[MD] Neoconservatism

[aesuszynski]

To David from Alice

Craig said

"At first I thought the article was a satire, but this link explains it:"

I was just about to suggest that you, David,  were perhaps having a joke at 
the expense of all of us, because the selections you presented were so 
obviously not objective. I thought maybe you were trying to make that your 
point, which I didn't get, but thought there might be a punchline somewhere.

About your last post...

First, this guy needs an editor.

Second, I largely agree with him.

Third, as he says in the last paragraph the tide is turning. Unfortunately, 
I don't see anyone too promising in the wings. But maybe that is for the 
best. Politicians are jerks, you can't trust any of them.

Forth, I  think there is enough competent media around these days which will 
seek to present the "truth" about what is going on, but as I said before, I 
think one needs to be sceptical and always on the lookout for bias.

Fifth, as Jefferson said, we will wind up with the government we deserve.








----- Original Message ----- 
From: "david buchanan" <dmbuchanan at hotmail.com>
To: <moq_discuss at moqtalk.org>
Cc: <dbuchanan at cpr.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2006 6:21 PM
Subject: Re: [MD] Neoconservatism


>
> The Philosophy of Leo Strauss: Oligarchs with Myths. The author's real 
> name
> is hidden. He is an "ephilosopher" who calls himself Monty Cantsin. (but 
> I'd
> bet he can.)
>
> Leo Strauss was born in Germany during the last year of the 19th century,
> where he studied philosophy, natural science and mathematics. By 1932 
> though
> he left his native country and gained a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship
> through the personal recommendation of the Nazi legal philosopher Carl
> Schmitt. Eventually Strauss made his way to the United States of America
> where he gained work as political philosophy professor at the New School 
> for
> Social Research, and then, the University of Chicago. Through Strauss's
> years of teaching at these institutions he gained a following of devoted
> students who became in turn teachers and implementers of his political
> philosophy. Through this essay we will analyse the influences on Leo 
> Strauss
> and what came to be the political philosophy he supported. Furthermore we
> will look at the influence Straussian philosophy is having on world 
> politics
> through its influence on the American consciousness.
>
> 1
>
> Strauss came to age during a time of great turbulence; the Treaty of
> Versailles kept the liberal Weimar Republic in constant economic 
> depression
> leading to high unemployment and street fights between the Freikorps, 
> Brown
> Shirts of the Nazis against the communist party's Red Front. It was during
> these times that he became concerned with the crisis of modernity.
>
> This Crisis of modernity is a phenomenon that many great thinkers have
> analysed and given answers to elucidate it. Karl Marx saw the crisis of
> modernity as the Frankenstein nature of capital and its institutions,
> conjured by the bourgeoisie "like the sorcerer who is no longer able to
> control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his
> spells"(1). For Albert Camus the crisis was the absurdity of life, like
> Sisyphus working constantly for a meaningless cause. Martin Heidegger 
> views
> it as an existential crisis of 'the forgetting of Being'. But for Strauss
> theses thinkers have misdiagnosed the crisis of modernity, the problem as 
> he
> views it is the problem of relativism.
>
> The relativism of our modern age leads us into the abyss of nihilism, 
> where
> everything is subjected to ruthless criticism by individuals who believe 
> in
> nothing, thus subverting the shared values that underpin society and 
> uphold
> 'the natural right'. Furthermore According to Strauss the weakness of
> liberalism is its compromising nature which is a materialisation of
> relativism which if left unchecked will lead into the decay and eventual
> collapse of society. This is how Strauss analysed the Weimar Republic 
> which
> decayed and collapsed under pressure from communists to ultranationalists
> and militarists. He viewed American liberalism as in the same boat as the
> weak compromising relativism of the Weimar republic.
>
> The relativism of modernity comes about because modern philosophers are
> unable to find essential truths but only accidental truths, thus finding 
> no
> absolute moral values. Thus Strauss turns to classical antiquity. -
>
> "It is not self-forgetting and pain-loving antiquarianism nor
> self-forgetting and intoxicating romanticism which induces us to turn with
> passionate interest, with unqualified willingness to learn, toward the
> political thought of classical antiquity. We are impelled to do so by the
> crisis of our time, the crisis of the West." (2)
>
> This return to classic political philosophy focused mainly on Platonism,
> because the crisis of modernity was formed not by material processes as 
> Marx
> would have it. But by modern philosopher starting with Machiavelli and
> Hobbes who eventually led to the "third wave" of modern philosopher such 
> as
> Nietzsche or Heidegger were values and morals are contained only within
> human-subjectivity. Moreover when Sartre declares "if I regard a certain
> course of action as good, it is only I who choose to say that it is good 
> and
> not bad"(3) this leads to certain conclusions in the realm of political
> philosophy of having no essential values and thus nothing to bound society
> together and give it direction. The relativism and histrionism of 
> modernity
> lead Strauss to Plato because "Platonists are not concerned with the
> historical (accidental) truth, since they are exclusively interested in 
> the
> philosophic (essential) truth" (4).
>
> Plato's notion of truth is based on the relationship between "intellectual
> illumination" or "The Form of the Good" and "representations" and 
> "shadows"
> (5). In Plato's theory of forms "the form of the good" is pure knowledge 
> as
> an abstraction or a priori which is a higher form then matter. Matter is
> just a representation or substandard copy of the form of the good and thus
> an imperfect form. Thus opinions based on perception based stimuli are
> flawed and can never be knowledge even though humans have a divine spark 
> of
> the form of the good within them. Plato's notions of truth were expensed
> with metaphors and allegories, most famously in 'the allegory of the 
> cave'.
> In which prisoners are kept from childhood shackled in a cave immobilised
> with a fire burning behind them which they cannot see, all the while on a
> raised path way man carry shapes of animals and various objects. These
> objects project shadows upon the wall which the prisoners see and play a
> game naming them, at the same time when the man carrying shapes speak the
> prisoners believe the noises come from the shadows. For the prisoners this
> is their reality, knowing nothing of the world outside of the cave. Plato
> thought that because they lived their whole life without direct light to
> turn and look at the fire would hurt their eyes but to leave the cave and
> see the sun would blind them, thus the prisoners would rather live in 
> their
> cave. This draws very closely with Plato's metaphor of the sun, the
> illuminating form of the good which we cannot understand because we are
> trapped within our own "cave". Thus for Strauss with all his talk of
> essential truths we find a man walking around in the back of a cave trying
> to find knowledge while it's the illuminating light which he shies away
> from.
>
> But while Strauss has problems finding knowledge as in the highest form of
> truth that doesn't stop him from disseminating 'truths' to the people.
> Strauss thought that society needs two pillars of mythology in which to 
> give
> it strength, direction and the continuation of the natural rights. The 
> myths
> that hold strong societies together must be propagated by a vanguard of
> "philosopher kings" as Plato would have it and Strauss encoded. Though the
> philosopher kings don't actually have to believe in the noble lies they
> propagate that is why they must have an esoteric side to their writings to
> communicate with other philosophers or "superman" if we want to highlight
> the influences of Nietzsche on Strauss and his followers. Furthermore 
> their
> exoteric deceptions propagate myths which bind society to the ideal of
> natural rights.
>
> The First pilar in the mythology of strong societies is the use of 
> religion.
> Strauss would agree with Marx famous dictum 'religion is the opium of the
> masses' (6) but he would see it as a necessary illusion. A religious 
> belief
> system puts morals out side the realm of human-subjectivity which
> characterises the existentialist philosophy (which is the 'third wave' of
> modernity). Thus making a binding self of values by which society is
> directed and individuals invested. This is also a continuation of Strauss
> wars with the modern on behalf of the ancients. Plato envisioned a caste
> society which institutions of education dispensed an ideological imprint 
> on
> its individuals going as far as to ban certain poets and artist who break
> with the ideological hegemony of his perfect society. Such banned artist
> would be Homer or Hesiod because they present gods in a bad image, as
> plotting and fighting which according to Plato is against the nature of
> divinity. This kind of religious reasoning was used by monarchist to 
> justly
> the rule of the king, claiming a divine right. But the enlightenment sort 
> to
> overthrow notions of divine right and religious reasoning which was seen 
> as
> hiding material vested interested which should be called despotism. Deism
> was championed by moderate critics such as Voltaire to install an age of
> reason in which church and religion were separated from the affairs of 
> state
> where secularism would reign. Some enlightenment thinkers went as far to
> expound a mechanical materialism such as Denis Diderot. In the realm of
> political philosophy Rousseau thought that sovereignty should be held by 
> the
> general will of the people and that law should be their will
> universalised(7). But for Strauss this view of things is unacceptable
> because it was part of the development of relativism which weakened 
> society
> and the "superman", "the herd" (8) dimension (the natural rights).
>
> The second pilar of mythology for strong society was the notion of
> patriotism. The ideal of the nation was for Strauss a tool to unite the
> people against the relativism of modernity. Hermann Goering once said:-
>
> "Naturally the common people don't want war. But after all, it is the
> leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple
> matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy or a fascist
> dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no
> voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. 
> This
> is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and
> denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country
> to danger. It works the same in every country." (9)
>
> Strauss would agree with this statement, furthermore he sees it's as a
> necessary illusion for manipulation of peoples consent and thus obedience.
> The manufacturing of an enemy is used throughout history to galvanise and
> unite the people. The threat doesn't have to be a real threat, did the
> Spanish blow up the United States ship U.S.S. Maine that exploded in 
> Havana
> Harbour? We don't know but the United States of America went to war and
> managed to greatly increase it influence. The assassination Franz 
> Ferdinand
> by the Narodna Odbrana a Serbian terrorist group lead to world war one, 
> but
> it was just the excuse for the war. Europe was set to explode which was 
> well
> known, the second international met in 1912 two years before the war to 
> work
> out a policy on the coming imperialist conflict. War has always been used 
> as
> a tool long before and after Carl von Clausewitz wrote in the
> Eighteen-hundreds:-
>
> "War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, 
> a
> continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other
> means. ... for the political view is the object, War is the means, and the
> means must always include the object in our conception" (10)
>
> Strauss considered himself a conservative scholar (opposed to philosopher
> who originate systems of thought, scholars just judge and reason with
> pre-existing systems, at least this is Strauss own categorisation) who
> returned to classical philosophy for an answer to the crisis of the west, 
> of
> modernity. Strauss believed that the enlightenment along with it's
> relativism that undermined societal unity and values brought a new
> conception of nature and the relation of philosophy to society. Strauss
> wanted to return the Platonist conception of nature opposed to the 
> tradition
> of the enlightenment epitomised by thinkers like Rousseau who felt human
> nature shifted under different material contexts. This idea was taken
> further by Karl Marx, who felt nature was a temporal condition that was
> negated by the actions of mankind determining their own human nature and
> conditions. Though this was a two way street of conditions influencing the
> individual and the individual influencing the conditions:-
>
> "Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they 
> do
> not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances
> existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of 
> all
> dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living." 
> (11)
>
> The revolutionary humanism of Marx in the tradition of the enlightenment
> though of cause a critical adaptation of the tradition was of the 
> political
> movements which Strauss sort to guard against. Strauss was an
> Anti-histrionist who saw Marx ideas us based on accidental truths in 
> attempt
> to undermined 'natural rights'. Thus Strauss whished that bring forward 
> the
> ideals of Plato ironically would address current historical problems. The
> natural rights which are being subverted by revolutionary humanism and
> liberalism were the ideal that society must be hierarchical that the 
> masses
> must be lead by a vanguard of philosopher kings. The philosopher kings 
> must
> guard their intentions though and maintain their deception and myths,
> Straussian Esotericism does not go us far as that of Ammonius Saccas (12)
> who wrote nothing of his ideas and is only known according to his 
> followers.
> Though another irony of Leo Strauss is through his works and teaching his
> philosopher of deceit has become well-known in circles who don't hold
> favourable views on his aims. Another why in which the enlightenment
> challenged Strauss views was in the relation of philosophy to the city or
> society. For enlightenment thinkers philosophy was to become exoteric even
> though they wrote in an esoteric way something of a historical constraint
> (avoiding censorship and such, Denis Diderot was haunted by the police). 
> For
> Marx philosophy and theory was consciousness of material forces:-
>
> "We develop new principles for the world out of the world's own 
> principles.
> We do not say to the world: Cease your struggles, they are foolish; we 
> will
> give you the true slogan of struggle. We merely show the world what it is
> really fighting for, and consciousness is something that it has to 
> acquire,
> even if it does not want to." (13)
>
> Which is quite contrary to Strauss who thought truth was only grasped in 
> the
> abstract. Furthermore Marx felt philosophy to have any relevance must be
> gripped by the people, "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, 
> in
> various ways;
> the point is to change it"(14). While Strauss saw all philosophy as
> political this is not the use he would see it put.
>
> The philosophy of Leo Strauss is based on Plato who incidentally the 
> liberal
> democrat Karl Popper called a "proto-totalitarian", (15) this philosophy 
> is
> an attempt to resecure the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie from subversive
> and dangerous philosophical-political movements of the moderns.
>
> 2
>
> The philosophy of Leo Strauss found its practical expression in a group of
> his students and readers who rallied together in infiltrating political
> philosophy departments, think tanks and government institutions and have
> became known as "Neo-conservatives". Though there is no group who
> self-identifies as "Neo-conservative", even though the press is ready to
> label them and plain conservatives to draw distinctions. This section of 
> the
> essay will focus on major events and figures in the history of the
> Straussian conservative movement and its effect on the workings of
> government and world affaires.
>
> Karl Marx once wrote that new revolution grown of new struggles find their
> sprit in old revolutions:-
>
> "Thus the awakening of the dead in those revolutions served the purpose of
> glorifying the new struggles, not of parodying the old; of magnifying the
> given task in the imagination, not recoiling from its solution in reality;
> of finding once more the spirit of revolution, not making its ghost walk
> again."(16)
>
> The neo-conservatives are not like normal conservatives being as they see
> themselves as closer to revolutionaries contrary to the normal 
> conservatives
> who want stability in world affairs and at home. Claes Ryn sees the
> neo-conservatives as a variant of Neo-Jacobinism, while other see them as
> trying to create a new roman empire. Others draw the neo-conservative 
> drive
> for 'democratic revolution' as an adaptation of Trotsky's "permanent
> revolution" (17) seeing that early Neo-conservatives such as Irving 
> Kristol
> (sometimes called the godfather of the neoconservative movement) was 
> himself
> a member of the Fourth international (Trotskyist international, opposed to
> the third [Stalinist] international). Furthermore Neo-conservatives have
> been greatly influenced by the ideas of Max Shachtman a non-orthodox
> Trotskyist who argued with Trotsky over the class nature of the soviet
> republic drawing the conclusion that it was a Bureaucratic collectivist
> state which should not be supported even critically (contrary to Trotsky's
> notion of deformed workers state). But also the ex-Trotskyist thinker 
> James
> Burnham who declared "the war of 1914 was the last great war of capitalist
> society" and that "the war of 1939 is the first great war of managerial
> society" (18), his notion of "managerial revolution" (19) is capitalism 
> has
> been slowly eroding away and that Nazi Germany, Soviet union and the 
> united
> states under the new deal represented a new society - "Managerial society"
> (20).
>
> Within this new world order however someone wishes to characterise it, two
> of the most prevalent and longest standing politicians in the
> Neo-conservative movement are Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, Both having
> served under many administrations. Donald Rumsfeld served under the Nixon
> administration but started to make real headway for the neo-conservative
> movement during the Presidency of Gerald R. Ford. In the position of White
> House Chief of Staff Member of the President's Cabinet (1974-1975); and 
> the
> 13th U.S. Secretary of Defence (1975-1977). It was during this time that
> Rumsfeld and Cheney became evolved in controversy surrounding the death of
> CIA scientist Frank Olson who was involved in Project MKULTRA a now
> uncovered operation researching mind control drugs, experiments often
> carried out on non-consenting victims (American and Canadian, Theodore
> Kaczynski the Unabomber is thought to be a victim). Cheney and Rumsfeld
> helped organise the white house response to Olson's death, which was not
> accepted by the Olson's family and close friends. The government offered
> settlement out of court which the family accepted. In 1994, Professor 
> James
> E. Starrs of The George Washington University determined that Olson had
> suffered some form of blunt force trauma prior to falling out of the 
> window,
> and called the evidence "rankly and starkly suggestive of homicide". 
> In1996
> Manhattan district attorney opened a homicide investigation into Olson's
> death but was unable to find enough evidence to file charges. Eric Olson
> still believes his father developed moral qualms about his work and then 
> the
> United States government had him killed. But also amidst the controversy 
> in
> these positions Rumsfeld is attributed a large role in increasing the 
> power
> of the military within the government at the expanse of the CIA and Henry
> Kissinger, who traditionally has been an enemy of the neo-conservatives
> because he supported a pragmatist approach to stability rather then
> revolutionising the world order. Rumsfeld achieved this power play victory
> by propagating the view or noble lie that the Soviet Union was spending 
> more
> on arms and that the appropriate response was a United States arms
> production increase. This view was contrary to all reports done by the CIA
> at the time who concluded that the Soviet Union was suffering from 
> economic
> decline that would lead to collapse of the system. Furthermore at his time
> Rumsfeld paved the way for the idea's of Leo Strauss to become more
> accepted, though the neo-conservatives never attained much weight in
> directing foreign policy until the Reagan's administration and the end of
> Détente.
>
> The Détente ended with a chain of events one being the Islamist revolution
> in Iran led the United States populace and government to believe they were
> losing power and their position in the world. During Reagan's presidency 
> the
> neo-conservatives were considered only a small faction within the
> administration. But Reagan was an anti-communist throughout his life, 
> during
> his acting career he informed on many people he considered 'un-American' 
> or
> 'disloyal' becoming a FBI informant under the code name "Agent T-10". On
> becoming president Reagan heated up the rhetoric of the cold war and
> increased defence spending, thus producing a renewed arms race between the
> Russian soviets and themselves. Furthermore the Reagan administration
> outline to win the cold war was one to increase the negotiating position 
> of
> the United States by increased strategic position through arms 
> superiority.
> Too bring out the arms race would lead to increased soviet spending on
> defence which would contribute to its already declining economy. Three was
> support of clandestine Anti-soviet forces and right-wing dictatorships
> (fascism) to Holt any increase in the Anti-USA power bloc (which included
> many countries and ideologies).
>
> The new foreign policy of the Reagan administration basic aim was the same
> as all American foreign polices for the last century differing only in 
> scop.
> The basic aim of American foreign policy is to continue its ideological
> hegemony and support it's "interests". Thus a country that doesn't pose a
> military threat to the United States and its citizens can still be a
> legitimate target because it doesn't comply with United States ideological
> alignment and thus represents an alternative. The change in scope however 
> is
> the area in which this ideological hegemony must be continued and interest
> maintained. Before world war two the United States 'sphere of influence' 
> was
> largely limited to the western hemisphere, though there are occasions were
> they bent their own rules. But after world war two the United States 
> became
> what Burnham called "receiver" (21) of the British Empire. During Reagan's
> Administration there was further imperialist aggression, supported by the
> neo-conservatives.
>
> It was during this time that many world events were shaped and shaped the
> neo-conservatives. This was the time of the Iranian Islamist revolution, 
> the
> Iran-Iraqi war, Iran-contra affair, arming of the Contras (short for
> counter-revolutionaries) in Nicaragua, Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
> Lebanon's civil war and soviet intervention in Afghanistan along with many
> other events notwithstanding the fall of the Berlin wall. The
> neo-conservative line was much the same as Reagan's policy, differing on 
> one
> issue. That issue was the Iraqi-Iran war, during which the Reagan white
> house openly supported the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and supplying 
> arms
> to fight the Iranians. Richard Perle a leading neo-conservative policy
> advisor said "I was actually rather uncomfortable with the support that we
> gave Saddam during the war between Iraq and Iran" (22). Perle in explained
> the reasoning of the Reagan administration and the action he felt should
> have been taken:-
>
> "the view was that the mullahs in Tehran were worst than the tyrant in
> Baghdad, and I understand that argument. I don't agree with it, but even 
> for
> those who accepted that view, the right course immediately after the end 
> of
> that war would have been to say to Saddam, now we've had enough of you 
> too,
> and we're not gonna to tolerate it." (23)
>
> The reason why Perle was critical of Reagan's handily of the Iraqi-Iran 
> war
> was because he believes in using American military power as a means of
> toppling tyranny, war as a political instrument of cleansing evil elements
> within the world community. Though Perle was up in arms over this and
> combating American hypocrisy, other Neo-conservatives have been rather
> selective in their criticisms of nations they see to be evil, while
> supporting right-wing dictatorships and nations willing to help them in
> their "war on terror". The Soviet-Afghanistan war is one that
> neo-conservatives are rather proud of.
>
> The soviet-Afghanistan war has often been referred to as the Russians
> Vietnam because of the gradual evolution from military advisors to full
> blown intervention but also because it ended in a virtual stalemate. The
> soviets were draw into the war because the Marxist-Leninist government of
> the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) was under attack from
> supporters from the old regime and the conservative Islamic peasantry.
> Supporters of soviet foreign policy claim that the intervention was a
> pre-emptive strike aimed at Islamist terrorist to stop them from taking
> control of the government. In response to the events in Afghanistan the
> United States administration under the influence of the neo-conservatives
> supported the Islamic resistance called "the Mujahideen". Reagan referred 
> to
> the Mujahideen as "freedom fighters ... defending principles of 
> independence
> and freedom that form the basis of global security and stability." (24).
> Though Mikhail Gorbachev warned Reagan that democracy would not be 
> realised
> in Afghanistan with the United States support of the Mujahideen. The white
> house went ahead with their plans to support the Mujahideen supplying them
> with billons of dollars worth of light guns and stinger missiles among 
> other
> armaments primarily through Pakistan.
>
> After the withdrawal of soviet troops was completed on February 2, 1989 it
> was expected that the central government in Kabul would collapse but 
> these's
> hopes were dashed when the Mujahideen was unsuccessful in taking 
> provincial
> capitals or Kabul. The civil war continued until PDPA was no longer able 
> to
> hold together the factions that constituted their government, thus in 1992
> the Mujahideen who had only been united through anti-communist sentiments
> took power divided in two main groups, the radical Taliban which created 
> the
> central government and the Northern Alliance controlled provincial areas. 
> As
> Gorbachev had warned the Mujahideen victory would not result in anything
> approaching democracy, which was correct because the result was an Islamic
> republic which the soviets had originally feared. As an aside to the 
> victory
> of the Mujahideen Osama bin Laden and the more militant supports from his
> Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK, funnelled money, arms, and Muslim fighters into
> Afghanistan during the war) formed a group influenced by Sayyid Qutb (an
> Islamist thinker with a hate for Liberalism not far removed from Leo
> Strauss's ideals). The group Aimed to install Islamist republics in the 
> Arab
> world, through attacking the 'far' enemy the United States which it see's 
> as
> the corrupting source of liberalism and anti-Islamic values. Through all
> this though the Neo-conservatives were more assured of their ideals,
> believing that they had defeated the 'evil empire'.
>
> After the Reagan administration the Neo-conservatives found themselves
> outsiders in the George H.W. Bush administration. It was during this
> administration that the United States invaded oil rich Kuwait to oust the
> Iraqi armed forces who had invaded early on the order of Saddam Hussein
> (Colin Powell opposed the USA lead invasion suggesting sanction would be
> more appropriate ) . The neo-conservatives pushed for the army to invade
> Iraq proper and remove Hussein from power. But Bush had a more traditional
> approach to foreign policy aiming for stability rather then an aggressive
> moralist stance supported by the 'hawkish' Neo-conservatives. During the
> Clinton administration they remained outsiders but managed to tap into
> puritan politicalization lead by protestant fundamentalists in groups like
> "the moral majority".
>
> The puritan upsurge within the United States has been beneficial to the
> right-wing of politics, providing a kind of McCarthyite scare tactic. 
> Since
> the end of the cold war there was not a major outside enemy but the myth 
> of
> religion was creating a galvanising force in reaction to the 'lax' 
> morality
> of bill Clinton. Some of the attacks on Clinton's personal indiscretions
> turned out to have truth behind them, such as the Monica Lewinsky affair.
> But a lot of the allegations levelled at Clinton were complete 
> fabrications
> such Whitewater. But while Clinton was hounded by theses alligation it
> represented a wider social change and focus on moral based issues playing
> into the hands of the Neo-conservatives.
>
> The next president was George W. Bush of whom many of his critics feel was
> illegitimately elected in 2000. The new administration was a great victory
> for the Neo-conservatives with many of its top positions being filled by
> members of the neo-conservative movement (Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld,
> Dick Cheney and others). The presidency of George w. bush has been a very
> controversial one from it's conception, the influence of the
> neo-conservatives can been seen throughout this administrations actions,
> Afghanistan invasion (using the northern alliance), operation Iraqi
> liberation, puritan religious rhetoric.
>
> The events of September, 11, 2001 will ever remain in the mind of those 
> who
> lived through theses times. The events of that day are having a far 
> greater
> effect the death of few thousand innocent people, they have been used has
> the basis for the invasion of two different countries. Firstly the 
> invasion
> of Afghanistan because they refused to hand over Osama bin Laden the man
> believed to be behind the September 11th attacks, though the United States
> provided no evidence to support their claim. But secondly the invasion of
> Iraq which the neo-conservatives have been backing for years as outlined 
> in
> a open letter to Bill Clinton on January 26, 1998 :-
>
> "Given the magnitude of the threat, the current policy, which depends for
> its success upon the steadfastness of our coalition partners and upon the
> cooperation of Saddam Hussein, is dangerously inadequate. The only
> acceptable strategy is one that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will 
> be
> able to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. In the near
> term, this means a willingness to undertake military action as diplomacy 
> is
> clearly failing. In the long term, it means removing Saddam Hussein and 
> his
> regime from power. That now needs to become the aim of American foreign
> policy.
>
> We urge you to articulate this aim, and to turn your Administration's
> attention to implementing a strategy for removing Saddam's regime from
> power. This will require a full complement of diplomatic, political and
> military efforts. Although we are fully aware of the dangers and
> difficulties in implementing this policy, we believe the dangers of 
> failing
> to do so are far greater. We believe the U.S. has the authority under
> existing UN resolutions to take the necessary steps, including military
> steps, to protect our vital interests in the Gulf. In any case, American
> policy cannot continue to be crippled by a misguided insistence on 
> unanimity
> in the UN Security Council." (25)
>
> This is not the last time neo-conservative expressed wishes to invade Iraq
> the same think tank from which the latter was sent "the Project for the 
> New
> American Century" (PNAC). The PNAC produced a 90-page document in 
> September
> 2000 that states: "The United States has for decades sought to play a more
> permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict 
> with
> Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial
> American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of
> Saddam Hussein."(26). This statement highlights the intention of the
> neo-conservatives, the excuse of war, links to terrorism and weapons of 
> mass
> destruction have turned out to be completely false. But the premeditation 
> to
> invade the Middle East remains clear and is part of the idea that America
> should be the sole world superpower and should maintain its ideology
> hegemony. This neo-conservative foreign policy finds it's embodiment in 
> the
> Bush Doctrine. This states the principles of Peremption: that the united
> state as the sole super power should be allowed to declare war if it feels
> threaded by terrorist or the states that support them. Unilateralism: the
> belief that the United States can take unilateral military action when
> bilateral action is not possible. Strength beyond Challenge: the notion 
> that
> the United States is the strongest nation on earth and for security 
> reasons
> must keep its defence above and beyond any rival power. Democracy, 
> Liberty,
> and Security to All Regions: the notion that the United States has the 
> right
> and duty to spread 'democracy' and other values it sees as good around the
> world through whatever means necessary.
>
> We have seen that through the years of the neo-conservative movement they
> have been able to implement many of the notions of Leo Strauss. They
> supplied us all with noble lies about reasons for war and a constant 
> threat
> which cannot be found but is there, so the nation unites against 
> terrorism.
> They have managed to ride the wave of puritan outrage at their enemies in
> the Democratic Party. But above all they've been able to use the
> circumstances to their advantage as they new they would "The process of
> transformation," according to the plan "is likely to be a long one, absent
> some catastrophic and catalysing event-like a new Pearl Harbour." (27). 
> but
> with respect to the underlying philosophical concerns of the
> Neo-conservatives of uniting the people in common mythology they have
> largely done this but not without complications. There is a minority but
> growing groups within the United States from both the left and right who
> oppose the policies of the neo-conservatives. The Neo-conservatives have
> long studied classical antiquity for answers to modern historical problems
> and particularly the Athenian philosophers. So it is an interesting to 
> note
> that the arrogant city of Athens ruined itself in the pursuit of empire by
> the leadership of Alcibiades a student of Socrates. If we look at the 
> world
> situation we see the neo-conservatives students of Plato and Socrates
> leading the United States in the pursuit of empire on a new Sicilian
> Expedition.
>
> Notes to "The Philosophy of Leo Strauss: Oligarchs with Myths"
>
>
>
> 1) "The Manifesto of the communist party" by Karl Marx and Fredrick 
> Engels.
>
> 2) "The City and Man" by Leo Strauss.
>
> 3) "Existentialism is a Humanism" by Jean-Paul Sartre.
>
> 4) ""Farabi's Plato" by Leo Strauss.
>
> 5) All quoted from "The republic" by Plato (some translators consider "the
> state" to be a more accurate translation of the title)
>
> 6) This often quoted remark is actually a misquote what Karl Marx really
> wrote was, "Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the 
> expression
> of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the 
> sigh
> of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of
> soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." In "Critique of 
> Hegel's
> Philosophy of Right Introduction".
>
> 7) George W.F Hegel blamed the influences of Rousseau on the French
> revolution for leading to its excesses of the terror. This is unwarranted
> because the Jacobins practiced representative "democracy" rather then 
> direct
> democracy and thus they were not in line with Rousseau's alternative 
> social
> contract. Also the terror was at ends with Rousseau's view on the use of
> violence in the attainment of said social contract.
>
> 8) For clarification the terms "Superman" or sometimes translated 
> "overman"
> and "the herd" were employed by the German philosopher Friedrich 
> Nietzsche.
> The first two terms depict people whose volition was strong, thus a strong
> sense of the "will to power". While "the herd" were people with a weak 
> "will
> to power" thus being lead as slaves by the "superman". Some commentators 
> see
> Leo Strauss as a closet Nietzschean, see Shadia Drury "The Esoteric
> Philosophy of Leo Strauss" Political Theory 13:3 (1985) 315-37 and The
> Political Ideas of Leo Strauss (New York, 1988); Laurence Lampert Leo
> Strauss and Nietzsche (Chicago, 1996); and Peter Levine Nietzsche and the
> Modern Crisis of the Humanities (Albany, 1995).
>
> 9) Hermann Goering, Hitler's second in command, speaking at the Nuremberg
> Trials which took place after World War II.
>
> 10) "On War" by Carl von Clausewitz.
>
> 11) "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon" by Karl Marx.
>
> 12) Ammonius Saccas lived during 3rd century AD and was a Greek 
> philosopher
> of Alexandria, often called the founder of the Neoplatonic School, but is
> often confused with a Christian philosopher of the same name.
>
> 13) "Letter from Marx to Ruge" by Karl Marx in 1843.
>
> 14) "Theses on Feuerbach, Thesis XI" by Karl Marx.
> 15) "The Open Society and Its Enemies" by Karl Popper.
>
> 16) "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon" by Karl Marx.
>
> 17) See Leon Trotsky's "the Permanent Revolution".
>
> 18) "The Managerial Revolution" by James Burnham
>
> 19) ibid
>
> 20) ibid
>
> 21) ibid
>
> 22) "Richard Perle: The Making of a Neoconservative" Aired 11/14/2002 on
> Think Tank a PBS program, interviewer: Ben Wattenberg.
>
> 23) ibid
>
> 24) "Proclamation 4908 -- Afghanistan Day" by Ronald Reagan, Filed with 
> the
> Office of the Federal Register, 3:54 p.m., March 10, 1982.
>
> 25) January 26, 1998 PNAC Open Letter to the Honourable William J. Clinton
> President of the United States, signed by Elliott Abrams, Richard L.
> Armitage, William J. Bennett, Jeffrey Bergner, John Bolton, Paula
> Dobriansky, Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, William
> Kristol, Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, William Schneider, Jr, Vin Weber,
> Paul Wolfowitz, R. James Woolsey and Robert B. Zoellick.
>
> 26) "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a
> New Century" produced by PNAC in 2000.
>
> 27) ibid
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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