At the time that Keyes and Kristol were at Harvard, nearly ALL serious, non anarcho-libertarian conservatives were Strauss fans, at least in part.
The ISI (Intercollegiate Studies Institute) funded summer seminars for young conservative intellectuals to learn from the leading conservative thinkers, and Strauss was just about the number one on the list of seminar leaders. There were numerous articles in National Review and Modern Age propounding Straussian concepts.
Your charges against Keyes amount to criticizing him for the year of his birth. Pretty silly.
And add to it that George Washington, among others, was strong on the social utility of religion. But unlike Washington, Keyes is a devout Roman Catholic.
Some posts here are really silly.
Cheers,
Richard F.
Keyes studied with the great Straussian, Allan Bloom, who once called him the sharpest student he ever taught.
But Keyes broke with the more sceptical East Coast Straussians decades ago, over the very matters mentioned here, among them the truth of the Christian Religion, and the dangers of merely attending to the social utility of religion. One consequence of this is that he argues much more forcefully on abortion than guys like Bill Kristol or Walter Berns, and another is that he admires Lincoln more wholeheartedly than Kristol or his father do. Of the great students of Strauss in current academic circles, Keyes is most like Harry Jaffa, though Jaffa is not Christian.
IMHO, Strauss remains a powerful, and on the whole, beneficial influence on Republican and American thought, but Keyes is way beyond being a "disciple." He is his own man, and must be judged as such.
Nice to see you so learned on these things, BTW!
Cheers,
Richard F.
Look at his comments in this article. Is there any doubt Keyes is an elitist? Only question I have about Keyes is if he is a esoteric Straussian and thinks principles are myths and nothing but useful constructs or an exoteric Straussian who believes truth and justice really or might exist. Observing his cult like hold on his followers inclines me to think he is the former.