What's In A Name? The Curious Case Of "Neoconservative"

4/30/03 | Paul Gottfried

[the irate magistrate]

good article

[ImpotentRage]

Interesting article. Will return to this when I have time to delve into the "off shoots" he mentions.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Despite this lengthy treatise, I still don't know what the heck a neocon is.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Despite this lengthy treatise, I still don't know what the heck a neocon is.

It is a "Humpty Dumpty Word", it means whatever the speaker means it to mean. Nothing more and nothing less.

[Consort]

They are just trying to divide us, but we neo paleo macro poly meta archeo pluri pan mono multi myria meso medio mani oligo hypo veteri plaid seni iso syn ultra ceno uni novi ideo intimi omni nema staunch paro idio mega ortho para peri pachy proto pseudo sym tauto hypno teleo duct-tape syl real auto hyper holo exo endo dys caco amphi allo acro ambi ante apo sover contra de intus super broken-glass circum narco extra conto ento infra intra trans post con retro sub ecto supra inter meth per socio conservatives are united.

[Taft in '52]

It is a "Humpty Dumpty Word", it means whatever the speaker means it to mean. Nothing more and nothing less.

Lewis Carroll's Humpty Dumpty must have been the first deconstructionist.

[Darheel]

"Firstly, the term "neoconservative" is now too closely identified with the personal and ethnic concerns of its Jewish celebrities."

No anti-Semitism here, move along...

Consort, you forgot me and Reagan, the "Arch-" Conservatives. : p

[moneyrunner]

” Firstly, the term "neoconservative" is now too closely identified with the personal and ethnic concerns of its Jewish celebrities. Despite their frequent attempts to find kept gentiles, the game of speaking through proxies may be showing diminishing results. Everyone with minimal intelligence knows that Bill Bennett, Frank Gaffney, Ed Feulner, Michael Novak, George Weigel, James Nuechterlein, and Cal Thomas front for the neocons.”

There is more than a hint of anti-Semitism in this piece.

[Catspaw]

There is more than a hint of anti-Semitism in this piece.

Ya think? It's like a low brown fetid haze stinking up the place.

[dighton]

Source?

[9999lakes]

Wow!! Talk about coalition building! They are just trying to divide us, but we neo paleo macro poly meta archeo pluri pan mono multi myria meso medio mani oligo hypo veteri plaid seni iso syn ultra ceno uni novi ideo intimi omni nema staunch paro idio mega ortho para peri pachy proto pseudo sym tauto hypno teleo duct-tape syl real auto hyper holo exo endo dys caco amphi allo acro ambi ante apo sover contra de intus super broken-glass circum narco extra conto ento infra intra trans post con retro sub ecto supra inter meth per socio conservatives are united.

[Steve Eisenberg]

Despite this lengthy treatise, I still don't know what the heck a neocon is.

Thirty and even twenty years ago it was pretty clear -- the anti-communist Jews, mostly former leftists, who were associated with Commentary Magazine and the Public Interest. The neoconservatives were less conservative than the old "real" conservatives such as at the National Review. Often they were moderate to liberal on economics, and on social issues like abortion, and only conservative on foreign policy. On race, they opposed affirmative action but made of a much bigger show of being for civil rights for blacks than did the old-line conservatives.

Today, there is no systematic difference between neoconservatives and real conservatives. One reason for this is that the neoconservative perspective on race has completely triumphed within conservatism. An example: I have seen posts on FR saying that Condi is too liberal to be President, but none saying that she is disqualified due to race or sex.

Ever since 9/11, the term neoconservative has become meaningless, except that the liberals have latched onto the term as an insult.

A more contemporary term for the old neoconservatives might be "metropolitan conservative." A Jewish ex-liberal myself, I LOVED this:

Confessions of a Metropolitan Conservative

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Thanks for the excellent explanation.

Ever since 9/11, the term neoconservative has become meaningless, except that the liberals have latched onto the term as an insult

That is wha caused my confusion as I haven't seen it used otherwise.

[9999lakes]

That was a great article. It doesn't help the debate tween neo & other conservatives at all, but it does shed real light on........

Well I'm not sure what it sheds light on, but I like it.

[nutmeg]

read later bump

[Criminal Number 18F]

Thanks for the link, Steve. Derb's Metro/Provinicial divide is certainly more interesting than the current ****storm over "neocon."

I too thought that there was a strong odour of antisemitism in the article. Weird... you would think that was the deadest of dead issues after the events of the last century. For some people, I guess not.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[William McKinley]

Neoconservative used to be a term that had a specific, precise meaning: former leftists who had followed the transformation of Irving Kristol and become conservatives with an interventionist mindset.

For some reason, certain groups thought it would be a wise idea to expand the definition of neoconservative while simultaneously attempting to demonize neoconservatives. I suppose this was a semi-intentional gambit to try to expunge views they disagreed with from the mainstream. In effect, it entrenched these views as the mainstream.

I wonder how William McKinley would be labelled by these people, were he a politician today. Deeply religious, believing in persuing American interests internationally, wanting to leverage American advantages in business through free trade (albeit using tarriffs where appropriate to protect industry), willing to fight against tyranny in places like Cuba. I imagine he would be called a neocon, which begs the question- how 'new' can this conservatism be if it has been around for over 100 years?

[inquest]

I imagine he would be called a neocon, which begs the question- how 'new' can this conservatism be if it has been around for over 100 years?

Well, it poked its head up about a hundred years ago, but then went away not long after TR finished his presidency, and didn't really resurface until after WWII.

[Cachelot]

http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=news_members&Number=602931&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1&t=0#Post602931

Hmmmmmmmm...mmmmm?