Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I see the term being thrown around all the time, ususally in a derisive way. Can someone (especially those that use it all the time) explain just what it means?
And please, don't say "GWB" or "someone that voted for GWB", that's not an answer.
I asked this same question on another board. I'm curious as well. I guess I'm just not up to speed on all the "modern" political speak. "Neo" of course, is the Greek for "new". So I'm assuming this is a term for the "new conservitave movement"....whatever that is.
As it's used today, a neocon is generally considered a conservative who will accept a minimally beauracratic welfare state and pay lip service to free markets, are more than willing (even eager) to intervene internationally to promote (what they view as) "vital national interests".
IOW, they follow the "speak loudly and carry a big stick" philosophy. Whether it's driven by pure ideology or the fact that many of them came up through the military-industrial complex, and are often huge shareholders in defense contractors, is a question I'll let you answer for yourself.
Technically, a neoconservative is one who adopted the political philosophy of Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz, mainly liberals who took a more hawkish and expansive stance regarding American foreign policy. The main tract of the movement can be found by reading the policy statements issued out of the Project for the New American Century.
Neocon is a term I use on people who seek:
1. Corporatism: They tend to promote corporate welfare at the cost of welfare of the people, and in the name of free market which is nothing but an instrument to economic and financial gains, and ultimately, power gain for the richest.
2. International Interventionism: The idea of national interest goes well beyond the borders, into the affairs of foreign nations and their governance.
3. Military Excesses: Tied to interventionism, in that the military is used not just to defend the borders but to play a role in a foreign country's borders via war/occupation. This also implies excess military expenditures, and may also be tied to corporatism where big defense corporations stand to benefit. Also deemed an easy tool to get people on the side, while achieving the goals.
4. Religiosity: This is a tool to get broader support of the populace, even as religion was never meant to dictate political gains. Religion becomes a selling point, or a take away point, by neoconservatives. Policies and campaign rhetoric are designed to appease along religious grounds, and often laws are proposed to go with them.
5. Overselling Nationalism: The idea of quickly labeling loyal dissenters as being unpatriotic, largely to fulfill their political, social and economic goals.
... to name a few. One could argue that neoconservatives a line close to neo-fascism, and generally contrasts the (old) conservative movement. I would put Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Atwater, Cheney, Rove, Limbaugh, Hannity etc in that bucket.
Neoconservatism is a political philosophy that emerged in the United States. Its key distinction is in international affairs, where it espouses an interventionist approach that seeks to defend what neo-conservatives deem as national interests. In addition, unlike traditional conservatives, neoconservatives are comfortable with a minimally-bureaucratic welfare state; and, while generally supportive of free markets, they are willing to interfere for overriding social purposes.[1]
The term neoconservative, first coined at least as early as 1921, was used at one time as a criticism against liberals who had "moved to the right".[2][3]Michael Harrington, a democratic socialist, coined the current sense of the term neoconservative in a 1973 Dissent magazine article concerning welfare policy.[4] According to E. J. Dionne, the nascent neoconservatives were driven by "the notion that liberalism" had failed and "no longer knew what it was talking about."[5]
The first major neoconservative to embrace the term, and considered its founder, is Irving Kristol, father of William Kristol, who founded the neoconservative Project for the New American Century. The elder Kristol wrote of his neoconservative views in the 1979 article "Confessions of a True, Self-Confessed 'Neoconservative.'"[2] His ideas had been influential since the 1950s, when he co-founded and edited Encounter magazine.[6] Another source was Norman Podhoretz, editor of Commentary magazine from 1960 to 1995. By 1982 Podhoretz was calling himself a neoconservative, in a New York Times Magazine article titled "The Neoconservative Anguish over Reagan's Foreign Policy".[7][8] The term was the subject of increased media coverage during the presidency of George W. Bush.[9][10] In particular, discussion has focussed on the neoconservative influence on American foreign policy, as part of the Bush Doctrine.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
