What does it mean to be a neo-conservative (neo-con)?
Neoconservatism emphasizes foreign policy as the paramount responsibility of government, seeing the American role of world's sole superpower as indispensable to establishing and maintaining global order. As neo-con godfather Irving Kristol once said, a neo-conservative is a ''liberal who was mugged by reality.'' Neo-cons generally originated on the left side of the political spectrum and some times from the far left.
A neo-conservative individual tends to philosophically believe in a majority of these political positions. It's not a perfect list, but generalizations of a neo-con leaning philosophy:
- Less skeptical of government than other conservatives
- Less worried about reducing the size of government
- Less enthusiastic about tax cuts
- More concerned about forging national crusades that can spread American patriotism and values or its desire for reform
- Extreme interventionism
- Extremely idealistic foreign policy
- Favor big defense budgets
- Emphasis on democracy building and spreading human rights and freedom
- Spread democracy and liberty where it doesn't exist currently
- Peace is to be distrusted, and peace processes are inherently suspect
- Enemies cannot be negotiated with
- When we have the ability to stop totalitarian regimes we should do so, because when we fail to do so, the results are catastrophic
- War is a natural state, and peace is a utopian dream that induces softness, decadence and pacifism
- Engagement in world affairs is absolutely indispensable in preventing catastrophe
|
