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Neoconservatives: The new hippies
Daily Colonial ^ | Wednesday, February 22 2006 | Danny Kampf

Posted on 02/28/2006 8:46:11 PM PST by jb6

Edited on 02/28/2006 11:09:58 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]

Being someone of a liberal persuasion, it might come as a surprise that I not only sympathize with neoconservatives, I genuinely agree with much of what they have to say. Unlike traditional conservatism, neoconservative philosophy amounts to more than just “Leave us alone.” It inherently rejects both “Fortress America” isolationism and Kissingerian realism in favor of an activist foreign policy of promoting human rights and propagating democracy.

What liberal could disagree with that?

It’s no coincidence that the two ideologies overlap. Both are grounded in Wilsonian idealism. Moreover, neoconservatism wasn’t initially the product of the right-wing intellectuals, who have since become its standard bearers. Strangely enough, the original neoconservatives were radical leftists.

To be specific, they were Trotskyites.

For those of you unfamiliar with Leon Trotsky, he was one of the chief architects of the Russian Revolution. He was an idealist and a militant. Before the revolution, while he was in prison, Trotsky cultivated his famous theory of permanent revolution: a concept which would later provide the impetus for Soviet imperialism.

An independent thinker (he was originally a leader of the opposition Mensheviks), Trotsky was single handedly responsible for crafting the Red Army into a machine whose purpose was to forcibly spread his idealistic brand of Marxism across the world. Substitute “Marxism” with “democracy” and the leap from Trotskyism to neoconservatism appears remarkably diminutive.

Small as the gap may have been, neoconservatives certainly didn’t make the jump to democracy overnight. It took years of audacious brutality and cynical ideological manipulation by the Stalinist Regime before they were finally disenchanted with communism.

Left in a political vacuum, they eventually gravitated towards realpolitik. This resulted in what Francis Fukuyama calls a “realistic Wilsonianism.” The philosophy essentially boils down to this: the United States is a benign hegemon with the unique ability to create a democratic world order that respects human dignity. Hegemonic as it may be, however, the early neoconservatives believed it was imperative for the United States to act prudently, by avoiding war when possible and cautiously exercising force when not.

As a liberal, I’d say I agree with that doctrine almost in its entirety. But if that’s the case, why is it that I almost always find myself at odds with the policies of the first neoconservative administration ever: the Bush Administration?

Well, the sad fact of the matter is that neoconservatism has become a grotesque caricature of its once great former self. Gone are the days of academic nuance, realpolitik and judicious analysis of international relations. All that remains is its idealism and a throwback to its morphed Trotskyite heritage: the insufferable notion that democracy in and of itself (much like Marxism) has the power to single-handedly cure all the world’s ails.

Neoconservatism for kids – that’s what the Bush Administration is responsible for. They have cheapened their philosophy in order to produce an easily digestible version for the masses. This is more than a little reminiscent of the reductivist logic promulgated by the hippie movement in the ‘60s (when neoconservatism was at its nadir). Replace “All you need is love” with “All you need is democracy” and you essentially have what can only be described as “the new hippies.”

The biggest difference is that, unlike the hippies, the neoconservatives are actually in control of our formal institutions of power. Moreover, they have returned to the Trotskyite militarism of their deep past. What could possibly be scarier than blind idealism coupled with an aggressively militarized foreign policy?

I share President Bush’s idealism. I, too, want to see a democratized world order. In this, I believe that even the neoconservatives of today share far more than they’re willing to admit with their liberal counterparts. But the methods by which the Bush Administration is pursuing its goals are haphazard, ill-informed and overly simplistic.

What a shame it is to have another great political philosophy destroyed by yet another generation of hippies – only this time in jacket and tie.



TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: communism; doublezot; empire; farse; foreign; foreignpolicy; hippies; ideology; junkanalysis; neocons; neoconservatism; paddybuchananfans; pitchforkers; rabidignorance; senslessbabbling; smearjob; socialism; utterstupitiy; wilsonialism; zot
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To: Torie
Call me a neocon, call me a liberal, call me what you want. I don't care. All I care about is my conscience.

Yeah, I remember Billie Boy using that same argument for bombing Christians Serbian women and children.

21 posted on 02/28/2006 9:09:21 PM PST by jb6 (The Atheist/Pagan mind, a quandary wrapped in egoism and served with a side order of self importance)
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: ninenot; neutrino; oceanview; snowsislander; Cronos

ping


23 posted on 02/28/2006 9:09:51 PM PST by jb6 (The Atheist/Pagan mind, a quandary wrapped in egoism and served with a side order of self importance)
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To: William Creel

I'll take a NeoCon over a RINO anyday


24 posted on 02/28/2006 9:10:25 PM PST by MJY1288 (THE DEMOCRATS OFFER NOTHING FOR THE FUTURE AND THEY LIE ABOUT THE PAST)
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To: William Creel

Which countries, besides Somolia, that we've entered were in states of anarchy?


25 posted on 02/28/2006 9:10:32 PM PST by jb6 (The Atheist/Pagan mind, a quandary wrapped in egoism and served with a side order of self importance)
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To: M203M4

"The spreading of democracy" is a silly, childish notion that should have gone to the grave with Woodrow Wilson.


26 posted on 02/28/2006 9:10:44 PM PST by Alberta's Child
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To: Thunder90
What you say???

Someone set up us the bomb???

27 posted on 02/28/2006 9:10:47 PM PST by Triggerhippie (Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.)
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To: Alberta's Child
...since he supported John McCain in 2000.

Correct, the neo-cons supported McCain, not Bush. That the objectives of the neo-cons converged with the Bush administration's concern for national security on the issue of Iraq, does not make the President a neo-con.

28 posted on 02/28/2006 9:11:18 PM PST by Dolphy
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To: Alberta's Child

Sssshhh, you'll spoil the idealic view of quite a few posters.


29 posted on 02/28/2006 9:11:35 PM PST by jb6 (The Atheist/Pagan mind, a quandary wrapped in egoism and served with a side order of self importance)
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Comment #30 Removed by Moderator

To: jb6; Hoplite
My moral conscience it not circumscribed by tribal considerations, or religious considerations. I know evil when I see it.
31 posted on 02/28/2006 9:12:03 PM PST by Torie
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To: William Creel
. . . it's just wrong to leave a country in a state of anarchy.

Who put them in that state of anarchy?

32 posted on 02/28/2006 9:12:15 PM PST by Alberta's Child
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To: Hill of Tara

"I am proud to call myself a paleoconservative :)"

Same here, pal.

Neoconservative started back in the late 60s in New York. They're just modern leftists in a new clothings.


33 posted on 02/28/2006 9:13:10 PM PST by Bookmark
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Comment #34 Removed by Moderator

To: William Creel
Iraq? Sorry it wasn't in Anarchy, just the opposite. It was under a dictators rule. Europe? Same thing, we entered there because Hitler didn't leave us a choice, however, Iraq was no Hitler.

The only justifiable wars we've had in the past 100 years were: WW2, Korea, Afghanistan and the Cold War itself.

35 posted on 02/28/2006 9:14:43 PM PST by jb6 (The Atheist/Pagan mind, a quandary wrapped in egoism and served with a side order of self importance)
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To: jb6

I am a Cornfedconsevative


36 posted on 02/28/2006 9:14:47 PM PST by woofie
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To: jb6; ntnychik; devolve; PhilDragoo; Smartass; Boazo
A jacket and a tie is better!


37 posted on 02/28/2006 9:15:15 PM PST by potlatch (Does a clean house indicate that there is a broken computer in it?)
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To: jb6

Nonsense!


38 posted on 02/28/2006 9:15:26 PM PST by HoustonCurmudgeon (Justice and "The Law" are not always the same thing.)
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To: Alberta's Child

Tell that to Eastern Europe, I will bet the people of Poland might disagree with you.


39 posted on 02/28/2006 9:15:33 PM PST by MJY1288 (THE DEMOCRATS OFFER NOTHING FOR THE FUTURE AND THEY LIE ABOUT THE PAST)
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To: William Creel

And don't forget who put Saddam and his two Baathast predicessors into power in the first place...the CIA.


40 posted on 02/28/2006 9:15:40 PM PST by jb6 (The Atheist/Pagan mind, a quandary wrapped in egoism and served with a side order of self importance)
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