What was Leo Strauss up to?
By nature everyone seeks his own good and nothing but his own good. Justice, however, tells us to seek other men’s good...
To be clear, Strauss was not as hostile to democracy as he was to liberalism. This is because he recognises that the vulgar masses have numbers on their side, and the sheer power of numbers cannot be completely ignored. Whatever can be done to bring the masses along is legitimate. If you can use democracy to turn the masses against their own liberty, this is a great triumph. It is the sort of tactic that neo-conservatives use consistently, and in some cases very successfully.
· http://www.thepublicinterest.com/current/article1.html [Publicinterest.com/ The Public Interest, No. 153 (Fall 2003), pp. 19-39 © 2003 by National Affairs, Inc]
· Witch Hunts [Ken Macleod]
· NOBLE LIES [Open Democracy]