Anti-Anti-Neoconservatism

The Claremont Review of Books ^ | Winter 2005 | Gerard Alexander

[quidnunc]

A review of:

America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order, by Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke
Imperial Designs: Neoconservatism and the New Pax Americana, by Gary Dorrien

Bashing George W. Bush has been the thinking person's sport for four years now. Foreign policy intellectuals play their own version of the game: bashing neoconservatives. This is Bush-bashing with a Ph.D. It has proven surprisingly popular, attracting onto the field not only liberals but also some traditional conservatives and many conspiracy theorists, for whom the neocons are the new Trilateral Commission. Sadly, a lot of this commentary is plagued by the same vices as Bush-bashing in general: chronic exaggeration, fast-and-loose connection-drawing, and over-the-top hyperbole. Reading it is enough to turn you into a fervent anti-anti-neoconservative.

This is a pity, because with Bush's re-election "the neoconservative question" is ripe for debate, and this high-stakes debate should be as well-informed as possible.

Instead, vitriol has already poisoned it. To blame are at least two propositions put forth by many critics of the neocons, including the authors of both these new books. The first is that there is such a thing as a tightly-knit and highly ideological community of neocons obsessed with unilateralism, military force, preventive war, and social engineering in the Middle East. It hardly helps that neocons have been defined not by themselves but by their critics. The second premise is that after 9/11, this group seized control of — Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke actually use the word "hijacked" — U.S. national security policy by virtue of their zeal and the on-hand nature of their pre- packaged agenda.

-snip-

[Red Badger]

Anti-Anti-Neoconservatism

Is this like ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM?

[NorCalRepub]

I've yet to hear a really good definition of a Neo Con.. except for they are more preemptive and democracy spreaders at all costs.....does anyone have a really good definition

[Red Badger]

To hear the libs use it, one tends to think Neanderthal and NeoCon are synonyms......

[TradicalRC]

The main problem is that neoconservatives are perceived as conservative at all. Certainly Bush's foreign policy is overripe for criticism. And frankly it's the republicans who defend every single one of Bush's decisions that have soured me on the neocons more than anything. Really it IS the neocons who are running the white house at present.
If there is vitriol it is likely because this group of so-called conservatives thinks that they are above criticism.

[quidnunc]

NorCalRepub wrote: I've yet to hear a really good definition of a Neo Con.. except for they are more preemptive and democracy spreaders at all costs.....does anyone have a really good definition

Read very carefully the article which is the basis of this thread, and then read this article in National Review by Victor Davis Hanson and you'll have a good handle on what a neocon is:

http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200501210758.asp

[NorCalRepub]

thanks........

[Willie Green]

I've yet to hear a really good definition of a Neo Con.. except for they are more preemptive and democracy spreaders at all costs.....does anyone have a really good definition

They're LBJ liberals who were booted out of power by the dope-smoking draft dodgers.

[InTheRight]

A neoconservative is a new conservative. It's someone who changed from liberal to conservative.

[bukkdems]

Coming from the furthest thing from an expert, but my understanding of neo-cons is they believe an oil-rich Muslim country could create vast individual wealth and development if fundamental human rights are implemented. This in turn is expected to foment democratic revolutions in neighboring states. Their view is that this is the only answer because of the observable results of 50 years of appeasement.

[Ohioan]

In the February essay at my web site, just posted yesterday (the 27th), I let Irving Kristol, in an article in his son's magazine define them.

My criticism does not treat them as the historic force they claim, nor which others hysterically attack. They are, what they are: A pretentious, psuedo-intellectual aberration in Republican politics.

As I suggest, in the article, a Century hence, their delusions of their own importance will be seen in the same light as Mussolini's delusions of grandeur.

See The "Neo-Con" Phenomenon.

I may or may not post it at Free Republic. I am not sure that the subjects, i.e. the actual "Neo-Cons," as opposed to some "want-to-bes" who haven't really looked very closely at the underlying assumptions--are worth the bandwith.

William Flax

[King Prout]

supposedly: "da Joooooooz"

[COEXERJ145]

A neoconservative is a new conservative. It's someone who changed from liberal to conservative.

Funny, a lot of people who are and have always been conservatives are continually referred to as "NeoCons". It is used as a cheap attack by those who think that others aren't consecrative enough even though the difference is maybe one issue.

In reality, it has become a term that has no meaning. The liberals use it to define anyone who is a conservative and/or Republican or anyone who supports the War on Terror. Then there are the Buchanan followers who think they are the only "true conservatives" and call everyone else a "NeoCon". Then as Rush says, for some it is means "Rich, Republican Jews" so it is just a new name for the old conspiracy theory that rich Jews are controlling everything from behind the scenes.

[RFT1]

THis is my own personal defintion. The WSJ op ed pages/Weekly standard to me at least define what neo-conservatism is. In reality, it is slightly tweaked LBJ style liberalism, meaning pro strong defense/america in foreign policy, but pro big govrenment at home, more than willing to radically alter society.

[InTheRight]

I have to laugh at a lot of the liberals who use the word "neocon," obviously thinking "neo" means "very." The majority of those I've heard using it thought it meant "ultra conservative." To top it off, they pronounce "con" with an "ah" sound instead of "uh," which is how the "con" in conservative is pronounced. Perhaps handing out dictionaries along with the welfare checks would help.

[Dumb_Ox]

The best, most nuanced conservative critique of neoconservative tendencies I've read is Claes G. Ryn's _America the Virtuous_. Here's a review. I doubt the Claremont Institute will mention Ryn's work, and seeing how half the posters on this thread have bought into the intellectually dishonest idea that "neo-con" critics are all anti-semites, I doubt many here will consider Ryn either.