Filosofen Leo Strauss hyllas i det senaste numret av Captus (se här och här). Det är lite synd. Varför? John D Lewis förklarar i sin artikel, ”Opposing Platonic Conservatism: A Matter of Values”. Jag rekommenderar alla att läsa denna artikel, inte bara för att förstå olämpligheten i att Captus ger Struass ett sådant utrymme, utan för att man överhuvudtaget ska förstå sig på neokonservatismen. Ett utdrag:

Some admirer’s of Ayn Rand have concluded that the political values of her philosophy, Objectivism, and the values of Bush conservatives are fundamentally the same. They claim, for instance, that Objectivists and conservatives both value freedom, even though the conservatives are inconsistent in the actions they take to preserve it. In this view, Objectivists should actively support President Bush, while urging him to act more robustly to defend America.

They claim that Mr. Bush’s military aims are good; we simply need to expose the practice of sending Americans overseas to die for others. His espousal of the free market is good; we only need clarify that a half-trillion dollar deficit and an exploding budget are contradictions. Respect for American founding values is good; we simply need to oppose the religious foundations of their reverence and promote a secular agenda.

We could of course say similar things of the New Left, which claims to support freedom by opposing aggressive wars, censorship, political secrecy, religion in government, poverty, anti-abortion laws, attacks on privacy, etc. But New Left liberals do not in fact support freedom, because what they are pursuing is not a free society. The actual results of their actions—not their claimed intentions—are what matters. What they are pursuing, in fact, is a massive welfare state, increasing taxation, government control over our lives and military timidity. These are their values, and these are what must be repudiated.

So it goes for Mr. Bush. His ”forward strategy of freedom” means exactly what he has done in Iraq: to order Americans to fight and die for others. His assertion that ”you are either with us or with the terrorists” means begging for international allies and asking Iran to join our coalition. ”Offensive war” means placing US troops in harm’s way, and then ordering them to act only with foreign permission. A ”bold offense” means billions coerced from US taxpayers in welfare for foreigners. These results are not perversions of his values; they are their actual meaning.

Detta gap mellan teori och praktik är ett direkt resultat av de platonska influenserna i Strauss filosofi. Läs hela!