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A neo-con, as distinct from an old-style conservative or libertarian, has no aversion to using the power of the US government to create a "better society".
The main difference between them and leftists is what goals they want to achieve thru the power of government
51 -SauronOfMordor-

risk wrote:
Three principles:

American religious, political, and economic freedom is at the forefront of human advancement and transcends cultural boundaries.

Freedom abroad translates to safety and prosperity for Americans.

America's global power should be used to promote and defend this freedom.

In short: American democracy is the future.

William McKinley wrote:

"I don't think they are at odds."

I agree, WK.. Scary people, neo-cons.

Some are, some aren't. Kind of like libertarians. Some are scary, others are the best kind of people.

Then there is you.

The fun part of your latest inaity, tpaine, is you obviously intended it as some sort of tweak against me. It failed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is I am not a neo-con.

I agree, WK.. Scary people, neo-cons.

What scares you? Are you afraid that all the comfort and stability won for your generation by hardbitten American warriors from Tripoli to Khe San might slip away because we anger a few Arabs? Imagine that reaction on December 7th, 1941. "Oh gee, we shouldn't have imposed the oil embargo on those poor, downtrodden Japs." You might be surprised to know that anti-American propaganda has resurfaced in Asia along those very lines.

At least some of the ex-Leftists who became neocons, never really changed their core belief, which is Statism -- the ideology that government can solve all problems. To a Statist, anything good requires a government subsidy, and anything bad requires civil and criminal penalties -- there is no room in their consciousness for the idea that there are a lot of things that government just messes up once it gets involved

Many people think that the Nazis were right-wing. They weren't. The term "Nazi" is short for "National Socialist German Workers Party", which was the full official name if Hitler's group. There was little real difference between Hitler and Stalin -- except in their conception of WHO was to be in charge

Similarly, there is little real difference between many Neo-cons, and the Leftists they "used" to be. They still want government solutions. They still conceive of themselves as being of the "planner" class, fit to dictate to the rest of society what should be done. They just feel that putting an "(R)" rather than a "(D)" after their names will give them more opportunities these days, after Socialism has been so discredited after the fall of the USSR