Nickdfresh
08-27-2005, 12:21 AM
You know, the people destroying the United States with self-destructive foreign invasions and massive deficit-spending and enabling corporations to record record profits while dumping their American workers...
Neoconservatism is a somewhat controversial term referring to the political goals and ideology of the "new conservatives" (ultraconservative) in the United States. The "newness" refers either to being new to American conservatism (often coming from liberal or socialist backgrounds) or to being part of a "new wave" of conservative thought and political organization. In politics, the term liberal refers to: an adherent of the ideology of liberalism —an ideology espousing liberty. ... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ...
Compared to other U.S. conservatives, neoconservatives are characterized by an aggressive moralist stance on foreign policy, a lesser social conservatism, weaker dedication to a policy of minimal government, and a greater acceptance of the welfare state. A moralist is a person for whom moral conduct, morality, and the correctness of moral thought are paramount. ... Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel. ... Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... In civics, Minarchism, sometimes called minimal statism, is the view that government should be as small as possible. ... There are three main interpretations of the idea of a welfare state: the provision of welfare services by the state. ...
Neoconservatism is a controversial term whose meaning is widely disputed. The term is used more often by those who oppose "neoconservative" politics than those who subscribe to them; indeed, many to whom the label is applied reject it. The term is sometimes used pejoratively, especially by the self-described paleoconservatives, who oppose neoconservatism from the right. Critics of the term argue that the word is overused and lacks coherent definition. For instance, they note that many so-called neoconservatives vehemently disagree with one another on major issues. A word or phrase is pejorative if it expresses contempt or disapproval. ... The term paleoconservative (sometimes shortened to paleo or paleocon when the context is clear) refers to an American branch of conservative Old Right thought that stands against both the mainstream tradition of the National Review magazine and the neoconservatives. ... In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ...
As a rule, the term refers more to journalists, pundits, policy analysts, and institutions affiliated with the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and with Commentary and The Weekly Standard than to more traditional conservative policy think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation or periodicals such as Policy Review or National Review. The neoconservatives, often dubbed the neocons by supporters and critics alike, are credited with or blamed for influencing U.S. foreign policy, especially under the administrations of Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) and George W. Bush (2001–present). Neoconservatives have often been singled out for criticism by opponents of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, many of whom see this invasion as a neoconservative initiative. A pandit or pundit(पन्दित् in Devanagari) is a Hindu Brahmin who has memorized a substantial portion of the Vedas, along with the proper rhythms and melodies for chanting or singing them. ... The Project for the New American Century, or PNAC, is a Washington, DC based think tank. ... Commentary Magazine is a publication of the American Jewish Committee, although the magazine is editorially independent and often takes very different views than the majority of that organizations membership. ... The Weekly Standard is an American Conservative political magazine published 48 times per year. ... This article is about the institution. ... The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank located in Washington, DC, is widely regarded as one of the worlds most influential public policy research institutes. ... Policy Review is one of the worlds leading conservative journals. ... National Review (NR) is a conservative political magazine founded by author William F. Buckley, Jr. ... Order: 40th President Vice President: George H.W. Bush Term of office: January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 Preceded by: Jimmy Carter Succeeded by: George H.W. Bush Date of birth: February 6, 1911 Place of birth: Tampico, Illinois Date of death: June 5, 2004 Place of death: Los Angeles... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Order: 43rd President Vice President: Dick Cheney Term of office: January 20, 2001 – present Preceded by: Bill Clinton Succeeded by: Incumbent Date of birth: July 6, 1946 Place of birth: New Haven, Connecticut First Lady: Laura Welch Bush Political party: Republican George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the... 2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The neutrality and accuracy of this article are disputed. ...
Beliefs
This political group supported a militant anticommunism; more social welfare spending than was acceptable to libertarians and mainstream conservatives; civil equality for blacks and other minorities; and sympathy with a non-traditionalist agenda, being more inclined than other conservatives toward an interventionist foreign policy and a unilateralism that is sometimes at odds with traditional conceptions of diplomacy and international law. They feuded with traditional right-wing Republicans, and the nativist, protectionist, isolationists once represented by ex-Republican "paleoconservative" Pat Buchanan. Anti-communism is opposition to communist ideology, organization, or government, on either a theoretical or practical level. ... Social welfare can be taken to mean the welfare or well-being of a society. ... This article deals with the libertarianism as defined in America and several other nations. ... Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... Civil Rights Movement in the United States, political, legal, and social struggle to gain full citizenship rights for African American and to achieve racial equality. ... In sociology and in voting theory, a minority is a sub-group that is outnumbered by persons who do not belong to it. ... Unilateralism is an antonym for multilateralism. ... The term Nativism is used in both politics and psychology in two fundamentally different ways. ... Protectionism is the economic policy of promoting favored domestic industries through the use of high tariffs and other regulations to discourage imports. ... Isolationism is a diplomatic policy whereby a nation seeks to avoid alliances with other nations. ... The term paleoconservative (sometimes shortened to paleo or paleocon when the context is clear) refers to an American branch of conservative Old Right thought that stands against both the mainstream tradition of the National Review magazine and the neoconservatives. ... Patrick Buchanan Patrick Joseph Buchanan (born November 2, 1938), usually known as Pat Buchanan, is an American conservative journalist and a well known television political commentator. ...
But domestic policy does not define neoconservatism; it is a movement founded on, and perpetuated by an aggressive approach to foreign policy, free trade, opposition to communism during the Cold War, support for beleaguered liberal democracies such as Israel and Taiwan and opposition to Middle Eastern and other states that are perceived to support terrorism. Thus, their foremost target was the conservative but pragmatic approach to foreign policy often associated with Richard Nixon, i.e., peace through negotiations, diplomacy, and arms control, détente and containment (rather than rollback) of the Soviet Union, and the beginning of the process that would lead to bilateral ties between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the U.S. Today, a rift still divides the neoconservatives from many members of the State Department, who favor established foreign policy conventions. Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... Communism is a term that can refer to one of several things: a social and economic system, an ideology which supports that system, or a political movement that wishes to implement that system. ... The Cold War ( 1947- 1991) was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between groups of nations practicing different ideologies and political systems. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Terrorism is a controversial term with multiple definitions. ... Order: 37th President Vice President: Spiro Agnew (1969–1973), Gerald Ford (1973–1974) Term of office: January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 Preceded by: Lyndon B. Johnson Succeeded by: Gerald Ford Date of birth: January 9, 1913 Place of birth: Yorba Linda, California Date of death: April 22, 1994 Place...
Intellectually, neoconservatives have been strongly influenced by a diverse range of thinkers from Max Shachtman 's strongly anti-Soviet version of Trotskyism (in the area of international policy) to the elitist, ostensibly neo-Platonic ideas of Leo Strauss. Max Shachtman (September 10, 1904 - 1972) is best known as an American Trotskyist theorist. ... Soviet redirects here. ... Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... Statue of a philosopher, presumely Plato, in Delphi. ... Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973), was a German-American political philosopher who has been greatly influential in America. ...
Origins
Neoconservatives are conservatives who are "new" (neo) to the conservative movement in some way. Usually, this comes as a result from the migration from the left of the political spectrum to the right, over the course of many years. Though every such neoconservative has an individual story to tell, there are several key events in recent American history that are often said to have prompted the shift. For the direction left, see left and right. ... For the direction right, see left and right or starboard. ...
Some of today's most famous neocons are from Eastern European Jewish immigrant families, who were frequently on the edge of poverty. The Great Depression radicalized many immigrants, and introduced them to the new and revolutionary ideas of socialism and communism. The Soviet Union's break with Stalinism in the 1950's led to the rise of the so-called New Left in America, which popularized anti-Sovietism along with anti-capitalism. The New Left became very popular among the children of hardline Communist families. --209. ... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... Communism is a term that can refer to one of several things: a social and economic system, an ideology which supports that system, or a political movement that wishes to implement that system. ... Stalinism is a brand of political theory, and the political and economic system implemented by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. ... The British New Left (or Old New Left) As a result of Khrushchevs secret speech denouncing Stalin and the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) ruptured. ...
Opposition to the New Left and Détente with the Soviet Union would cause the Neoconservatives to emerge as the first important group of social policy critics from the working class, the original neoconservatives, though not yet using this term, were generally liberals or socialists who strongly supported the Second World War. Multiple strands contributed to their ideas, including the Depression-era ideas of former New Dealers, trade unionists, and Trotskyists, particularly those who followed the political ideas of Max Shachtman. The current neoconservative desire to spread democratic capitalism abroad often by force, it is sometimes said, parallels the Trotskyist dream of world socialist revolution. The influence of the Trotskyists perhaps left them with strong anti-Soviet tendencies, especially considering the Great Purges targeting alleged Trotskyists in Soviet Russia. A number of neoconservatives such as Jeane Kirkpatrick, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz were Shachtmanites in their youth while others were involved in the Social Democrats, USA, which was formed by Schachtman's supporters in the 1970s. Détente was the general reduction in the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States and a thawing of the Cold War that occurred from the late 1960s until the start of the 1980s. ... In politics, the term liberal refers to: an adherent of the ideology of liberalism —an ideology espousing liberty. ... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The New Deal was President Franklin D. Roosevelts legislative agenda for rescuing the United States from the Great Depression. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers... Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... Max Shachtman (September 10, 1904 - 1972) is best known as an American Trotskyist theorist. ... The Great Purge is the name given to campaigns of repression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s which included a purge of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ... Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick (born November 19, 1926) is an American conservative political scientist and member of the neoconservative movement. ... Richard Perle Richard Norman Perle (born September 16, 1941 in New York City) is an American neoconservative political advisor who served the Reagan administration as an assistant Secretary of Defense and served on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee from 1987 to 2004. ... Paul Wolfowitz Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943), is an Jewish-American academic and American political figure. ... Shachtmanism was a form of Trotskyism associated with Max Shachtman. ... The Social Democrats USA (SDUSA) is a small coalition of intellectuals and trade unionists. ...
The original "neoconservative" theorists, such as Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz, were often associated with the magazine Commentary, and their intellectual evolution is quite evident in that magazine over the course of these years. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s the early neoconservatives were anti-Communist socialists strongly supportive of the civil rights movement, integration, and Martin Luther King. However, they grew disillusioned with the Johnson administration's Great Society. Some neoconservatives also came to despise the counterculture of the 1960s and what they felt was a growing "anti-Americanism" among many baby boomers, in the movement against the Vietnam War and in the emerging New Left. Irving Kristol (1920-) is considered the founding godfather of American neoconservatism, a prominent Jew, and the father of William Kristol. ... Norman Podhoretz is considered to be a neo-con (neo-conservative) and believed to be a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. ... Commentary Magazine is a publication of the American Jewish Committee, although the magazine is editorially independent and often takes very different views than the majority of that organizations membership. ... Millennia: 1st millennium - 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. ... Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... Civil Rights Movement in the United States, political, legal, and social struggle to gain full citizenship rights for African American and to achieve racial equality. ... Racial integration, or simply integration, in United States usage, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). ... Martin Luther King Jr. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson ( August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ... Much like FDRs New Deal and Trumans Fair Deal, the Great Society was a series of domestic initiatives announced in the United States in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson at Ann Arbor, Michigan. ... In sociology, counterculture is a term used to describe a cultural group whose values and norms are at odds with those of the social mainstream. ... Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... A baby boom is defined as a period of increased birth rates relative to surrounding generations. ... The Vietnam War was a war fought roughly from 1957 to 1975 after the North Vietnamese government secretly agreed to begin involvement in South Vietnam. ... The British New Left (or Old New Left) As a result of Khrushchevs secret speech denouncing Stalin and the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) ruptured. ...
According to Irving Kristol, former managing editor of Commentary and now a Senior Fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington and the Publisher of the hawkish magazine The National Interest, a neoconservative is a "liberal mugged by reality." Broadly sympathetic to Woodrow Wilson's idealistic goals to spread American ideals of government, economics, and culture abroad, they grew to reject his reliance on international organizations and treaties to accomplish these objectives. The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a think tank founded in 1943 whose stated mission is to support the foundations of freedom - limited government, private enterprise, vital cultural and political institutions, and a strong foreign policy and national defense. ... Dr. Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was the 45th state Governor of New Jersey (1911-1913) and later the 28th President of the United States (1913-1921). ...
As the radicalization of the New Left pushed these intellectuals further to the right in response, they moved toward a more aggressive militarism. Admiration of the "big stick" interventionist foreign policy of Theodore Roosevelt remains a common theme in neoconservative tracts as well. Now staunch anti-Communists, a vast array of sympathetic conservatives attracted to their strong defense of a "rolling-back" of Communism (an idea touted under the Eisenhower administration by traditional conservative John Foster Dulles) began to become associated with these neoconservative leaders. Influential periodicals such as Commentary, The New Republic, The Public Interest, and The American Spectator, and lately The Weekly Standard have been established by prominent neoconservatives or regularly host the writings of neoconservative writers. Militarism is an ideology which claims that military strength is the source of all security, and that the military represents the forward direction of the society as a whole, as it expands into the world, asserting its influence. ... Order: 26th President Vice President: Charles Warren Fairbanks Term of office: September 14, 1901 – March 3, 1909 Preceded by: William McKinley Succeeded by: William Howard Taft Date of birth: October 27, 1858 Place of birth: New York City Date of death: January 6, 1919 Place of death: Oyster Bay, New... John Foster Dulles John Foster Dulles (February 2, 1888–May 24, 1959) was an American statesman who served as Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 - 1959. ... This page is about the magazine; for the fictional government in Star Wars, see New Republic (Star Wars). ...
Academics in these circles, many of whom were still Democrats, rebelled against the Democratic Party's leftward drift on defense issues in the 1970s, especially after the nomination of George McGovern in 1972. Many clustered around Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a Democrat derisively known as the "Senator from Boeing," but then they aligned themselves with Ronald Reagan and the Republicans, who promised to confront charges of Soviet "expansionism." Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... George Stanley McGovern (born July 19, 1922 in Avon, South Dakota) was a United States Congressman, Senator, and Democratic presidential candidate, losing the 1972 presidential election to incumbent Richard Nixon. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... Order: 40th President Vice President: George H.W. Bush Term of office: January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 Preceded by: Jimmy Carter Succeeded by: George H.W. Bush Date of birth: February 6, 1911 Place of birth: Tampico, Illinois Date of death: June 5, 2004 Place of death: Los Angeles...
In his semi-autobiographic book, "Neo-conservatism", Irving Kristol cites a number of influences on his own thought, including not only Max Shachtman and Leo Strauss but also the skeptical liberal literary critic Lionel Trilling. The influence of Leo Strauss and his disciples on some neoconservatives has generated some controversy. Some argue that Strauss's influence has left some neoconservatives adopting a Machiavellian view of politics. See Leo Strauss for a discussion of this controversy. Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973), was a German-American political philosopher who has been greatly influential in America. ... Lionel Trilling (July 4, 1905 - November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, author, and teacher. ... Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973), was a German-American political philosopher who has been greatly influential in America. ... Detail of the portrait of Machiavelli, ca 1500, in the robes of a Florentine public official Niccolò Machiavelli (May 3, 1469—June 21, 1527) was an Italian political philosopher during the Renaissance. ... Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973), was a German-American political philosopher who has been greatly influential in America. ...
Neoconservatism as a "Jewish" movement
One of the most controversial issues surrounding neoconservatism is its relation to specifically Jewish intellectual traditions; in the most extreme form of this view, neoconservatism has been regarded by some as primarily a movement to advance Jewish interests. Classic anti-Semitic tropes have often been used when elaborating this view, such as the idea that Jews achieve influence through the intellectual domination of national leaders. David Brooks in his January 6, 2004 New York Times column wrote, "To hear these people describe it, PNAC is sort of a Yiddish Trilateral Commission, the nexus of the sprawling neocon tentacles." David Brooks, conservative commentator for the New York Times and other publications. ... January 6 is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... The Trilateral Commission is a private organization, founded in 1973 at the initiative of David Rockefeller, of over 300 private citizens from Europe, Japan, and North America to promote closer cooperation between these three areas. ...
The controversial evolutionary psychologist Kevin B. MacDonald published an article in The Occidental Quarterly, a journal of opinion, on the alleged similarities between neoconservatism and several other possibly Jewish-dominated influential intellectual and political movements. He argues that "[t]aken as a whole, neoconservatism is an excellent illustration of the key traits behind the success of Jewish activism: ethnocentrism, intelligence and wealth, psychological intensity, and aggressiveness."[1] (http://theoccidentalquarterly.com/vol4no2/km-understandIII.html) His general conclusions are that neoconservatism fits into a general pattern of twentieth-century Jewish intellectual and political activism. Since Leo Strauss, a philosophy professor, taught several of the putative founders of the neoconservatism, MacDonald concludes he is a central figure in the neo-conservative movement and sees him as "the quintessential rabbinical guru with devoted disciples". [2] http://www.vdare.com/misc/macdonald_neoconservatism.htm Evolutionary psychology or (EP) proposes that human and primate cognition and behavior could be better understood by examining them in light of human and primate evolutionary history. ... Kevin B. MacDonald (born 1944) is a professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach, and a theorist of evolutionary psychology. ... Ethnocentrism (Greek ethnos nation + -centrism) is a set of beliefs or practices based on the view that ones own group is the center of everything. ... Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973), was a German-American political philosopher who has been greatly influential in America. ...
MacDonald contends that, like Freudian psychoanalysis and Marxism, neoconservatism uses arguments that appeal to non-Jews, rather than appealing explicitly to Jewish interests. MacDonald argues that non-Jewish neo-conservatives like Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Donald Rumsfeld [sic] are examples of an ability to recruit prominent non-Jews while nevertheless preserving a Jewish core and an intense commitment to Jewish interests: "it makes excellent psychological sense to have the spokespeople for any movement resemble the people they are trying to convince."[3] (http://www.vdare.com/misc/macdonald_neoconservatism.htm) He considers it significant that neoconservatism's commitment to mass immigration is uncharacteristic of past conservative thought and is identical to liberal Jewish opinion. MacDonald's views of neoconservatism are not widely accepted in the United States, though similar theories have found a more receptive audience in some Arab media, such as Al Jazeera. His views have been characterized as anti-Semitic and have been condemned as "nauseating" by some, including the writer Judith Shulevitz. (For wider discussion, see Kevin B. MacDonald) Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ... Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods which attempt to elucidate unconscious relations in a systematic way through an associative process. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century German philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Al Jazeera logo Al Jazeera (الجزيرة), meaning The Island or The (Arabian) Peninsula (whence also Algiers) is an Arabic television channel based in Qatar. ... Anti-Semitism (alternatively spelled antisemitism) is hostility towards Jews (not: Semites - see the Misnomer section further on). ... Judith Shulevitz is a writer on religion and literature whose articles for the New York Times and the on-line Slate magazine. ... Kevin B. MacDonald (born 1944) is a professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach, and a theorist of evolutionary psychology. ...
Michael Lind, a self-described former neoconservative, wrote in 2004, "It is true, and unfortunate, that some journalists tend to use 'neoconservative' to refer only to Jewish neoconservatives, a practice that forces them to invent categories like 'nationalist conservative' or 'Western conservative' for Rumsfeld and Cheney. But neoconservatism is an ideology, like paleoconservatism and libertarianism, and Rumsfeld and Dick and Lynne Cheney are full-fledged neocons, as distinct from paleocons or libertarians, even though they are not Jewish and were never liberals or leftists." [4] (http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040223&c=2&s=lind) Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (born July 9, 1932) is the current Secretary of Defense of the United States, since January 20, 2001, under President George W. Bush. ... Richard Bruce Cheney (born January 30, 1941), widely known as Dick Cheney, is an American politician and businessman affiliated with the U.S. Republican Party. ... Lynne Cheney Lynne Ann Vincent Cheney (born August 14, 1941) is the wife of Vice President Richard B. Cheney. ...
Lind argues that, while "there were, and are, very few Northeastern WASP mandarins in the neoconservative movement", its origins are not specifically Jewish. "...[N]eoconservatism recruited from diverse 'farm teams,' including liberal Catholics (William Bennett and Michael Novak..) and populists, socialists and New Deal liberals in the South and Southwest (the pool from which Jeane Kirkpatrick, James Woolsey and I [that is, Lind himself] were drawn)." [5] (http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040223&c=2&s=lind) Populism is a political ideology or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the elite in society, which exists only to serve its own interests, and therefore, the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and instead used for the... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... The New Deal was President Franklin D. Roosevelts legislative agenda for rescuing the United States from the Great Depression. ... The U.S. Southern states or The South, known during the American Civil War era as Dixie, is a distinctive region of the United States with its own unique historical perspective, customs, musical styles, and cuisine. ... Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick (born November 19, 1926) is an American conservative political scientist and member of the neoconservative movement. ... Robert James Woolsey, Jr. ...
Neoconservatism as an "ex-leftist" movement
Lind further writes that neoconservatism "originated in the 1970s as a movement of anti-Soviet liberals and social democrats in the tradition of Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Humphrey and Henry ("Scoop") Jackson, many of whom preferred to call themselves 'paleoliberals.'" When the Cold War ended, "many 'paleoliberals' drifted back to the Democratic center... Today's neocons are a shrunken remnant of the original broad neocon coalition. Nevertheless, the origins of their ideology on the left are still apparent. The fact that most of the younger neocons were never on the left is irrelevant; they are the intellectual (and, in the case of William Kristol and John Podhoretz, the literal) heirs of older ex-leftists." [6] (http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040223&c=2&s=lind) For the victim of Mt. ... Order: 35th President Vice President: Lyndon B. Johnson Term of office: January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963 Preceded by: Dwight D. Eisenhower Succeeded by: Lyndon B. Johnson Date of birth: May 29, 1917 Place of birth: Brookline, Massachusetts Date of death: November 22, 1963 Place of death: Dallas, Texas First... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ... Hubert Horatio Humphrey II (May 27, 1911–January 13, 1978) was the 38th Vice President of the United States, twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota and was mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota. ... Henry Martin Scoop Jackson (May 31, 1912 – September 1, 1983) was a Congressman and Senator for Washington State from 1941 until his death. ... The Cold War ( 1947- 1991) was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between groups of nations practicing different ideologies and political systems. ... William Kristol featured on BBC Newsnight William Bill Kristol (born December 23, 1952 in New York City) is an American political commentator and columnist. ... John Podhoretz is a commentator for a variety of conservative news outlets, including Fox News, the New York Post, National Review, the Weekly Standard and ReganBooks. ...
In particular, Lind argues that the neoconservatives are influenced by the thought of Trotskyists such as James Burnham and Max Shachtman, who argued that "the United States and similar societies are dominated by a decadent, postbourgeois 'new class'". He sees the neoconservative concept of "global democratic revolution" as deriving from the Trotskyist Fourth International's "vision of permanent revolution". He also points to what he sees as the Marxist origin of "the economic determinist idea that liberal democracy is an epiphenomenon of capitalism", which he describes as "Marxism with entrepreneurs substituted for proletarians as the heroic subjects of history." [7] (http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040223&c=2&s=lind) Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... James Burnham (1905-1987) was a popular political theorist, activist and intellectual, known for his work The Managerial Revolution, published in 1941, which heavily influenced George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four. Burnhams theories are thought to have been influnced by Bruno Rizzis book La Bureaucratisation du Monde which... Max Shachtman (September 10, 1904 - 1972) is best known as an American Trotskyist theorist. ... The new class is a term to describe the privileged ruling class of bureaucrats and Communist party functionaries which typically arises in a Stalinist communist state. ... Logo of the Fourth International The Fourth International was an international organisation of Trotskyist communists. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century German philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Capitalism has been defined in various ways (see definitions of capitalism). ... An entrepreneur is, in its most general sense, a person who creates or starts a new project, opportunity, or venture. ... The proletariat (from Latin proles, offspring) is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is called a proletarian. ...
Lind further argues that "The organization as well as the ideology of the neoconservative movement has left-liberal origins". He draws a line from the center-left anti-Communist Congress for Cultural Freedom to the Committee on the Present Danger to the Project for the New American Century and adds that "European social democratic models inspired the quintessential neocon institution, the National Endowment for Democracy."
(http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040223&c=2&s=lind) The International Association for Cultural Freedom (previously known as the Congress for Cultural Freedom) was an anti-communist political group best known for being revealed in 1967 as a covert operation of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. ... The Committee on the Present Danger was an American bi-partisan, conservative, anti-Communist, militarist lobbying group. ... The Project for the New American Century, or PNAC, is a Washington, DC based think tank. ... This article needs cleanup. ...
Reagan and the Neoconservatives
http://www.nationmaster.com/wikimir/images/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/de/Kirkpatrick.jpg
Jeane Kirkpatrick
During the 1970's political scientist Jeane Kirkpatrick increasingly criticized the Democratic Party, of which she was still a member, since the nomination of the antiwar George McGovern. Kirkpatrick became a convert to the ideas of the new conservatism of once-liberal Democratic academics. Jean Kirkpatricks official US government file portrait as ambassador to the United Nations. ... Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick (born November 19, 1926) is an American conservative political scientist and member of the neoconservative movement. ... The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... George Stanley McGovern (born July 19, 1922 in Avon, South Dakota) was a United States Congressman, Senator, and Democratic presidential candidate, losing the 1972 presidential election to incumbent Richard Nixon. ...
During Ronald Reagan's successful 1980 campaign, he hired her as his foreign policy advisor and later nominated her as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a position she held for four years. Known for her anti-communist stance and for her tolerance of right-wing dictatorships (her criticism of which was often tempered, calling them simply "moderately repressive regimes"), she argued that Third World social revolutions were illegitimate, and thus that the overthrow of leftist governments, even if replaced with right-wing dictatorships, was acceptable and at times essential because they served as a bulwark against the expansion of Soviet interests. Under this doctrine, known as the Kirkpatrick Doctrine, the Reagan administration actively supported leaders such as Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. Support for such regimes was based primarily on their usefulness, however, which could at times be impaired by their undemocratic natures. Hence, the U.S. could turn against them if circumstances changed. For example, U.S. support for Marcos continued until and even after the fraudulent Philippine election of February 7, 1986. In the days that followed, however, with the widespread popular refusal to accept Marcos as the purported winner, turmoil in the Philippines grew. The Reagan administration then urged Marcos to accept defeat and leave the country, which he did. The Reagan team also supported the 1988 Chilean plebiscite that resulted in the restoration of democratic rule and Pinochet's eventual removal from office. Order: 40th President Vice President: George H.W. Bush Term of office: January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 Preceded by: Jimmy Carter Succeeded by: George H.W. Bush Date of birth: February 6, 1911 Place of birth: Tampico, Illinois Date of death: June 5, 2004 Place of death: Los Angeles... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization established in 1945 and now made up of 191 states. ... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... Soviet Union - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... The Kirkpatrick Doctrine was a political doctrine expounded by United States Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick in the early 1980s which attempted to justify U.S. support for right-wing, anti-Communist dictatorships in the Third World in the context of the Cold War. ... General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte1 (born November 25, 1915) was head of the military government that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. ... PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Edralin Marcos (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was the tenth President of the Republic of the Philippines. ... February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
In this sense, the neoconservative foreign policy makers were different than some of their more traditionalist conservative predecessors. While many from the old school believed that America's allies should be unquestionably defended at all costs, no matter what the nature of their regime, many neocons were more supportive to the idea of changing regimes to make them more compatible and reflective of U.S. values. The belief in the universality of democracy would be a key neoconservative value which would go on to play a larger role in the post-Cold War period. Some critics would say however, that their emphasis on the need for externally-imposed "regime change" for "rogue" nations such as Iraq conflicted with the democratic value of national self-determination. Most neocons view this argument as invalid until a country has a democratic government to express the actual determination of its people.
For his own part, President Reagan largely did not move towards the sort of protracted, long-term interventions to stem social revolution in the Third World that many of his advisors would have favored. Instead, he mostly favored quick campaigns to attack or overthrow terrorist groups or leftist governments, favoring small, quick interventions that heightened a sense of post-Vietnam triumphalism among Americans, such as the attacks on Grenada and Libya, and arming right-wing militias in Central America seeking to overthrow radical leftist governments such as that of the Sandinistas. Central America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. ... Sandinista! is also the name of a popular music album by The Clash. ...
In general, many neocons see the collapse of the Soviet Union as having occurred directly due to Reagan's hard-line stance, and the bankruptcy that resulted from the Soviet Union trying to keep up the arms race. They therefore see this as a strong confirmation of their worldview.
The comeback of neoconservatism under George W. Bush
Many critics charged that the neoconservatives lost their raison d'étre following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Others argue that they lost their status due to their involvement with the Iran-Contra scandal. During the 1990s, neoconservatives were once again in the opposition side of the foreign policy establishment, railing against the post-Cold War foreign policy of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, which reduced military expenditures and was, in their view, insufficiently idealistic. They accused it of lacking "moral clarity" and the conviction to unilaterally pursue U.S. strategic interests abroad. In the writings of Paul Wolfowitz, Norman Podhoretz, Elliott Abrams, Richard Perle, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Max Boot, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, William Bennett, Peter Rodman, and others influential in forging the foreign policy doctrines of the Bush administration, there are frequent references to the appeasement of Hitler at Munich in 1938, to which are compared the Cold War's policies of détente and containment (rather than rollback) with the Soviet Union and the PRC. Also particularly galvanizing to the movement was George H.W. Bush and Colin Powell's decision to leave Saddam Hussein in power and what neoconservatives viewed as a betrayal of the Iraqi Kurds, although some neoconservatives, notably Dick Cheney, supported the action at the time. Neoconservatives were also members of the blue team, which argued for a confrontational policy toward the People's Republic of China and strong military and diplomatic support for Taiwan. In the Iran-Contra Affair, United States President Ronald Reagans administration secretly sold arms to Iran, which was engaged in a bloody war with its neighbor Iraq from 1980 to 1988 (see Iran-Iraq War), and diverted the proceeds to the Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the leftist and... Events and trends Technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology Reduction in size and cost of mobile phones leads to a massive surge in their popularity Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K) Microsoft Windows operating system becomes virtually ubiquitous on IBM... Order: 41st President Vice President: Dan Quayle Term of office: January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 Preceded by: Ronald Reagan Succeeded by: Bill Clinton Date of birth: June 12, 1924 Place of birth: Milton, Massachusetts First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush Political party: Republican George Herbert Walker Bush, KBE (born June... Order: 42nd President Vice President: Al Gore Term of office: January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 Preceded by: George H. W. Bush Succeeded by: George W. Bush Date of birth: August 19, 1946 Place of birth: Hope, Arkansas First Lady: Hillary Rodham Clinton Political party: Democratic William Jefferson Clinton (born... Moral clarity is a catch-phrase associated with American political conservatives. ... Paul Wolfowitz Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943), is an Jewish-American academic and American political figure. ... Norman Podhoretz is considered to be a neo-con (neo-conservative) and believed to be a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. ... Elliott Abrams (born January 24, 1948), a lawyer of Jewish-American background, is a member of the administration of President George W. Bush, During Bushs first term in office, he was appointed the post of Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director on the National Security Council for... Richard Perle Richard Norman Perle (born September 16, 1941 in New York City) is an American neoconservative political advisor who served the Reagan administration as an assistant Secretary of Defense and served on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee from 1987 to 2004. ... Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick (born November 19, 1926) is an American conservative political scientist and member of the neoconservative movement. ... Max Boot is an author and military historian noted for his support of a strong U.S. leadership role in the world. ... William Kristol featured on BBC Newsnight William Bill Kristol (born December 23, 1952 in New York City) is an American political commentator and columnist. ... Robert Kagan is considered to be a neo-conservative. ... This article is about William Bennett the US politician. ... Appeasement is a strategic maneuver, based on either pragmatism, fear of war, or moral conviction, that leads to acceptance of imposed conditions in lieu of armed resistance. ... Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ... Munich: Frauenkirche and Town Hall steeple Munich (German: München pronunciation) is the state capital of the German Bundesland of Bavaria. ... 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Order: 41st President Vice President: Dan Quayle Term of office: January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 Preceded by: Ronald Reagan Succeeded by: Bill Clinton Date of birth: June 12, 1924 Place of birth: Milton, Massachusetts First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush Political party: Republican George Herbert Walker Bush, KBE (born June... Colin Luther Powell (pronounced koh lihn, born April 5, 1937) was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving from January 20, 2001 to January 26, 2005 under President George W. Bush. ... Saddam Hussein Saddām Hussein ʻAbd al-Majīd al-Tikrītī (Often spelled Husayn or Hussain; Arabic صدام حسين عبدالمجيد التكريتي; born April 28, 1937 1) was President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. ... Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... The blue team is an informal group within the United States that has argued that the Peoples Republic of China is the largest security threat to the United States. ...
Early in the George W. Bush administration, neoconservatives were particularly upset by Bush's non-confrontational policy toward the PRC and Russia and what they perceived as Bush's insufficient support of Israel, and most neoconservatives perceived Bush's foreign policies to be not substantially different from the policies of Clinton. Following the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon, however, the influence of neoconservatism in the Bush administration appears to have increased. In contrast with earlier writings that emphasized the danger from a strong Russia and the PRC, the focus of neoconservatives shifted from Communism to the Middle East and global terrorism. The twin towers, photographed from the west The World Trade Center in New York City was a complex of seven buildings around a central plaza, near the south end of Manhattan in the downtown financial district. ... The Pentagon, looking east with the Potomac River and Washington Monument in the distance. ...
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Image:Rperle.jpg
Richard Perle
In his well-publicized piece "The Case for American Empire" in the conservative Weekly Standard, Max Boot argued that "The most realistic response to terrorism is for America to embrace its imperial role." He countered sentiments that the "United States must become a kinder, gentler nation, must eschew quixotic missions abroad, must become, in Pat Buchanan's phrase, 'a republic, not an empire'," arguing that "In fact this analysis is exactly backward: The September 11 attack was a result of insufficient American involvement and ambition; the solution is to be more expansive in our goals and more assertive in their implementation." Richard Perle File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Weekly Standard is an American Conservative political magazine published 48 times per year. ...
Neoconservatives won a landmark victory with the Bush Doctrine after September 11th. Thomas Donnelly, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an influential conservative thinktank in Washington that has been under neoconservative influence since the election of Reagan, argued in his AEI piece "The Underpinnings of the Bush doctrine" that "the fundamental premise of the Bush Doctrine is true: The United States possesses the means—economic, military, diplomatic—to realize its expansive geopolitical purposes. Further, and especially in light of the domestic political reaction to the attacks of September 11, the victory in Afghanistan and the remarkable skill demonstrated by President Bush in focusing national attention, it is equally true that Americans possess the requisite political willpower to pursue an expansive strategy." The Bush Doctrine refers to the set of revised foreign policies adopted by President of the United States George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. ... This article needs cleanup. ... The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a think tank founded in 1943 whose stated mission is to support the foundations of freedom - limited government, private enterprise, vital cultural and political institutions, and a strong foreign policy and national defense. ...
The Bush Doctrine, a departure from previous U.S. foreign policy, is a proclamation on the right of the United States to wage pre-emptive war should it be threatened by terrorists or rogue states. This doctrine can be seen as the abandonment of a focus on the doctrine of deterrence (in the Cold War through Mutually Assured Destruction) as the primary means of self-defense. There is some opinion that preemptive strikes have long been a part of international practice and indeed of American practice, as exemplified, for example, by the unilateral U.S. blockade and boarding of Cuban shipping during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The doctrine also states that the United States "will be strong enough to dissuade potential adversaries from pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or equaling, the power of the United States." A rogue state, in the most general sense, is a state that abides neither by international law nor international standards of proper governance and behavior. ... Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is the doctrine of military strategy in which a full scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. ... Self-defense usually refers to the use of violence to protect oneself and is a possible justification for this otherwise illegal act. ... The Cuban Missile Crisis was a tense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States over the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. ...
While more conventional foreign policy experts argued that Iraq could be restrained by enforcing No-Fly Zones and by a policy of inspection by United Nations inspectors to restrict its ability to possess chemical or nuclear weapons, neoconservatives considered this policy direction ineffectual and labeled it appeasement of Saddam Hussein. A no-fly zone is a territory over which aircraft (or unauthorized aircraft) are not permitted to fly. ... The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization established in 1945 and now made up of 191 states. ... Dressing the wounded during a gas attack by Austin O. Spare, 1918. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ...
Today, the most prominent supporters of the neoconservative stance inside the administration are Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, recently nominated to head the World Bank. Neoconservatives are perhaps closer to the mainstream of the Republican Party today since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon than any competing faction, especially considering the nature of the Bush Doctrine and the preemptive war against Iraq. Nevertheless, many of the prominent people labeled as neoconservatives are actually registered Democrats. Richard Bruce Cheney (born January 30, 1941), widely known as Dick Cheney, is an American politician and businessman affiliated with the U.S. Republican Party. ... Condoleezza Condi Rice (born November 14, 1954), is the second United States Secretary of State in the administration of President George W. Bush. ... Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (born July 9, 1932) is the current Secretary of Defense of the United States, since January 20, 2001, under President George W. Bush. ... Paul Wolfowitz Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943), is an Jewish-American academic and American political figure. ...
At the same time, there have been limits in the power of neoconservatives in the Bush administration. The former Secretary of State Colin Powell (as well as the State department as a whole) was largely seen as being an opponent of neoconservative ideas, and while the neoconservative notion of tough and decisive action has been apparent in U.S. policy toward the Middle East, it has not been seen in U.S. policy toward China and Russia or in the handling of the North Korean nuclear crisis. Colin Luther Powell (pronounced koh lihn, born April 5, 1937) was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving from January 20, 2001 to January 26, 2005 under President George W. Bush. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia, covering the northern half of the peninsula of Korea. ...
As compared with traditional conservatism, which sometimes exhibited an isolationist strain, neoconservatism is characterized by support for significantly increased defense spending, challenging regimes deemed hostile to the values and interests of the United States, pressing for free-market policies abroad, and ensuring that the United States remains the world's sole superpower. Neoconservatism has influenced the conservative agenda in the United States on such issues. Critics have charged that, while paying lip service to American values, neoconservatives have supported undemocratic regimes for realpolitik reasons. Isolationism is a diplomatic policy whereby a nation seeks to avoid alliances with other nations. ... In historical context The factual accuracy of this section of this article is disputed. ... Realpolitik (German for politics of reality) is foreign politics based on practical concerns rather than theory or ethics. ...
Neoconservatives and Israel
The neoconservatives also support a robust American stance on Israel. The neoconservative-influenced Project for the New American Century called for an Israel no longer dependent on American aid through the removal of major threats in the region.
Opponents of neoconservatives have sought to emphasize their interest in Israel, and the large proportion of Jewish neoconservatives and have raised the question of "dual loyalty", an issue they do not raise with the neoconservatives equally staunch support of Taiwan. A number of critics, such as Pat Buchanan, have accused them of putting Israeli interests above those of America. In turn these critics have been labeled as anti-Semites by many neoconservatives (which in turn has led to accusations of professional smearing, and then paranoia, and so on). However, one should note that some prominent neoconservatives are not Jewish, such as Michael Novak, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Frank Gaffney, and Max Boot. Furthermore, neoconservatives in the 1960s were much less interested in Israel before the June 1967 Six Day War. It was only after this conflict, which raised the specter of unopposed Soviet influence in the Middle East, that the neoconservatives became preoccupied by Israel's security interests. They promote the view that Israel is the US's strongest ally in the Middle East as the sole Western-style democracy in the region, aside from Turkey (George W. Bush has also supported Turkey in its efforts to join the European Union). The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Dual loyalty is when citizens of one state whose cultural or religious affiliation with another country is strong have a loyalty to the other country which equals or exceeds their loyalty to their home country. ... Patrick Buchanan Patrick Joseph Buchanan (born November 2, 1938), usually known as Pat Buchanan, is an American conservative journalist and a well known television political commentator. ... Michael Novak (born 1933) is a conservative Roman Catholic American philosopher and diplomat. ... Frank J. Gaffney Jr. ... Max Boot is an author and military historian noted for his support of a strong U.S. leadership role in the world. ... Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... The 1967 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the Six-Day War or June War, was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. ...
Moreover, they have long argued that the United States should emulate Israel's tactics of pre-emptive attacks, especially Israel's strikes in the 1980s on nuclear facilities in Libya and Iraq. Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ...
Identification with the state of Israel was furthered by the September 11 terrorist attacks, which served to highlight parallels between the United States and Israel as both democratic nations under the threat of terrorist attack. In Israel one of the major forces on the secular right are Soviet immigrant parties which often join Likud coalitions because of agreement on issues of national security. The similarities between American neoconservatism and these immigrant parties are many. In addition to similar approaches to foreign policy and national security, the two groups also share important "biographical" details, with the neoconservatives' alienation from left-wing politics during the 1960s mirrored by the Israeli immigrants' alienation from Labor Zionism because of their experiences under Soviet Communism. A leading figure among immigrant politicians is former-Soviet dissident and now an Israeli minister without portfolio Natan Sharansky, whose book, The Case For Democracy, promotes a foreign policy philosophy nearly identical to neoconservatives'. President Bush has effusively praised this book [9] (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A46687-2005Feb23?language=printer) and called it a "glimpse of how I think". The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks carried out in the United States on September 11, 2001. ... Soviet Union - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Likud party logo Likud or ליכוד literally means consolidation. ... Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... Labor Zionism (or Labour Zionism) is the traditional left-wing of the Zionist ideology. ... Natan Sharansky (Russian: Натан Щаранский, born January 20, 1948) is a notable Soviet dissident, Israeli politician and an author. ...
World War II analogies
In foreign policy neoconservatives have a tendency to view the world in 1939 terms, comparing adversaries as diverse as the Soviet Union, Osama bin Laden, and China to Nazi Germany, while American leaders such as Reagan and Bush stand in for Winston Churchill. There is also a tendency to accuse leftists, and others who oppose them as being appeasers. The fullest account of this is Donald and Frederick Kagan's While America Sleeps, the entirety of which is dedicated to these comparisons. 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Osama bin Laden Usāmah bin Muhammad bin `Awad bin Lādin (born March 10, 1957 or July 30, 1957) (Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عود بن لادن), commonly known as Osama bin Laden (أسامة بن لادن), is the figurehead of al-Qaeda, an Islamist movement that has been involved in attacks... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS (November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965) was a British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II. At various times an author, soldier, journalist, and politician, Churchill is generally regarded as... Appeasement is a strategic maneuver, based on either pragmatism, fear of war, or moral conviction, that leads to acceptance of imposed conditions in lieu of armed resistance. ... Donald Kagan (born 1932) is a Yale historian specializing in ancient Greece, notable for his four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War. ...
In addition, neoconservatives have a very strong belief in the ability to install democracy by conquest - comparisons with denazification in Germany and Japan starting in 1945 are often made. Denazification (German: Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary and politics of any remnants of the Nazi regime. ...
Neoconservatives and Iraq
http://www.nationmaster.com/wikimir/images/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/Wolfow.jpg
Paul Wolfowitz
Within a few years of the Gulf War in Iraq, many associated with neoconservatism were pushing for the ouster of Saddam Hussein. On February 19, 1998, an open letter to President Clinton was signed by dozens of pundits, many identified with both neoconservatism and, later, related groups such as the PNAC, urging decisive action to remove Saddam from power [10] (http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/rumsfeld-openletter.htm). However, although sanctions, encouragement of insurrection, and enforcement of no-fly zones continued under Clinton and then Bush, no such action was taken until after the Iraq disarmament crisis of 2003. Government portrait of Paul Wolfowitz (Defense Dept. ... Paul Wolfowitz Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943), is an Jewish-American academic and American political figure. ... See also: 2003 invasion of Iraq and Gulf War (disambiguation) C Company, 1st Battalion, The Staffordshire Regiment, 1st UK Armoured Division The Persian Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of 34 nations led by the United States. ... Saddam Hussein Saddām Hussein ʻAbd al-Majīd al-Tikrītī (Often spelled Husayn or Hussain; Arabic صدام حسين عبدالمجيد التكريتي; born April 28, 1937 1) was President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. ... February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Order: 42nd President Vice President: Al Gore Term of office: January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 Preceded by: George H. W. Bush Succeeded by: George W. Bush Date of birth: August 19, 1946 Place of birth: Hope, Arkansas First Lady: Hillary Rodham Clinton Political party: Democratic William Jefferson Clinton (born... The Project for the New American Century, or PNAC, is a Washington, DC based think tank. ... The issue of Iraqs disarmament reached a crisis in 2002-2003, when George W. Bush demanded a complete end to alleged Iraqi production and use of weapons of mass destruction. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Events January January 1 - Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil. ...
Proponents of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 sought to compare their war to Churchill's war against Hitler, with speakers like United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld comparing Saddam to Hitler, while likening the tolerance shown Saddam to the 1930s appeasement of Hitler. This represented a major turnaround for many conservatives, including Donald Rumsfeld himself, who in 1983 met Saddam Hussein and Tariq Aziz and declared that "the U.S. and Iraq share many common interests" [11] (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/). Prior to war, Bush compared Saddam Hussein to Stalin and Hitler and invoked the spectre of "appeasement." Like the Nazis and the Communists, Bush said, "the terrorists seek to end lives and control all life." But the visage of evil conjured up by Bush during his European trip was that of Saddam Hussein, not bin Laden, who many considered a greater threat. Iraq's dictator was singled out as the "great evil" who "by his search for terrible weapons, by his ties to terrorist groups, threatens the security of every free nation, including the free nations of Europe." The neutrality and accuracy of this article are disputed. ... The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS (November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965) was a British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II. At various times an author, soldier, journalist, and politician, Churchill is generally regarded as... The United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the United States Department of Defense, concerned with the armed services and The Secretary is appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate, and is a member of the Cabinet. ... Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (born July 9, 1932) is the current Secretary of Defense of the United States, since January 20, 2001, under President George W. Bush. ... Events and trends Technology Jet engine invented Science Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann Pluto, the ninth planet from the Sun, is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh British biologist Arthur Tansley coins term ecosystem War, peace and politics Socialists proclaim The death of Capitalism Rise to... Tariq Aziz, also Tareq Aziz, (born 1936) is the articulate former Foreign Minister (1979-1991) and Deputy Prime Minister (1979-2003) of Iraq and was a close advisor to President Saddam Hussein for decades. ...
Following the release, on June 16, 2004, of the preliminary findings of the staff of the bipartisan commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the commission found no evidence that Iraq had anything to do with the attacks and no evidence of a "collaborative relationship" but did find that
"Bin Laden also explored possible cooperation with Iraq during his time in Sudan, despite his opposition to Hussein's secular regime",
"A senior Iraqi intelligence officer reportedly made three visits to Sudan, finally meeting Bin Laden in 1994",
"There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda also occurred after Bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan" [ 3 http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/staff_statement_15.pdf
Further, the commission found that,
"With al Qaeda as its foundation, Bin Laden sought to build a broader Islamic army that also included terrorist groups from Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Oman, Tunisia, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Somalia and Eritrea. Not all groups from these states agreed to join, but at least one from each did." [ 4 (http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/staff_statement_15.pdf)]
Protesting the press' "portrayal" of the 911 Commission's statement, Vice President Dick Cheney, in an interview with CNBC television, insisted that "there clearly was a relationship. It has been testified to. The evidence is overwhelming." [ 5 (http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2004/06/18/20040618_123202_flash3.htm)]
Contrasts with other perspectives
Relationship with other types of U.S. conservatism
The traditional conservative Claes Ryn has developed the critique that neoconservatives are actually what he calls a variety of neo-Jacobins. True conservatives deny the existence of a universal political and economic philosophy and model that is suitable for all societies and cultures, and believe that a society's institutions should be adjusted to suit its culture. Neo-Jacobins in contrast Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... Jacobin Club, the most famous of the political clubs of the French Revolution, had its origin in the Club Breton, which formed at Versailles shortly after the opening of the Estates General in 1789. ...
are attached in the end to ahistorical, supranational principles that they believe should supplant the traditions of particular societies. The new Jacobins see themselves as on the side of right and fighting evil and are not prone to respecting or looking for common ground with countries that do not share their democratic preferences. (Ryn 2003: 387)
[Neo-Jacobinism] regards America as founded on universal principles and assigns to the United States the role of supervising the remaking of the world. Its adherents have the intense dogmatic commitment of true believers and are highly prone to moralistic rhetoric. They demand, among other things, "moral clarity" in dealing with regimes that stand in the way of America's universal purpose. They see themselves as champions of "virtue." (p. 384).
Thus, according to Ryn, neoconservatism is analogous to Bolshevism: in the same way that the Bolsheviks wanted to destroy established ways of life throughout the world to replace them with communism, the neoconservatives want to do the same, only imposing free-market capitalism and American-style "liberal democracy" instead of socialism. Bolshevik Party Meeting. ...
There is also conflict between neoconservatives and libertarian conservatives. Libertarian conservatives are distrustful of a large government and therefore regard neoconservative foreign policy ambitions with considerable distrust. This article deals with the libertarianism as defined in America and several other nations. ...
There has been considerable conflict between neoconservatives and business conservatives in some areas. Neoconservatives tend to see China as a looming threat to the United States and argue for harsh policies to contain that threat. Business conservatives see China as a business opportunity and see a tough policy against China as opposed to their desires for trade and economic progress. Business conservatives also appear much less distrustful of international institutions. In fact, where China is concerned neoconservatives tend to find themselves more often in agreement with liberal Democrats than with business conservatives. Indeed, Americans for Democratic Action - widely regarded as an "authority" of sorts on liberalism by both the American left and right alike - credit Senators and members of the House of Representatives with casting a "liberal" vote if they oppose legislation that would treat China favorably in the realm of foreign trade and many other matters. Americans For Democratic Action (ADA) was formed in January 1947, when Eleanor Roosevelt, John Kenneth Galbraith, Reinhold Niebuhr, Hubert Humphrey and 200 other activists. ...
The disputes over Israel and domestic policies have contributed to a sharp conflict over the years with "paleoconservatives," whose very name was taken as a rebuke to their "neo" brethren. There are many personal issues but effectively the paleoconservatives view the neoconservatives as interlopers who deviate from the traditional conservative agenda on issues as diverse as states' rights, free trade, immigration, isolationism, the welfare state, and even abortion and homosexuality. All of this leads to their conservative label being questioned. In American politics and constitutional law, states rights are guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, (i. ... Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... Isolationism is a diplomatic policy whereby a nation seeks to avoid alliances with other nations. ... Welfare has four main meanings. ... Homosexuality may refer to: A sexual orientation characterized by aesthetic attraction, romantic love, and sexual desire exclusively or almost exclusively for members of the same sex or with the same gender identity (e. ...
Other critics of neoconservatism
In addition to the concerns over the allegedly excessive identification with Israel already cited, some observers have accused many of the more prominent neoconservatives of hypocrisy for their aggressive post-9/11 foreign policy stand, considering the fact that these neoconservatives are Baby Boomers who managed to avoid military service, or at least combat duty, during the Vietnam War. This charge is most frequently levelled by younger Baby Busters or members of Generation X, leading to the creation of a derogatory label – that of chickenhawks – directed at these neoconservatives, and also at President George W. Bush. Baby Boomers however, recognize that even Vietnam War hawks were critical of the way the war was being fought and did not want to fight in a war America was not trying to win. The neo-cons have been consistent with this experience, in their support of a voluntary professional military and staunch opposition to any reinstatement of the draft. The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks carried out in the United States on September 11, 2001. ... A baby boom is defined as a period of increased birth rates relative to surrounding generations. ... The Vietnam War was a war fought roughly from 1957 to 1975 after the North Vietnamese government secretly agreed to begin involvement in South Vietnam. ... Baby Busters is a name for a demographic group born in the United States or Canada from 1958 through 1968. ... Generation X is a term used in demographics, the social sciences, and more broadly in popular culture. ... For other uses, see Chickenhawk (disambiguation) A chickenhawk is a subjective political epithet to describe a politician, bureaucrat, or commentator who votes for war, supports war, commands a war, or develops war policy, but has not personally served in the military. ... Order: 43rd President Vice President: Dick Cheney Term of office: January 20, 2001 – present Preceded by: Bill Clinton Succeeded by: Incumbent Date of birth: July 6, 1946 Place of birth: New Haven, Connecticut First Lady: Laura Welch Bush Political party: Republican George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the... A baby boom is defined as a period of increased birth rates relative to surrounding generations. ... Conscription is a general term for involuntary labor demanded by some established authority, e. ...
Criticism of term
The term was coined by socialist Michael Harrington, who wanted a way to characterize former leftists who had moved significantly to the right – people he had been deriding as "socialists for Nixon." Edward Michael Harrington (February 24, 1928 - July 31, 1989) was an American socialist. ...
Many of the men and women to whom the neoconservative label is applied reject it as artificial and too abstract. The fact that its use has rapidly risen since the 2003 Iraq War is cited by conservatives as proof that the term is largely irrelevant in the long term. David Horowitz, a purported leading neo-con thinker offered this critique in a recent interview with an Italian newspaper: For other uses of the term, see Iraq war (disambiguation) The 2003 invasion of Iraq (also called the 2nd or 3rd Persian Gulf War) began on March 20, 2003, when forces belonging primarily to the United States and the United Kingdom invaded Iraq without the explicit backing of the United... This page is about the social activist and writer. ...
Neo-conservatism is a term almost exclusively used by the enemies of America's liberation of Iraq. There is no "neo-conservative" movement in the United States. When there was one, it was made up of former Democrats who embraced the welfare state but supported Ronald Reagan's Cold War policies against the Soviet bloc. Today neo-conservatism identifies those who believe in an aggressive policy against radical Islam and the global terrorists.
Similarly, many other supposed neoconservatives believe that the term has been adopted by the political left to stereotype supporters of U.S. foreign policy under the George W. Bush administration. Others have similarly likened descriptions of neoconservatism to a conspiracy theory and attribute the term to anti-Semitism. Paul Wolfowitz has denounced the term as meaningless label, saying: In modern usage, a stereotype is a simplified mental picture of an individual or group of people who share a certain characteristic (or stereotypical) qualities. ... This proposed logo for a US government agency was dropped due to fears that its Masonic symbolism would provoke conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is a theory that claims an event or series of events is the result of secret manipulations by two or more individuals or an organization, rather... Anti-Semitism (alternatively spelled antisemitism) is hostility towards Jews (not: Semites - see the Misnomer section further on). ...
[If] you read the Middle Eastern press, it seems to be a euphemism for some kind of nefarious Zionist conspiracy. But I think that, in my view it's very important to approach [foreign policy] not from a doctrinal point of view. I think almost every case I know is different. Indonesia is different from the Philippines. Iraq is different from Indonesia. I think there are certain principles that I believe are American principles – both realism and idealism. I guess I'd like to call myself a democratic realist. I don't know if that makes me a neo-conservative or not.
Other "traditional" conservatives (e.g., Jonah Goldberg) have rejected the label as trite and over-used, arguing "There's nothing 'neo' about me: I was never anything other than conservative." Other critics have similarly argued the term has been rendered meaningless through excessive and inconsistent use. For example, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are often identified as leading "neocons" despite the fact that both men have been life-long conservative Republicans. Such critics thus largely reject the claim that there is a neoconservative movement separate from traditional American conservatism. Jonah Jacob Goldberg (born March 21, 1969) is a conservative commentator, probably best known for his contributions on politics and culture to National Review Online, where he is the editor-at-large. ... Richard Bruce Cheney (born January 30, 1941), widely known as Dick Cheney, is an American politician and businessman affiliated with the U.S. Republican Party. ... Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (born July 9, 1932) is the current Secretary of Defense of the United States, since January 20, 2001, under President George W. Bush. ...
Other traditional conservatives are likewise skeptical of the contemporary usage term, and may dislike being associated with the stereotypes, or even the supposed agendas of the "neocons." Conservative columnist David Harsanyi wrote, "These days, it seems that even temperate support for military action against dictators and terrorists qualifies you a neocon."
On the other hand, some of those identified as neoconservatives embrace the term. For example, Irving Kristol (who once famously defined a "neoconservative" as "a liberal who got mugged by reality") published a collection of his essays under the title Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea (paperback ISBN 1566632285, hardcover ISBN 0028740211). Use of the term enables neoconservatives to distinguish themselves from conservatives when they find it advantageous to do so. In addition, neoconservatives who were once leftists can soften the implication that they have "defected" to the side they once opposed. Irving Kristol (1920-) is considered the founding godfather of American neoconservatism, a prominent Jew, and the father of William Kristol. ... A defector is generally a person who gives up allegiance to a certain country in exchange for allegiance to another. ...
One might also observe that during the 1970s, for example in a book on the movement by Peter Steinfels, the use of the term neoconservative was never identified with the writings of Leo Strauss. The near synonymicity, in some quarters, of neoconservatism and Straussianism is a much more recent phenomenon, which suggests that perhaps two quite distinct movements have become merged into one, either in fact or in the eyes of certain beholders.
Link (http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Neoconservatism-%28United-States%29)
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