As though we need any further proof that the neocons are totalitarians at heart, we have Paul Gottfried today ("The Neoconservative Animus") writing of how they 1) wage a smear campaign against him; and then 2) when he responds they claim that he is imagining all of it, insinuating that he must be delusional.
Yeah, right. Several scholarly books have been published in recent years that are highly critical of the Straussian neocon cabal, and justifiably so. And guess what? A central point in all of these books is a criticism of the odious neocon practice of what Professor Anne Norton, author of Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire (p. 51) calls "an unrelenting and totalitarian enforcement of orthodoxy of opinion," which has always included the harassment, smearing, and denigration of all intellectual opponents.
In America the Virtuous Professor Claes Ryn writes (p. 35) of how the Straussians' "most distinguishing characteristic" is their "lack of tolerance for other beliefs." Similarly, in Leo Strauss and the American Right, Professor Shadia Drury concludes that "neoconservatives identify their political opponents as the enemy, and therefore introduce into domestic politics a friend/foe mentality that transforms the political contest into a life-and-death struggle against diabolical forces."
The defining characteristic of a neocon is his belief in his own moral superiority because of the fact that he is supposedly among the anointed who understands the true "general will," in the spririt of Rousseau. As with the French Jacobins, he also believes that this gives him license to do all he can to destroy all dissenters. This is why the Straussians are generally despised in academe: they shun the age-old Western tradition of honest and open intellectual discourse, which has as its objective the discovery of truth, because they belive that they, and they alone, already know THE TRUTH. All cults behave in this way. Thus, their first impulse is always to smear and denigrate their opponents rather than debate them. They are also fond of telling "noble lies" about their opponents as well, since they believe that any means are justified by their ends.
It is a testament to the brilliance and power of Paul Gottfried's writings that he has caused these weasels so much trouble. Way to go, Paul! Give us more!
