----
==Versus Democracy==
Other elements of the philosophy of Strauss are controversial with ideals that seem to go contrary to democracy. According to a 2003 [http://www.geocities.com/dapat_tapatt/ref_leostrausss.html analysis] by Jim Lobe for the Inter Press Service, Strauss believed the world to be a place where policy advisers may have to deceive their own publics and even their rulers in order to protect their countries.
[[Shadia Drury|Shadia B. Drury]] of the University of Calgary, author of 1999's [[Leo Strauss and the American Right]] [ISBN 0312217838], says "Strauss was neither a liberal nor a democrat... Perpetual deception of the citizens by those in power is critical (in Strauss's view) because they need to be led, and they need strong rulers to tell them what's good for them. .. The Weimar Republic (in Germany) was his model of liberal democracy for which he had huge contempt," added Drury. Liberalism in Weimar, in Strauss's view, led ultimately to the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews. [http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=180382]
"Secular society in their view is the worst possible thing", because it leads to [[individualism]], [[liberalism]] and [http://relativism.biography.ms/ relativism], precisely those traits that might encourage [[dissent]], which in turn could dangerously weaken society's ability to cope with external threats. "You want a crowd that you can manipulate like putty," according to Drury. [http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=180382]
==Influence on U.S. foreign policy==
[[Abram N. Shulsky]] and [[Paul Dundes Wolfowitz]] both received their doctorates his doctorate under Strauss in 1972. Shulsky's area of expertise was [[Soviet disinformation techniques]]. "The Straussian movement has many other adherents in and around the [[George W. Bush]] [[Bush administration|Administration]]. They include [[William Kristol]], the editor of the [[Weekly Standard]], and [[Stephen A. Cambone]], the Under-Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, who is particularly close to former Secretary of Defense [[Donald Rumsfeld]]," [http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030512fa_fact according to] Hersh. "Strauss's influence on foreign policy decision making (he never wrote explicitly about the subject himself) is usually discussed in terms of his tendency to view the world as a place where isolated liberal democracies live in constant danger from hostile elements abroad, and face threats that must be confronted vigorously and with strong leadership."
==Intelligence and Duplicity==