Recently, the New York Times published a series of essays that attempted to restore respectability to the memory of Leo Strauss now that his neo-conservative disciples running the current administration have so thoroughly discredited his esoteric political philosophy.
Scott Horton has posted a critical essay about the New York Times series and has translated a letter from Strauss to Karl Lowith in which Strauss declares his approval of "fascist, authoritarian and imperial principles."
Horton's essay supports the picture of Strauss painted by Shadia Drury, Stephen Holmes and others. I'm most familiar with the work of Shadia Drury and find it to be convincing.
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I thought it was well-known that Strauss admired the fascist governments of Spain and Italy. Whether he supported the Nazis, with their program of racial extermination, is not as clear. But I think it is clear that any political philosophy that is heavily rooted in Strauss is no friend to the cause of democracy or what used to be called "an open society."
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