Chris Manion's excellent lead article today on LRC exposes once again the modus operandi of the Struassian neocons (like MacKubin Thomas Owens) associated with the Claremont Institute. First, pretend to be champions of the philosophy of the founding fathers, while in reality twisting the founders' words to mean the opposite of what they actually said. This way you can dupe conservative businessmen and foundations to fund your statist/imperialist political agenda while providing ideological cover for Bush administration statism and imperialism. Thus, one can conclude that George Washington, who warned against "entangling alliances," would somehow approve of the neocon agenda of perpetual global warfare and the establishment of America's role as global policeman.
Second, tell an even bigger lie by asserting that Abraham Lincoln was in philosophical agreement with Jefferson and Madison. Lincoln was the political heir to the anti-Jeffersonians -- Hamilton, Clay, and Webster -- but the Clarmontistas lie about this constantly.
Third, call anyone who voices suspicion over these clearly false interpretations of American history a racist, a Nazi, and a defender of Jim Crow laws and slavery. Play the neocon race card, in other words, in exactly the same way the campus left does.
Both the Straussian neocons and the campus left seek to stifle all debate over their ideas by demonizing their intellectual opponents rather than honestly debating them. The campus left routinely labels all non-leftists as racists, sexists, and homophobes. The Clarmontistas label all non-neocons as racists, slavery apologists, or even Nazis. In his latest book on Lincoln, for example, Harry Jaffa begins a chapter by insinuating that his old debating partner, the late Mel Bradford, would probably have been sympathetic to Hitler's views on race.
