Posted on 02/09/2008 5:22:12 PM PST by gallaxyglue
They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons By Jacob Heilbrunn Doubleday, 320 pages, $26 ...It is about a mindset, one that has been decisively shaped by the Jewish immigrant experience, by the Holocaust, and by the twentieth-century struggle against totalitarianism. . . . [H]owever much they may deny it, neoconservatism is in a decisive respect a Jewish phenomenon, reflecting a subset of Jewish concerns."
Some critics have questioned the predominant role played in the movement by Jews, and especially their unstinting support of Israel. Some have even suggested that the neocons' advocacy for war with Iraq was driven by their allegiance to Israel, not by U.S. security needs. Neocons are quick to dismiss charges of dual loyalty as anti-Semitism... "[O]ne cannot avoid the fact that these accusations of Jewish 'dual loyalty' point not to traitorous behavior but to something else -- a conflation of America's and Israel's interests."... (However,) Heilbrunn argues, "Neoconservatism has always existed in some form, and in every society," promiscuously recruiting to the cause Athenian Gen. Alcibiades, advisers to Czar Nicholas II (Could there have been a less-Jewish group?) and the "nationalist claque" that pushed Kaiser Wilhelm into World War I.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Don’t buy the book. Wait for the movie.
Oh, and everyone please remove from your memories the images of Saddam Hussien paying the families of suicide bombers $25,000. That never happened, there were no links to terrorism, and another unapproved memory is rolling over the Iraqi army in a couple short weeks. These images do not conform to the present reality and any admitting of remembering of these things will make you unsuitable for public appearances.
I can’t find the article. Can you post a direct link?
“The Weekly Standard, a journal of fevered, right-wing opinion edited by William Kristol, the son of Irving Kristol, godfather of the neoconservative movement.”
Heh. These newspaper writers don’t get out of their own circles much do they?
The link you provided for this was actually just a link to the front page of The Chicago Tribune. It did not go to the actual article itself. Your link has now been replaced with a link which goes to the book review.
We’re trying to reduce the number of pulled threads. When you post a published article, always include a working link which goes to the actual article.
Thanks.
The winners write history!
If we aren't careful, all this will be true.
| Topic | Neo-Cons | Real Conservatives* |
| Today | Currently dominate the White House (Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld, Cheney, and previously Wolfowitz), the GOP (McCain, and many others), and much of the “conservative” media (Weekly Standard, WSJ, et al.). | Currently in the minority. Although supported by many conservative journalists, writers and intellectuals, have limited influence in the GOP or Democratic Party. |
| Origins | Fairly recent group. Many are ex-Leftists, Marxists and Socialists who became anti-Soviet Union. (Critics call them “liberals in disguise.”) | The quintessential conservatives of America and Western Europe (vide Russell Kirk’s Conservative Mind.) Many trace lineage back to Edmund Burke. |
| Foreign Policy | Wilsonian internationalists and interventionists. Support war in Iraq. Contrary to 2,000 years of conservative thought, think they can and should militarily convert world to “democracy” | Tend to be isolationist or only advocating military action in America’s “real interests.” Opposed intervention in Iraq. Following wisdom of Aristotle, realize that different forms of government (e.g. democracy, monarchy, et al.) are better suited for different cultures and histories. |
| Big Government | Generally favor big government; skeptical of states’ rights | Favor small federal government and states’ rights |
| Spending | Favor massive spending on government programs (cf. Bush’s record-high deficit) | Favor extremely limited spending by the federal government |
| Nation State | Typically favor globalism. Many (not all) see “nation state” as outdated and poorly suited for global capitalism. | Skeptical of globalism, and want to preserve nation state (e.g. sovereignty of U.S. and Western European countries). |
| Free trade and outsourcing | Ardent supporters of gobalism, free trade and outsourcing; many are hostile to “nation state” concept | Generally oppose such measures, as they erode away at regionalism, national security, sovereignty, standards of living, and wages. (Historically, conservatives have opposed free trade.) |
| Immigration | Generally support amnesty / guest-worker program, favor open borders and want few limits on immigration | Oppose amnesty, favor secured borders, and seek reduction in legal and illegal immigration |
| Affirmative Action | Generally support | Vehemently oppose |
| History | Generally favorable of Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR | Generally skeptical of Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, and LBJ’s Great Society |
| Welfare State | Generally favor. | Generally oppose |
| Religion | Many are secularists, but give lip service to religion to acquire conservative votes** | Support religion. Like the Founding Fathers, favor a more active role of religion in the Public Square. |
| Abortion | Many are pro-choice, but give lip service to pro-life causes to acquire conservative votes** | Typically pro-life |
| Homosexual "Marriage" | Many support, but give lip service to opposite to garnish conservative votes. (Probably will back a Federal Marriage Amendment to attempt to reel back in conservative base.)** | Oppose |
| Political Correctness | Many support** | Vehemently oppose |
| American Aesthetic | None discernable | Tend to favor regionalism and maintaining local character |
| Primary & Secondary Education | Apparently favor big-government approach (as evidenced by socialist legislation No Child Left Behind) | Want authority over education to be returned to states and counties. Many favor private schools, homeschooling, and a classical approach. |
| Advocates | Bush Family, Rice, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes, David Frum, Irving Kristol, et al. | Russell Kirk, T.S. Eliot, Mel Bradford, Lou Dobbs, Robert Novak, Pat Buchanan, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, American Conservative, Chronicles Magazine, et al. |
*Sometimes called “real conservatives” (”real conservatism”), paleoconservatives (paleoconservatism), or traditional conservatives (traditional conservatism).
**There are some neoconservatives who oppose secularism, abortion, gay “marriage,” and political correctness. Nonetheless, these issues seem to be secondary to most neoconservatives, who just seem to use them to pay lip service to religious conservatives for support.
Sorry, found at http://right-mind.us/blogs/blog_0/archive/2006/05/02/43338.aspx
Thanks for the post. Fun anyway, even if some arguable stuff was slipped in there. I’m not sure for example that your average conservative Republican is skeptical of Lincoln.
Paleocons are no more the conditio sine qua non of conservatism than neocons. In fact, most paleos seem deranged mirrors of neocons, while neoconservatism looses all intellectual merit and becomes a parody.
That list conflates
1. Rockefeller Republicanism and Neoconservatism. Also, what is 2000 of conservative thought?
2. Paleoconservatives are not the only group of real conservatives. You are writing out Fusionists in favor of a hodgepodge group organized only around opposing neocons.
Not quite sure what to make of this...or how many distortions there are yet- but I do know I can’t stand Willim Kristol and a few of the others on the list from the review.
Interesting food for thought- I like to have my assumptions and beliefs challenged now and again- thanks for posting this piece.
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