Neo-Conservative Values and the Death of Democracy

Until I read James Mann's Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet, I never gave much thought to political philosophy. Naively, I thought that most Americans believed in democracy. The only threat to democracy that I perceived was that posed by the increasing influence of Christian Dominionism within the Religious Right (-- a movement that seeks to return to the Christian theocratic politics of the first settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony). I assumed that disdain for democracy represented but a small segment within the American political spectrum. It never occurred to me that a large segment of America's self-proclaimed intelligentsia held democracy in contempt as well.

I was awakened from my dogmatic democratic slumbers by James Mann's book. I read it with a desire to understand the thinking of the men who were led us in the so-called "war against terrorism" and into war in Iraq. Contrary to what the mainstream media would like you to believe, before we invaded Iraq, there was ample evidence that the rationale for going to war was being fabricated. Anyone who looked for information on the internet could find incessant, insistent, and credible objections to the administration's interpretation of evidence like that of the Nigerian "yellow cake." Many of the most incessant objectors were people like Scott Ritter who had been presented by the media as an expert in the field of WMD's and intelligence during the first Gulf War. Suddenly, as the administration was promoting the second Gulf War, he and every other dissenting voice from Hans Blix to Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson were being smeared and discredited. I read Mann's book in an attempt to understand the mindset of the masterminds of George W. Bush's foreign policy.

From Mann I learned that Leo Strauss was the chief icon of the modern neo-conservative movement. I also learned the names and resumes of the major players within the movement and the positions of leadership that they then held within George W. Bush's administration. Today, as they have become involved in scandal after scandal, most of those names have become household words. Names like Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, Richard Armitage, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton, Stephen Hadley, John Negroponte and Michael Hayden.

All it takes to realize that this administration is engage in a cover up is to learn the name and political ideology of the person being assigned to investigate a scandal or clean it up. If they are a neo-conservative, it is bound to be a cover-up. Most of these neo-conservatives have been working together since the Nixon-Ford administrations and the chief lesson they learned from Watergate was that they have to do a better job of covering up their illegal activities. That's why it is not a surprise to me to read that the CIA destroyed tapes of interrogations of suspected terrorists. Look who's in charge -- Michael Hayden. Another neo-con, another cover-up.

Anyone who thinks I'm overly cynical about this needs to do some research into the esoteric philosophy of Leo Strauss. Shadia Drury's Leo Strauss and the American Right would be a good place to start. Here's a brief synopsis of Strauss' thought:

Strauss was contemptuous of secular democracy. He blamed it for the rise of Adolf Hitler. He felt Nazism was a nihilistic reaction to the liberalism and separation of church and state that was imposed on Germany in the Weimar Republic. Strauss was a "secular" Jew who was forced to flee Nazi Germany after Hitler came to power. He came to the U.S. and taught the history of political philosophy at Columbia University and the Univerity of Chicago. He taught nearly all of the key intellectuals and leaders of the American political right and most of the rest have been deeply influenced by him.

Strauss felt secular democracy was the worst possible form of government because he said it led to individualism, liberalism and relativism. These are traits that promote dissent and dangerously weaken society's ability to cope with external threats.

Here are the basic principles that Strauss suggests should guide the governance of America's political elites:

1. Deception is necessary to lead the masses.
2. Religion is necessary to control the masses.
3. Conflict is necessary to unite the masses.