The Neoconservatives who are shaping policy in the world today
Neoconservatives are shaping policy according to their worldview of the Middle East. The Neoconservative movement begins in the mid-1980s under the Reagan Administration. The movement had a lot of influence in the Defense Department under George W. Bush. The origins of the movement began in the late 1930s. Most of its members attended City College of New York. They were public intellectuals from poor immigrant Jewish backgrounds hit by the Great Depression at that time and held very radical political views. This essay discusses the Neoconservative movement in the U.S.
The Neoconservatives believe the American Century was a global phenomenon. The American Enterprise Institute and the military-industrial complex wanted to spread liberal democracy throughout the world, in the Middle East mainly, to promote the U. S. agenda. Still, in reality, things did not unfold that way. The intended liberal project had failed. Neocons believed in social justice and the redistribution of wealth towards the multinationals by remaking the Middle East in America’s image.
Most were veterans of the Cold War and were against the former Soviet Union and were going to defend Israel from the Arabs because this was the Holy Land of the Jews, God’s chosen people. Most were Trotskyites and, in their time, believed that American foreign policy would establish American hegemony in the East.
Despite this, most Jews still voted Democrat rather than Republican. Jewish intellectuals opposed to the 60s counterculture were Wilson idealists and wanted to transform society. They believed American exceptionalism could make the world a better place. There were Irving Kristol, Nathan Glazer, Paul Wolfowitz, David Brooks, and Charles Krauthammer, who had significant social influence.
George W. Bush’s intervention in Iraq 2003 wasn’t in America’s best interests. The Neoconservative policy to establish hegemonies in the region ultimately created al Qaeda and resulted in the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001, one of the grim results of American imperialist policy.
The Jacobins Club was established in 1789 during the French Revolution. Neoconservatives were modern-day Jacobins of the 21st century because they were on a mission to defeat Communism and expand liberal democracy everywhere, just as Fukuyama predicted. Pax Americana dominated all regions of the globe to make a profit by promoting unilateral internationalism anywhere run by vested interests, namely big oil and the defense industry. The U.S. is intentionally recreating the Middle East to create a new world order and a new religion around the globe. Neoconservatives hold liberal positions on most social issues. They are conservative in name only.
Liberal internationalists and neoconservatives joined forces and defeated the old traditional establishment in most Western countries, overturned laws, and disrupted social order in the so-called ‘democratic West’ are becoming police states. Citizens are gradually losing their freedom to hold onto a declining empire that is competing with Russian and China.
Neoconservatism defines itself as Western and mainly American. Neocons think the West has become amoral and degenerate and believe a deeper crisis is affecting Western civilization. James Q Wilson, an American political scientist, traced Neoconservatism back to the Enlightenment of the 18th Century. The movement encouraged people to question the establishment’s authority and organized religion. Along with social conservatives, Neoconservatives blame the 1960s counterculture for the loss of traditional values. They believe there should be a separation between church and state as defined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Neoconservatives are modern liberals. They accept that different cultures can coexist to promote diversity and multiculturalism and undermine the dominant culture in the country. This led to a backlash with the rise of political correctness and anti-immigrant sentiment wherever it is put into practice.
The intellectuals were anti-Stalinist Communists or Trotskyites after they became liberals who were unhappy with liberalism. These included Irving Kristol, Nathan Glazer, and Norman Podhoretz. Neoconservative ideology considered that anything against traditionalism and authority was radical.
In 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference, Woodrow Wilson wanted to make the world safer for democracy. He was an idealist. Who argued against democratic spending that supported regimes that threatened America’s interests. Wilson also implemented plans for the League of Nations, which isolationists defeated at the start of World War. During the Reagan Administration, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush used military, economic policy, and political clout to promote democracy.
From 1991 onward to the downfall of the bankrupted Soviet Union to the Iraq War with neoconservative officials, the Pentagon had planned everything from the beginning. The neocons have an idealistic belief in social progress and believe they are making the world a better place for liberal democracy, modernization, and prosperity. They actively participate in world affairs to expand freedom through an interventionist policy.
Neocons sought to attack Libya and planned to keep the war in Afghanistan going, even suggesting a military strike against Syria, which led to the rise of ISIS. That strategy brought about the destruction of a nation that the military-industrial complex could profit from through oil.
The Paleoconservatives, who disagree with the tenets of Neoconservatism, have argued that the Trotskyite theory advocated for a permanent revolution, which was a flaw in their argument because Neoconservatives have never been Trotskyites, but have argued for democratic imperialism subverting the old order. Irving Kristol has said a neoconservative is a liberal “mugged by reality.” Woodrow Wilson established a liberal world order when he signed the peace treaty at Versailles, which would endure. He won a Nobel Peace Prize in his second term for high idealism.
Neoconservatism, as in ideology, may have been well-intended and was Wilsonian in that it was based on creating a better world through a lasting revolution.
- Remaking the World: Bush and the Neoconservatives | Foreign Affairs
- Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay take stock of the Bush revolution in foreign affairs. The neocons have been running the show — and we’re all now paying the price.
- Neoconservatism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- “Modern conservatism” redirects here. For modern conservatism in other countries, see Conservatism § Modern conservatism in different countries. This article is part of a series on Conservatism in the United States Conservative Elephant.png Schools[s
HSchneider 4 months ago from Parsippany, New Jersey
Excellent Hub, Matthew. The present-day Neo-Cons, led by Dick Cheney, falsified evidence of WMDs to get their Iraq War and test their theories of creating a new Middle East. The result is our modern-day terrorism and ISIL. Thank you for nothing Neo-Cons.
Mel Carriere 4 months ago from San Diego California
You meant the mid-80s because the Reagan administration didn’t start until 1982. In any case, this is a deliberate movement to undermine the progress of the American working class by associating conservatism with religious and family values.
