The philosophy of Leo Strauss is known to influence the ideology of the Republican Party. Let’s look at two administrations: George W Bush, 43rd president of the United States (2001–09), led his country’s response to the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and initiated the Iraq War in 2003. The other is Donald Trump (2017-2021) whose populist nationalist campaign, which promised to “Make America Great Again”, opposed political correctness, illegal immigration. Both leaders relied on various levels of deception; had similar economic policies: Bush with a $1.3 trillion tax cut and Trump’s tax cut with a 10-year cost at $2.3 trillion. They left a conservative legacy in the courts: Bush nominated two conservative judges to the supreme court, while Trump has appointed three. George W Bush with a flaccid mind and Donald Trump having no moral values guiding him means both leaders were readily steered by neoconservative advisors. On analysis, the ideas of Leo Strauss appear to influence policies of these two presidents.
Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was a classical political philosopher who read Nietzsche and had considerable influence on the neocons. From 1949 to 1967 Strauss served as a professor in the University of Chicago political science department, and became the source of the inspiration of the neoconservative ideology of the Republican Party. He developed a political philosophy based on deception, the power of religion, and aggressive nationalism. This was a system in which the people are told no more than they need to know as deception is a norm in political life. He recommended the use of religion for the morals of the masses, but not applying to the leaders. If the masses really knew what was going on it would lead to nihilism. The void was to be filled with religious values. Also, Strauss proposed the use of aggressive foreign policy to unite the masses. Strauss admired Machiavelli. It was Machiavelli’s The Prince, written in 1513, that first laid bare the moral world of politics and the gulf between private conscience and the demands of public action.
The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) was a neo-conservative think tank (1997 to 2006) established as a “a non-profit, educational organization whose goal is to promote American global leadership.” Of the twenty-five people who signed PNAC’s founding statement of principles, ten went on to serve in the administration of U.S. President George W Bush, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz. PNAC is noteworthy for its focus on Iraq, a preoccupation that began before Bush became president and predates the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Two of the bureaucrats who put together the package of ‘evidence’ of WMD in Iraq were Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense and Abram Shulsky, Director of the Office of Special Plans – both students of Leo Strauss at the University of Chicago. This like thinking allowed a group to easily engineer a plan of deception of the American people about the need to invade Iraq.
Paul Wolfowitz out maneuvered the State Department and the CIA to get the Bush administration to set up the Special Plans unit because they were more effective in making their argument. Abram Shulsky (who had roomed with Wolfowitz at Cornell and Chicago) was appointed the Director of Special Plans. Under his direction Special Plans put together the case for weapons of mass destruction creating the need to invade Iraq. In late February 2002, the CIA sent Joseph Wilson to Niger to investigate reports that the African nation sold uranium to Iraq to reconstitute their nuclear program. He failed to find evidence of any activities related to the purchase of ‘yellowcake’ uranium from Niger by Iraq. President Bush’s January 2003 State of the Union address claimed that purchases of uranium by Iraq from Niger were immanent creating a public protest by Ambassador Wilson.
In 1995, the Fed began easing monetary policy in order to support the government bailout of the holders of Mexican bonds in response to the Mexican debt crisis. This money drove the Internet bubble of the 1990s. The US banking oligarchy ensured politicians who needed funds for re-election were supportive of activities such as allowing banks to assign their own risk level. Following the collapse of the Internet bubble, a long period of low interest rates was encouraged by the US government to support the ongoing expansion of housing as it became the main driver of the economy. The economic debacle of 2008 followed years of deregulation and manipulation of the banking system to maximize profits. When the economy slowed down the housing bubble burst. In all the countries affected by the Great Recession, recovery was slow and uneven, and the broader social consequences of the downturn saw historically high levels of student debt, and diminished job prospects among young adults.
In Strauss’s view perpetual deception of the citizens by those in power is critical because they need to be led, and they need strong rulers to tell them what’s good for them. At the core of the thinking of Straussian neocons is the idea of lying to achieve their goals. Donald Trump won the nomination as the candidate who lied the most, won the presidency as someone known to lie; has an unshakable base despite ongoing lies. Breitbart news beta tested anti-immigration messages that took down Eric Cantor. Breitbart eventually turned to Donald Trump – with Steve Bannon as CEO of Trump’s campaign and Steve Miller as speech writer – to develop the messages of fear that Trump delivered during the 2016 campaign. In 2017 the Mueller investigation examined the role of Breitbart News played in both amplifying stories from Russian media and being amplified by Russian bots in social media. Breitbart was master of the fake news.
Strauss’s critique of liberalism is understood through the crisis of modernity, more specifically he feared modern relativism would surface through America’s liberal traditions. What neoconservatism has inherited from Strauss was a fear of relativism. Strauss’s critique of modernity holds that liberal society fosters moral relativism which, in turn, destroys the moral fabric of society. In turn, neoconservatives viewed the permissive egalitarianism and cultural relativism of the counterculture as a disintegration of values. In turn, Strauss recommends religion to control the masses, but it was not necessary for the leaders. On September 29, 2016 Trump meets with religious right and makes promises that include: ending the contraception mandate of Obamacare, selecting only anti-choice judges, support prayer in school, keeping transgender people from using the “wrong” bathrooms and locker rooms – basically when it came to religious liberty, he would make sure that America was on the right side of God.
Strauss’s fear of relativism casts suspicions on liberalism and he calls for cultural elites to rule – supporting the concept of a ruling elite or new aristocracy. Donald Trump’s cabinet is selected from the power elite: Betsy DeVos (secretary of education, $2 billion), Wilbur Ross (commerce, $600 million) and Steven Mnuchin (treasury, $400 million) – who have all been around since February 2017 – make up 95% of that $3.2 billion total. Betsy DeVos (secretary of education, $2 billion), Wilbur Ross (commerce, $600 million) and Steven Mnuchin (treasury, $400 million) – who have all been around since February 2017 – makes up $3 billion in total. The Trump cabinet’s emphasis on tax cuts and deregulation echoes the Reagan era trickledown policies we saw in the 80s [that] hasn’t helped ordinary Americans. The appearance of a bevy of Wall Street insiders in the cabinet harps back to a Gilded Age.
Leo Strauss embraced Machiavelli’s ideas: There are only two types of people in the world –winners and losers. Winners rule, while losers are ruled, or worse yet, lose their lives. Winners possessing the qualities necessary to be a winner are to be emulated and applauded. Losers, characteristically those who believe in a tender-hearted or an idealistic conception of goodness, are plagued by delusions and despicable weakness. Trump sees the world as winners and losers. In 2014 Trumps claims, “What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.” Trump reflects America’s current obsession with “winners” and “losers” and the unfairness in how power is distributed. Most recently, President Trump is acting as if his refusal to accept election defeat is motivated by something deeper than his commitment to his self-manufactured image as a winner.
The fact that both Bush and Trump didn’t win the popular vote on their initial election; and the fact that the last year of their watch coincided with economic debacles could be attributed to happenchance. However, other events suggest that the philosophy of Leo Strauss inspired the policies of the Republican party during the last two decades. Strauss rejects all the elements of political morality we associate with liberal democracy as defended by modern philosophers like Locke or Kant. Strauss claimed: The elite must, in a word, lie to the masses; the elite must manipulate them – arguably for their own good. These lies are necessary in order to keep the ignorant masses in line. The Straussian elite see themselves as “the superior few who know the truth and are entitled to rule.” A combination of lies and religion are used to control the people. Time magazine in 1996 called Strauss “one of the most influential men in American politics.”1
1 Catherine and Michael Zuckert. An Excerpt from: The Truth about Leo Strauss https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/993329.html