Having received a note from an inquiring graduate student, Mitch, who is "banging out a Master’s thesis," and cannot comprehend why I have insisted that Straussians and paleos are irreconcilably divided, I wish to offer the following friendly clarification. At the very least my explanation may be help to relieve the "cognitive dissonance" that Mitch has complained about, and which has been produced by my apparent inability to distinguish the disciples of Leo Strauss and neoconservatives. A German-Jewish classicist who fled to the US in 1938, Strauss (1899-1973) drew around himself enterprising graduate students, who went on to successful academic … Continue reading Understanding Neocons