THE GHOST OF LEO STRAUSS: MANY HIDDEN AGENDAS
By: Al Cronkrite
In 2003, I wrote the following [1] “At the root of this effective manipulation of power is the teaching of a man named Leo Strauss (1899-1973). Leo Strauss was a brilliant German Jew who after studying in Europe on a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation became a highly paid professor at the University of Chicago. According to Robert Locke [2] who studied under Professor Strauss, he was an atheist and the purveyor of an esoteric philosophy, which was critical of liberalism but supported Machiavellian deception and a ruling elite.”
“Robert Locke lists among Strauss’s students or those influenced by his students: Justice Clarence Thomas; Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork; Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz; former Assistant Secretary of State Alan Keyes; former Secretary of Education William Bennett; Weekly Standard editor and former Quayle Chief of Staff William Kristol; Allan Bloom, former New York Post editorials editor John Podhoretz; and former National Endowment for the Humanities Deputy Chairman John T. Agresto.”
“Not included in the list is Abram Shulsky who along with Paul Wolfowitz received a Doctorate in 1972 under Strauss’s tutelage.”
“His influence is pervasive and attractive to the group that forms the “Cabal” on a number of issues. He believed in the need for advisors and that those who have the ear of the King are more important than the King. He had a theory that ancient philosophers concealed hidden meanings in their works, which could only be understood by the intellectual few. He believed that governments must be deceptive because the people cannot comprehend the “truth” of value relativism. This premise may have resulted in the cult-like group of followers that can be found in large numbers around the Bush Administration and are surely accountable for the flagrant mendacity that has accompanied the Iraqi conquest.”
Contributors to Lew Rockwell’s internet page have added richly to the Strauss saga reducing and defining his intentions with agile eyes and minds. It is my delight since I am both old and a slow reader pressed to consume all of the original documents.
Recently Myles Kantor contributed a Lew Rockwell essay [3] that provided a definition of the Strauss phenomenon. He wrote that exoteric (public) messages contain esoteric (hidden) meanings. He gave this example “In a modern context, a journalist in East Germany or Iran today might exoterically denounce certain Western music and movies with the esoteric intention of making their countrymen aware of and interested in this art.”
From this pragmatic description of esoteric meaning one might extrapolate that the titillating flood of pornography and immoral entertainment that is regularly piped into our social order through the press, the media, and motion pictures is a hidden attempt to debase moral standards, create social chaos and foment revolution through the attraction of sex. Multiculturalism might be viewed in the same manner.
In another Rockwell article [4] Tom DiLorenzo quotes from an Anne Norton book, these “tiny, round-shouldered men,” the vast majority of whom have never served in the military, are almost insanely enthusiastic about war. They tell us that war - any war - will restore our “moral seriousness,” “clear away the fog of unthinking relativism,” enable us to see evil, restore virtue, heroism, valor, and a sense of sacrifice, allow us to die for our comrades, country and faith, avoid the “hazards of civilization,” make us more thoughtful, force us to “consider our loyalties,” make men “decisive,” and “places greatness within the reach of ordinary men.” She continues “Proof that this is all a bundle of propaganda aimed at duping the public into supporting imperialism is the fact that all of these glorious benefits are foregone by the Straussians themselves, who rarely, if ever, volunteer for military service. They also are quite conscientious about making sure that their children avoid the military like the plague.”
The announced purpose of American declarations of war, including the one in Iraq, invariably involves the protection of our “freedom” while the real purpose is the consolidation of power in the hands of an elite cadre who would rather have you or your sons die than themselves or their sons.
Even the freedom robbing legislation following 9/11 ostensibly designed to protect American citizens might have a clandestine purpose of initiating social controls that would allay any resistance to the imposition of world government.
In ancient Rome, the daily human slaughters in the Coliseum entertained the bloodthirsty populace but also diverted their attention while their rulers went about the business of empire.
According to David Gordon [5] “Strauss believed that the great political philosophers faced a dilemma. They often held views at odds with prevailing orthodoxy; should they propagate their dissent openly, they faced persecution. In any case, their doctrines were meant for an elite group of disciples, not for an unlearned public unfit to judge them.”
As countless public treaties and international agreements move America into esoteric world government the media only covers the event, keeping the real nature of the procedure hidden.
A Constitutionally proscribed government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people should have no need to distort reality, spin the facts or keep secrets. Government secrets not specifically involving national defense are tyrannical.
At the end of an article entitled Why Nazism was Socialism and Why Socialism is Totalitarian on “Mises Economic Blog” Professor George Reisman wrote:
“In the United States at the present time, we do not have socialism in any form. And we do not have a dictatorship, let alone a totalitarian dictatorship.”
“We also do not yet have Fascism, though we are moving towards it. Among the essential elements that are still lacking are one-party rule and censorship. We still have freedom of speech and press and free elections, though both have been undermined and their continued existence cannot be guaranteed.”
In an exoteric sense Professor Reisman is correct. However, in practice his analysis is dangerously false.
United States has an exoteric two party political system yet esoterically the election of either party makes little difference in our national direction; the nation continues to be raped and robbed regardless of which party is in power. Also, though speech and the press are not under exoteric government control there are esoteric restrictions that preclude the discussion of many important subjects and freeze out third party political candidates. This allows a covert manipulation of the election process that is tantamount to a single party system. Professor Reisman’s analysis of the exoteric conduct of our government results in an inaccurate picture of what is actually happening.
Its controllability fuels the quest to impose “Democracy” on the world.
If Myles Kantor’s example of Strauss’s promotion of hidden meaning is accurate, it appears Strauss has merely defined a procedure used by tyrannical governments for centuries.
The debate on the need for an elite ruling class is rooted in humanism. When government is a result of the musings of men, reason dictates that those whose thoughts are used should be the most brilliant.
However, when government is based on God’s Laws that are being passed on from father to son, they are known throughout the realm and there ceases to be a need for an elite class of rulers. Everyone including the soldiers and magistrates is individually subject to the same immutable and universal Laws.
It appears Strauss was just another smart heretic whose haughty opinions will continue to divide and confuse those involved with humanistic governments.
Notes:
[1] http://www.etherzone.com/2003/cron051503.shtml
[2] http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=1233
[3] http://www.lewrockwell.com/kantor/kantor84.html
[4] http://www.lewrockwell.com/kantor/kantor84.html
[5] http://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon7.html
“Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”