In essence, the Straussian philosophy and teachings are now known as Neo-Conservatism. Below are some of the more interesting and perhaps surprising or even disturbing aspects of Neo-Conservatism as taught by Strauss:
• Nations cannot consider collective action and multilateralism unless it is 100 percent in line with their own selfish interests
• Strong leadership is required
• Military power is essential
• Leadership ought not be encumbered by human rights discourse or a moral conscience but nonetheless must "appear" to advocate such ideas.
• Rulers need not observe the laws they impose on the ruled.
• A ruler can cheat and lie and do all sorts of things but should at all time maintain the outside appearance of adherence to human rights and caring for people.
• Leaders can use religion as one of many tools to ensure the nation keeps on course as formulated.
• Outside threats help ensure social cohesion under domestic leadership
• Altruism, environmental protection, justice etc, are not the concern of governments and ruling elites. They have no part to play in the equation of power
• Strauss questioned how, and to what extent, freedom and excellence can coexist.
• Strauss was very pre-occupied with secrecy because he was convinced that the truth is too harsh for any society to bear; and that the truth-bearers are likely to be persecuted by society, especially a liberal society because liberal democracy is about as far as one can get from the truth as Strauss understood it.
• Secular society is the worst possible thing, because it leads to individualism, liberalism, and relativism, precisely those traits that may promote dissent that in turn could dangerously weaken society's ability to cope with external threats
• Nazism was a nihilistic reaction to the ungodly and liberal nature of the Weimar Republic.
• Religion should impose moral law on the masses who would otherwise be out of control.
http://www.tvnewslies.org/html/the_truth_about_george_w__bush.htmlRockefeller leveraged not only the financial power of his banks and industrial and extractive industries, but created interlocking directorates of supporting political power. Thy Will Be Done could rightly have been titled Conflict of Interest , as Colby documents how Rockefeller consistently misused public office and nonprofit status to gain personal economic advantage. His tools were his "non-profit" foundations; agencies and commissions in the U.S. government and military; and the C.I.A. and clandestine parts of the National Security Council, par ticularly the Special Group. Rockefeller men moved from agency to agency like chess pieces on a board to create public policy which furthered Rockefeller interests.
Through constant fueling of these agencies from the family fortune, Rockefeller was also ab le to buy or control political and economic leadership in the Amazon countries, as well as in Central America and Argentina. In effect, he and his associates became a super-government in the Western Hemisphere.
Thy Will Be Done also shows how Rockefeller, the C.I.A. and their Latin American counterparts used the Wycliffe Bible Translators, otherwise known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics, headed by William Cameron Townsend, to "soften up " native peoples in Latin America and the Far East so they could be more easily exploited. The result was the slaughter or displacement of millions of native peoples, the theft of tens of millions of acres of their land and the destruction of the environme nt at a rate which suggests planetary suicide. (For example, every year in Brazil' s rain forest an area is being destroyed by fire which is the equivalent of half the size of California). It is a story paralleled only by the equally iniquitous treatment of Native American peoples and their environment on this continent.
Colby and Dennett tell fascinating stories, such as that of U.S. involvement in the deposition of Brazil' s liberal president Joao Goulart; the clandestine alliance of Lyndon Johnson and Nelson Rockefeller; and the close cooperation between Christian funda mentalism, including the Wycliffe Bible Translators, and U.S. intelligence, which in the light of our present political situation, should serve as a cautionary tale. They tell us much about the use of the "communist menace" and Castroism as excuses to subvert governments and exploit peoples during the Cold War.
http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/publication_library/histbooks.htm Front Page Miami Herald: July 5, 1987 - REAGAN AIDES AND THE 'SECRET' GOVERNMENT
by ALFONSO CHARDY, HERALD WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Some of President Reagan's top advisers have operated a virtual parallel government outside the traditional Cabinet departments and agencies almost from the day Reagan took office, congressional investigators and administration officials have concluded. Investigators believe that the advisers' activities extended well beyond the secret arms sales to Iran and aid to the contras now under investigation.
Lt. Col. Oliver North, for example, helped draw up a controversial plan to suspend the Constitution in the event of a national crisis, such as nuclear war, violent and widespread internal dissent or national opposition to a U.S. military invasion abroad. When the attorney general at the time, William French Smith, learned of the proposal, he protested in writing to North's boss, then-national security adviser Robert McFarlane.
The advisers conducted their activities through secret contacts throughout the government with persons who acted at their direction but did not officially report to them.
The activities of those contacts were coordinated by the National Security Council, the officials and investigators said. There appears to have been no formal directive for the advisers' activities, which knowledgeable sources described as a parallel government. In a secret assessment of the activities, the lead counsel for the Senate Iran-contra committee called it a "secret government-within-a-government."
The arrangement permitted Reagan administration officials to claim that they were not involved in controversial or illegal activities, the officials said. "It was the ultimate plausible deniability," said a well-briefed official who has served the Reagan administration since 1982 and who often collaborated on covert assistance to the Nicaraguan contras.
The roles of top-level officials and of Reagan himself are still not clear. But that is expected to be a primary topic when North appears before the Iran-contra committees beginning Tuesday. Special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh also is believed to be trying to prove in his investigation of the Iran-contra affair that government officials engaged in a criminal conspiracy.
ADVISERS FORMED SHADOW GOVERNMENT, PROBERS SAY
Much of the time, Cabinet secretaries and their aides were unaware of the advisers' activities. When they periodically detected operations, they complained or tried to derail them, interviews show.
But no one ever questioned the activities in a broad way, possibly out of a belief that the advisers were operating with presidential sanction, officials said.
http://fpiarticle.blogspot.com/2005/12/front-page-miami-herald-july-5-1987.html