A Fascist Philosopher Helps Us Understand Contemporary Politics

By ALAN WOLFE

To understand what is distinctive about today's Republican Party, you
first need to know about an obscure and very conservative German
political philosopher. His name, however, is not Leo Strauss, who has
been widely cited as the intellectual guru of the Bush administration.
It belongs, instead, to a lesser known, but in many ways more important,
thinker named Carl Schmitt.