[stastony]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1710880/


Religion. Leo Strauss felt most people will never do the right thing for rational reasons; they need to be motivated by the myths and emotionality of religion. So his neocon disciples, many of them Jewish, built strong links to the Christian right.

Nationalism. For Straussians, nationalism ranks alongside religion as a way to motivate people to great things beyond the vapidity of liberalism.

Populism and democracy. Leo Strauss (like his man, Plato) never liked democracy much but his disciples are ready to use it against the real villain, liberalism. To this end, they appeal to the “anti-liberal” impulses of ordinary folk against the “liberal elites,” via “wedge issues” like gun control, abortion or attacks on high art.

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