"Mitt Romney reminded everyone with his foreign policy speech this week."
"Neoconservatism, variant of the political ideology of conservatism that combines features of traditional conservatism with political individualism and a qualified endorsement of free markets. Neoconservatism arose in the United States in the 1970s among intellectuals who shared a dislike of communism and a disdain for the counterculture of the 1960s, especially its political radicalism and its animus against authority, custom, and tradition."
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| Source:Britannica- Jane Kilpatrick I guess is someone that Britannica identifies as a Neoconservative. |
From
Britannica
I think before someone talks about Neoconservatives and neoconservatism, they should first know who and what they're talking about. Hopefully that sounds obvious and fair enough.
Is neoconservatism a national security policy or is a broader political philosophy with a strong and national security and foreign policy that's part of it? I tend to look at it as a broader political philosophy the same way I look at socialism or communism as broader political philosophies as well. The only evidence that you need to know about that is to look at George W. Bush presidency that had that strong, hawkish foreign policy, to go along with a reformist-conservative (progressive-conservative, if you will) economic policy.
President George W. Bush was never a hard core, right-wing, classical conservative ideologue, at any point during his political career. But someone as President and as Governor of Texas, was a reformist-conservative (Progressive Republican, if you will) as Governor of Texas, who brought those reform-minded reform conservative values to The White House. And became very hawkish on foreign policy and national security after 9/11. So ideologically I would put President Bush down as a Neoconservative Republican, which means he was very hawkish on foreign policy and national security, but very reformist, progressive even (in a Republican sense) on economic and social policy.
So, my personal definition of a Neoconservative, is a Progressive Republican, or Right-Progressive. Men like Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller fit into this ideological camp. The ideas of Welfare To Work and reforming the private health care and health insurance system, the Patients Bill of Rights, clean air, environmental standards, President Nixon was a pro-civil rights President and so were both President Bush's. School choice both private and public are neoconservative ideas.
Newt Gingrich at least when he was in the House and even as Speaker was a Progressive Republican, or Neoconservative. Senator Joe Lieberman is a Neoconservative and so is Senator John McCain, even though they're from different parties. Comprehensive immigration reform is a neoconservative idea, as well as reforming as public assistance system so it moves people out of poverty, with things like child care and job training, school choice for kids of low-income parents, incentivizing work, even low-income work, over not working at all, instead of just subsidizing people while they'll in poverty. Or just slashing and burning programs, which is what Conservatives has traditionally wanted to do with our public assistance programs. Medicare Advantage and giving seniors choice in how they get their health insurance and health care, instead of just eliminating Medicare or nationalizing the entire health insurance or health care system, these are all neoconservative ideas.
Neoconservatism rose in the 1960s with Richard Nixon and perhaps with Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, as a response to the New Deal and Great Society progressivism from that period. As well as a Center-Right alternative to the rise of Robert Taft/Barry Goldwater, classical conservatism of that period. That George W. Bush and his followers picked up again in the 2000s to respond to the right-wing conservative takeover of the Republican Party, to show Americans that there's a Republican third way in dealing with our domestic and economic issues that a lot of Americans are facing, without looking like Socialists, who just happen to be Republicans.
To reply to what Jack Hunter said about neoconservatism: I think to label any philosophy outright as stupid, is stupid. So perhaps it takes an idiot to know an idiot. Actually, I don't believe Jack Hunter is an idiot, but there are plenty of people if not a lot of people who are very intelligent that come from all sorts of different political movements and philosophies.
There are plenty of problems with the neoconservatism as it relates to foreign policy and national security, with their preemptive wars, putting national security over civil liberties, their borrow and spend, supply side economic policy and all the deficits and debt that we're still paying for that. But with one broad stroke to label neoconservatism as stupid, is stupid.
