The Neocons

There are many definitions of Neo-cons and Neo-conservatism. Some think it is a movement started by Irving Kristol, father of the commentator William Kristol, and founder of the Project for the New American Century. Kristol also seems to have coined the term, saying that neo-cons were “liberals mugged by reality”. Others feel it is a reactionary movement to the liberalism of the 60’s. Most feel it was kicked off in the early 70’s and features a traditional conservative approach on social issues; such as limiting welfare and affirming individualism, promoting traditional moral standards, being anti communist, and having a vigorous interventionist foreign policy designed to push American ideas and ideals around the globe.

Many parts of this are traditional values from Barry Goldwater but there are two main diversions. One is the new interventionist philosophy of foreign policy. This was basically spoon fed to George W Bush from the likes of advisors such as Paul Wolfowitz and has become known as the “Bush Doctrine”. Since it is so central to the modern Neocons’ basic plank there is little wonder so many were upset Sarah Palin had no idea what it was when recently interviewed.

The National Security Strategy, published on September 20, 2002, is often quoted as the basis for this as the core to the Bush Doctrine, these four main points: Preemption, Military Primacy, New Multilateralism, and the Spread of Democracy. This policy made a certain amount of sense in Afghanistan since Osama Bin Laden was headquartered and supported their by the ruling regime.

In Iraq however, it has been an unmitigated disaster mainly due to the tremendous cost. The human cost is of course mind-numbing and hard to calculate. Many analysts around the world have spoken of how America has lost a certain “moral high ground” that it seemed to defend in the past. Who would have thought America would be known as a torturer nation and ignorer of the Geneva Convention strictures? Who foresaw special code words like “rendition” would be developed to mean we were shirking international human rights? Most citizens of the world feel George Bush is a war criminal, and many feel he should be arrested and put on trial similarly to Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian and if convicted imprisoned.
The other cost is of course financial. It is clear the US economy is simply not robust enough to pay for the Neocons’ gargantuan spending spree. This is the other way in which Neocons differ from the old school Pat Buchanan and Barry Goldwater Republicans. There is no concern whatsoever in the former Ronald Regan or current George Bush encampments to pay our bills. This new political agenda of the Neocons, to balance the budget by borrowing, to spend way beyond the nation’s means is not sustainable.

This is a very fundamental, basic shift in thinking, about what it means to be a conservative and which political party is the real conservative when it comes to fiscal management.
The Republicans, long a party to not care about the future of the environment for our children, now also have become a party to not care about the future of America’s finances or ability to pay its bills.

What a change from conservative to neocon.