself in the legacy of the Founding Fathers, for public consumption. He sent his favorite disciples to Paris—to Alexandre Kojève’s salon—for the full fascist/Synarchist indoctrination. Despite that sleight of hand, the stench of historical fascism is too deep to rub off Wolfowitz, Kristol, Fukuyama, and the entire coterie of Dick Cheney-protected putschists, who would turn the U.S.A. into a sick parody of the first modern fascist empire, the France of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Thus, on Fox News Sunday, we caught a whiff “the stench of historical fascism” as it momentarily wafted from Bill Kristol. |
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