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?
Its no coincidence that the two ideologies overlap. Both are grounded in Wilsonian idealism. Moreover, neoconservatism wasnt 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 didnt 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, Id say I agree with that doctrine almost in its entirety. But if thats 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 worlds ails.
Neoconservatism for kids thats 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 Bushs idealism. I, too, want to see a democratized world order. In this, I believe that even the neoconservatives of today share far more than theyre 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.
Yeah, I remember Billie Boy using that same argument for bombing Christians Serbian women and children.
ping
I'll take a NeoCon over a RINO anyday
Which countries, besides Somolia, that we've entered were in states of anarchy?
"The spreading of democracy" is a silly, childish notion that should have gone to the grave with Woodrow Wilson.
Someone set up us the bomb???
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.
Sssshhh, you'll spoil the idealic view of quite a few posters.
Who put them in that state of anarchy?
"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.
The only justifiable wars we've had in the past 100 years were: WW2, Korea, Afghanistan and the Cold War itself.
I am a Cornfedconsevative
Nonsense!
Tell that to Eastern Europe, I will bet the people of Poland might disagree with you.
And don't forget who put Saddam and his two Baathast predicessors into power in the first place...the CIA.
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