Irving Kristol writes in Reflections of a Neo-Conservative: "a conservative welfare state... is perfectly consistent with the neo-conservative perspective."
and: "[We] are conservative, but different in certain respects from the conservatism of the Republican Party. We accepted the New Deal in principle, and had little affection for the kind of isolationism that then permeated American conservatism."
Conservative Welfare State? What's next? Conservative Marxism? This is definitely one of the funnier oxymorons I have ever read. Though it is clear the “Welfare State” has a home with neo-conservatives.
As others have pointed out, there is little that is conservative with this bunch of Wild-Eyed Zealots. In the interests of Truth in Labeling the CONS should change their name to Neo-Statists. It would end the sullying of true conservatism and be a far more accurate description of their true ideology.