Neo-con is used by many in these forums as a general purpose slur towards posters that generally favor a more interventionist policy against our enemies. It has been misused by conflating it with militarist or war hawks. The term was first used to describe former Great Society but also anti-Communist liberal democrats that left the democrats for their dovish pro-communist attitudes. Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan and William F Buckley could be called war hawks cold warriors but they weren’t Neo-Cons. The Kristols and James Schlesinger were.
Our enemies?
And it's not a slur if it's true. Let's not pretend that it's for those "generally favoring a more interventionist policy against our enemies".
The term neoconservative refers to Trotskyist academics from New York. Trotsky described himself as a Marxist, and a Bolshevik–Leninist, as well as a follower of Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Karl Liebknecht, and Rosa Luxemburg.
This faction of the Left that was losing influence to the "New Left" decided to attach themselves to Conservatism in order to steer their power for their own agenda. They pushed their way in with "The enemy of my enemy is my friend.", hiding that they've shown themselves to be far, far more anti-American.
In the U.S., neoconservativism spread among the Liberal Hawks who were Democrats; with adherents such as Paul Wolfowitz, Paul Bremer, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, Michael Bloomberg, Barack Obama, Madeleine Albright, Thomas Friedman, and Samantha Power among those whose names would be recognized in the public sphere.
These are not conservatives despite their Marxist playbook approach of naming themselves "neo-conservative".