Strauss viewed religion as absolutely essential in order to impose moral law
on the masses who otherwise would be out of control. At the same time, he
stressed that religion was for the masses alone; the rulers need not be
bound by it. Indeed, it would be absurd if they were, since the truths
proclaimed by religion were "a pious fraud." As Ronald Bailey, science
correspondent for Reason magazine points out, "Neoconservatives are
pro-religion even though they themselves may not be believers."
"Strauss thinks that a political order can be stable only if it is united by
an external threat," Drury wrote in her book. "Following Machiavelli, he
maintained that if no external threat exists then one has to be
manufactured.
As to what a Straussian world order might look like, the analogy was best
captured by the philosopher himself in one of his — and student Allen
Bloom's — many allusions to Gulliver's Travels. In Drury's words, "When
Lilliput was on fire, Gulliver urinated over the city, including the palace.
In so doing, he saved all of Lilliput from catastrophe, but the Lilliputians
were outraged and appalled by such a show of disrespect." The image
encapsulates the neoconservative vision of the United States' relationship
with the rest of the world - as well as the relationship between their
relationship [sic] as a ruling elite with the masses. "They really have no
use for liberalism and democracy, but they're conquering the world in the
name of liberalism and democracy," Drury says.
TOM'S TALES