I don’ t much care for that term “neocon” probably due to its acquired baggage and my inability to grasp it in the way it seems to be used.
I admit, when looking at the word “Neocon” I originally just broke it down to mean “New Conservative” and I thought “What is wrong with that? Someone who was not a conservative and becoming one through life experiences or events has to be a good thing, right?”
But it apparently isn’t.
“Neocon” seems to be a pejorative term, mean something else, a stratification of conservatism similar to what is seen but largely unstated in the black community regarding melanin content in the skin within the black community and how some of the racist types there view other blacks (lighter skinned blacks are less trustworthy, etc.)
As if someone who made the change to Conservatism from Liberalism is somehow less of a conservative than someone who was “mugged” or just came to their own conclusions.
I fully admit it escapes me. I think people who came to Conservatism rather than somehow being formed from clay have as much or more to offer to Conservatism simply because they may understand the mindset of Liberalism better from having been part of it, and may understand it better.
Here, on FR, it seems to be used to denote someone who claims to be a conservative, yet wants to use US military force around the world in situations that do not warrant it, almost as either a first resort, or just to flex military muscle to gain political advantage.
I have never understood the pejorative use of the term. If you want to use military force for political advantage, that doesn’t make a person a Conservative or a Liberal, it just makes them political, which is neither, and neither is good in that respect.
“it seems to be used to denote someone who claims to be a conservative, yet wants to use US military force around the world in situations that do not warrant it, almost as either a first resort, or just to flex military muscle to gain political advantage.”
That is a good try to describe a NeoCon, but it misses a few key elements.
A true NeoCon is ruthless and fanatical and has a full blown case of xenophobia.
They believe that the map is the territory—even when facts on the ground say otherwise.
They want virtually unlimited military spending. (Many of them are wholly owned subsidiaries of the military industrial complex—so where they sit has determined where they stand.)
They believe in an American Empire—even if the values of the empire are hated by most people all over the world.
The kicker—they consider anyone who disagrees with to be “Putin puffers” or “Islam lovers” or “China lovers”-lots of name calling and finger pointing.