Neoconservatism

A neoconservative (colloquially, neocon) is a former liberal turned conservative. Neoconservatives believe that democracy can and should be installed around the world, even in Muslim countries such as Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. It is said that neoconservatives were responsible for persuading President George W. Bush to invade Iraq, and they have lobbied for military action against Iran also.

Origin

Irving Kristol was dubbed by many as "the Godfather" of Neo-conservatism

Neo-conservatism was developed by a group of largely Jewish intellectuals graduated from the City College of New York in the late 1930's, a group that includes Irving Kristol, Daniel Bell, Nathan Glazer. Many of this group came to despise the counterculture of the 1960's and what they felt was a growing "anti-Americanism" among many baby boomers. And during the cold war era, many of them came to realize the evil of the Stalinist regime. Kristol described a neoconservative as a "liberal mugged by reality". The development of neo-conservatism was strongly influenced by the work of German philosopher Leo Strauss and Marxist theorist Leon Trotsky. Irving Kristol himself was once a member of the 4th international.

Publications

The leading publications of neoconservatives are Commentary and The Weekly Standard. Many Washington, D.C. think tanks, such as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) and Henry Jackson Society are now dominated by neoconservatives.

On Israel

Neoconservatives advocate a strong tie with the State of Israel, both economically and militarily. Some paleoconservative such as Pat Buchanan has accused neoconservatives of putting the interests of Israel above those of America.

Social Issues

Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, was a prominent architect of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration known as the Bush Doctrine

Neoconservatives often take libertarian positions on social issues, and are unlikely to agree with religious conservatives on issues like abortion, prayer in school and same-sex marriage. Neoconservatives differ from libertarians in that neoconservatives tend to support Big government policies to further their objectives, and to support erosion of American liberty by Patriot act and other measures such as the implementation of federal gun control.

In anticipation of vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court, the neoconservatives urged the selection of Michael McConnell, a libertarian-leaning jurist, and J. Michael Luttig, who declared Roe v. Wade to be "super-stare decisis" and later left the judiciary to become general counsel of Boeing. Both were passed over in filling the vacancies with religious conservatives.

Influence

Neoconservatives are small in number but dominate television talk shows, Washington-based think tanks, and advisory positions in Republican Administrations. Some prominent neoconservatives are William Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, Lewis Libby, David Horowitz, Norman Podhoretz, Daniel Pipes, Charles Krauthammer, Richard Perle, Robert Kagan, Christopher Hitchens, Willmoore Kendall, Stephen Schwartz, Elliott Abrams and Carl Gershman. Because of the Trotskyist background of some key neoconservatives, many critics have argued that the neoconservative concept of "global democratic revolution" was derived from the Trotskyist Fourth International's "vision of permanent revolution".

External Links

The Henry Jackson Society

Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs

The Neoconservative Persuasion by Irving Kristol

Daniel Pipe's official website

David Horowitz at Jewish World Review

David Horowitz's FrontPageMag