Why have interlinked deception and social conservatism become so interlinked within the current National Party election campaign? As we head into the last week of this campaign, Don Brash faces repeated questions about smear pamphlets related to the Exclusive Brethren that target Labour, the Greens, our nuclear-free policy and the LGBT communities. He has been revealed to have spin, misled and concealed National's relationship to that shadowy right-wing sect. His blunder has enabled Helen Clark to divert attention back onto New Zealand's nuclear free policy, and Colin James has suggested that some social liberals will cross over to Labour as a consequence. Why have National and the Exclusive Brethren become so intimate?Across the Pacific, Canadian and American political scientists and foreign policy critics have questioned whether the ghost of Leo Strauss (1899-1973), a German-Jewish refugee philosopher and conservative Machiavellean, is haunting the US Republican Party. Strauss should be of particular interest to the LGBT community and pro-choice movement, because he thought conservative religious groups could be enlisted as populist dupes for ruling interests , while those interests adopted different ethical rules altogether. At Calgary's Regina University, Shadia Drury has argued for a Straussian role in Bush administration foreign policy conduct over the (non)- existence of weapons of mass destruction within Iraq. Bush also lied about the positive effects of "tax cuts" within the United States, and administration interest in community service groups as a substitute for gutting the meagre US welfare state ("compassionate conservatism.") In Scoop's political column, there is current speculation that Brash is considering savage social service cuts to finance his "tax cuts" spin, but will not disclose this until it is as close to the general election date (September 17) as possible. Phil Goff has also succeeded in renewing the attack against National capitulation to the Bush administration over our nuclear-free policy. There's another possible variation on this theme, though. Who said that the routes used had to be as blunt and direct as Republican/National collusion over surrender of our independent foreign and defence policy? If I were the Labour Party, I might want to ask some more (...) fundamental questions. No, I'm not accusing the Maxim Institute of anything this time. As I've pointed out numerous times before, the Institute is primarily a social conservative pressure group, and neglects issues like welfare and defence policy, which are tangential to its real conservative Christian agenda against feminism, LGBT rights, children's rights and green politics. Apart from a small booklet and two retired defence and foreign policy conservative issues, it hasn't been well-canvassed in Evidence, the Institute's "policy journal." Are funds are being directly funnelled from the US Republican Party or its front groups to the National Party, but from US Christian Right organisations? Is it possible that the Opposition might be obtaining funding from well-heeled, US Republican fundamentalist supporters, like the Exclusive Brethren? Yes, this comment is speculative. Consider that two US Christian Right figures have visited New Zealand during the last couple of years, namely Bill Maier (Focus on the Family US) and Eddie Long (New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Brian Tamaki's 'shepherd.') And now, we have Exclusive Brethren connections to contemplate. There is now a smoking cross within this political campaign - and, perhaps, a sinister explanation for National's social conservatism and duplicitous stance on foreign policy stance that involves the old Orwellian adage: (Our) "ignorance is [their] strength" Recommended Reading: http://www.family.org Focus on the Family (US) http://www.labour.org.nz Labour Party http://www.scoop.co.nz Scoop Shadia Drury: The Political Ideas of Leo Strauss: New York: Macmillan: 1988. Shadia Drury: Leo Strauss and the American Right: New York: St.Martins Press: 1994. Amy Frykholm: Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 2004. Bill Maier and Stanton Jones: Marriage On Trial: The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage and Parenting: Wheaton Grove: Intervarsity Press: 2004. Leo Strauss: Thoughts on Machiavelli: Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 1958. Shadia Drury's Regina University homepage: http://www.uregina.ca/arts/CRC/ See especially her Calgary Herald essay, "The Scourge of Populism" onsite. For an insight into Straussian ideological influences on the Republican Party, see Drury's essay "Saving America" at the Australian Evatt Foundation's website: http://evatt.labor.net.au/Publications/papers/112a.html Exclusive Brethren References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Brethren Wikipedia: Exclusive Brethren http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/brethren BBC Religious Affairs: Brethren http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/755588.htm BBC News: Sect Leaves Psychiatric Problems (20.05.00) Books: David Barrett: The New Believers: A Survey of Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions: Cassell: London: 2001. Ngaire Thomas: Behind Closed Doors: A Startling Story of Exclusive Brethren Life: Auckland: Random House: 2005. Official EB Website: http://www.theexclusivebrethren.com Ex-EB Website: http://www.peebs.net http://www.queerday.com/2005/jul/19/exclusive_brethren_behind_canadian_gay_marriage_ban_campaign.html Queer Day: 19.07.05: EB Involved in Canadian Anti-SSM Campaign. Craig Young - 14th September 2005