Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

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More Drivel on Strauss

The June issue of Harper’s (not available online), a one-proud magazine now lost to editor Lewis Lapham’s increasing dementia, contains perhaps the worst article yet on Leo Strauss. The article, "Ignoble Liars: Leo Strauss, George Bush, and the Philosophy of Mass Deception," by one Earl Shorris (who writes books on Mexico, so he is obviously well-suited to comment on Strauss) is so full of mis-statements and flat-out goofy assertions about Strauss and his followers that it is impossible to convey how bad it is with a few samples. To quote an old saying (that may come from Yogi Berra), You have to read it, not to believe it.

But here’s one small sample of its awfulness: "The only alternative to the last man is the will to power, which Nietzsche said is the will to life itself, the will to overcome, to control, to be master of all things. This is the will of the Bush Administration."

It is obvious that Shorris is channelling Shadia Drury (Shorris writes that he read several of Strauss’s books and "two books about Strauss"--gee, I wonder which two those were?).

Discussions - 1 Comment

As a non-American I’m interested in where GWB gets his intellectual bearings. Not for a minute would I believe that GWB reads books, let along the works of Strauss, but those that horse whisper him have and this is what Shorris writes about. Hey,that joke about Bush that goes "big hat -no cattle
" needs a scholarly explanation as well.
Simply dismissing what Shorris has to say. Get over it, read the article.

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