Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 17

LEO STRAUSS AND THE AMERICAN POLITICAL RELIGION

they announced their arrival in the world
can sense the ideological character of the
Project for the New American Century.
Theirs is not a call to determine carefully
the American national interest, anticipate
and prepare to respond to challenges to that
national interest, and assess our ability to
engage in future wars. Manifestos are not
grounded in philosophic reason but rather
in propositional reasoning motivated by a
"cause."28 The pathology of a "cause" was
evident in President George W. Bush's call,
in his second inaugural, for the "expansion
of freedom in all the world."
The survival of liberty in our land
increasingly depends on the success of
liberty in other lands. The best hope for
peace in our world is the expansion of
freedom in all the world.
America's vital interests and our deep-
est beliefs are now one. From the day of
our Founding, we have proclaimed that
every man and woman on this earth has
rights, and dignity, and matchless value,
because they bear the image of the Maker
of Heaven and earth. Across the genera-
tions we have proclaimed the imperative
of self-government, because no one is fit
to be a master, and no one deserves to
be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the
mission that created our Nation. It is the
honorable achievement of our fathers.
Now it is the urgent requirement of our
nation's security, and the calling of our
time.
So it is the policy of the United States
to seek and support the growth of demo-

cratic movements and institutions in
every nation and culture, with the ulti-
mate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

These "insights," shared with the Ameri-
can people at George W. Bush's second inau-
guration, are derived from the Declaration of
Independence:
When the Declaration of Independence
was first read in public and the Liberty
Bell was sounded in celebration, a wit-
ness said, "It rang as if it meant some-
thing." In our time, it means something
still. America, in this young century,
proclaims liberty throughout all the
world and to all the inhabitants thereof.
Renewed in our strength, tested but
not weary, we are ready for the greatest
achievements in the history of freedom.

Today, as a consequence of this uniquely
American political religion, the American
nation is financially at risk, overextended
by commitments to the self-determination
of other countries, and so weakened intel-
lectually and militarily that challenges to
our national interest from Iran, China, and
Russia lack a convincing response.
Is there a solution?
Only if American statecraft can return to
its roots in the national interest, if politicians
replace the political religion of "democracy"
with serious consideration of our national
interest, and we educate our statesmen to
be representatives of America and not global
citizens.

17
Modern Age - Fall 2014

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