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As a lawyer, I can only say, like an admission, the “best evidence” is his own words, as here, or in his many other declarations of fealty to Strauss’s “theory.”
On Dec 5, 2022, at 11:15 AM, Tom Pauken <twpauken@sbcglobal.net> wrote:Todd, I guess you would call the Federalist papers a “fascist” document since that is the basis of the American political theory Willmoore Kendall expounded You don’t understand the differences between the thinking of Willmoore Kendall and Leo Strauss. Kendall was an American who understood the American political tradition while Strauss was a European thinker who didn’t share a similar appreciation of it. While Kendall admired much of Strauss’ thinking, e.g., his understanding of Machiavelli’s break with the classical political tradition, Kendall was no Straussian. Tom PaukenSent from my iPadOn Dec 5, 2022, at 11:42 AM, Todd Pierce via Salon <salon@listserve.com> wrote:Everyone here should subscribe to Mondoweisss! And they’re not afraid to call political phenomena by its “true name,” as can be seen here:
Tom Pauken “gently chides” me for using the term “fascist.” But I’m simply adopting the correct political theory term as used by Jewish and Israeli critics of such a form of politics bearing all the indicators of “fascism,” albeit the “democratic” form of it. As originally promoted by Leo Strauss and his American friend Willmoore Kendall who helped found the Conservative Movement. And what would I be if I used that same term to describe only Israeli fascists, and refrained from using it to describe their American co-ideologists?While we know the Biden Administration represents little or no, let alone, “ genuine,” opposition to these fascists, as Mondoweiss correctly calls them, reflecting what Israeli’s themselves recognize them as. But these are the same people that Trump, DeSantis, the Republican Party, et al., “Conservatives” in general, collaborate with and are allied to, and share the same ideology with, in the many ways I’ve shared here in the past, and as can be seen here in the articles below. It’s a relatively new political phenomenon, but only in the sense that it has gained such power today, after having been introduced by Leo Strauss and Willmoorre Kendall in the 1950s as what Kendall called “Democratic Majoritarianism,” in which a “Minority” has no rights, nor does the “Majority,” in actuality, with no Bill of Rights to begin with. Which I think can appropriately be called “Democratic Fascism,” in the same sense that Princeton political theorist Sheldon Wolin began calling the US system “Inverted Totarlitarianism” back in 2003, or of what Israeli Jacob Talmon called “Totalitarian Democracy” of the East European states during the Cold War."Trump remains popular in some Jewish conservative circles; he was honored by the Zionist Organization of America earlier this month — an event that he attended in person. Trump executed historic changes in Israel policy, among other things, moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, dropping a commitment to a two-state outcome and quitting the Iran nuclear deal.""One influential conference-goer who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order not to be attached to a presidential nominee too early in the process said DeSantis was his favorite going into the weekend. DeSantis, he said, embraced Trump’s policies, but more effectively and with “discipline.”Ahh yes, what is fascism, without “discipline?"--Begin forwarded message:From: "Mondoweiss: Weekly Briefing" <newsletters@mondoweiss.net>Subject: A deadly seven days in PalestineDate: December 4, 2022 at 6:08:13 PM MSTTo:Reply-To: "Mondoweiss: Weekly Briefing" <newsletters@mondoweiss.net>
Weekly wrap-up from Mondoweiss View in browser
A deadly seven days in Palestine
Photo: Mourners carry the bodies of two Palestinian resistance fighters, Muhammad Al-Saadi and Naim Zubeidi, killed by Israeli forces in Jenin, December 1, 2022. (Photo: Ahmed Ibrahim/APA Images)
Dear friend,
Israel’s new fascist government remains to be officially seated and that should be cause for alarm because conditions in Palestine are deteriorating quickly, and elements of the incoming government thoroughly encourage violence against Palestinians.
This week alone, more than 8 Palestinians were murdered by Israeli apartheid enforcers. And on Friday a Palestinian man in Nablus was executed during a scuffle with an Israeli border policeman. This killing was caught on video. It is necessary to note that this is NOT the first time the summary execution of a Palestinian by a supposedly well-trained member of the world’s most moral military force has been caught on camera. And if you’re knowledgeable about how Israel conducts itself, you know that it won’t be the last time.
But for every one of these brazen killings caught on tape, literally hundreds go unrecorded; the only records of the acts are recorded in the memories of eyewitnesses, and history has shown us that the accounts of victims of Israeli abuses don’t count for a whole lot to the folks who might be able to reign in Israel’s out of control behavior.
As the world tunes into the World Cup being held in Qatar, Israel and its (American) backers should take note that no matter how many accords Israel signs with nondemocratic and despotic regimes, these agreements aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. True normalization between Israel and the greater Arab-Muslim world will only occur once justice prevails in all of historic Palestine.
Thanks for reading,
Scott Roth,
Publisher
scott@mondoweiss.net
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