What is a Neocon?

http://www.lewrockwell.com/dmccarthy/dmccarthy14.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism
http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2003/cr071003.htm

I love this quote from chris’ link above:

“Irving Kristol remarked that a neoconservative is a “liberal mugged by reality,” one who became more conservative after seeing the results of liberal policies.”

I guess that quote is like the old aphorism: “If you are young and aren’t a liberal, you have no heart. If you are old and aren’t a conservative, you have no brain.”

Good ol Winston Churchill =)

Good quote Hossman

I guess that makes me the scarecrow in this story since I seem to be getting more liberal with age.

Neoconservatism is a particular strain of conservatism which favors a strong (and active) foreign policy. By now, though, the term is widely used as an insult, often about people who may or may not actually subscribe to any actual neoconservative policies.

I’m more interested in the phrase “scarecrow in this story.” What does that mean? Where does it come from?

@bob, All I meant by that was, piggybacking on hossman’s aphorism, like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, I must not have a brain because—instead of getting more conservative with age—I am getting more liberal.

I think what that quote really means is that when you are young, and have very little property and power, you are more likely to be vocal in saying what you think OTHER people should do with their money and power, a typically liberal position.

When you older and have accrued property and power, you are more likely to be vocal in saying that OTHER people shouldn’t be telling you what to do with your money and power, a typically conservative position.

It doesn’t literally have anything to do with your heart (kindness) or brain (intellect)

my teacher (of International Relations) says that a Neocon, meaning new conservative, is a conservative that is best characterized by an aggressive foreign policy.
Think Dick Chaney and Donald Rumsfeld.

this is a neocon group: http://www.newamericancentury.org/
i would recommend reading their statement of principles and letters to Clinton and Bush

Good call about PNAC, itsnotmyfault. The scariest part about everything they are about, is that it was all written before 9/11. Thats what makes me most nervous about all the laws that passed since 9/11 (Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act, John Warner National Defense Authorization Act, and the bill, not yet law, the Violent Radicalization and Home-grown Terrorism Prevention Act.) I feel these are Hitler-esque laws and all we need is one more terrorist attack for the end of America as we know it.

Sorry, chris6137, but I think America as we knew it ended on 9/11…

A neocon is also a person who believes that the CEOs of insurance companies care enough about his health to make sure he has the very best medical coverage and lives to a ripe old age. Like Santa Claus with a red cross instead of a red velvet fat suit. And instead of the Easter Bunny, he believes that Big Pharma is going to actually develop effective and inexpensive cures for chronic and terminal diseases instead of cocktail coaster pills that cost $100,000 a year. And instead of the Tooth Fairy, he believes that Big Oil is actually going to give this barbarian backwater planet the hydrogen economy even though they have the power to buy up all the patents for alternative energy and keep hiking up the cost of oil, effortlessly milking their monopoly.

Neocon has become the latest pejorative used by liberals to label those that dont agree with their socialist agenda.