Necroconservatives [View All]

DUers who are interested in the origins of the neoconservative movement should enjoy reading Chapter 35 of Taylo Branch's "At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68." In Chapter 34 (Riverside), he describes how Martin Luther King, Jr., fused his nonviolent civil rights movement with the anti-Vietnam War movement. The progressive leaders of the day recognized the connection between the violence within American cities, and the violence in Vietnam.

In the next chapter, "Splinters," Branch describes how the Six Day War divided the "liberals" of the day. It was actually democratic-socialist activist Michael Harrington who coined the word "neoconservatives" to describe the group that developed into the modern group.

Branch writes, "The powerful neoconservative school in American politics would grow from a merger of labor-wing Shactmanites into the larger movement associated with Irving Kristol." (page 620)

An interesting history that provides insight into how the small group of neoconservatives would rise to power is found in James Mann's "Rise of the Vulcans." DUer Emit recommended this book to me a year ago. It is not about neocons per say, and the majority of the Bush2 administration were not neoconservatives in the early phases.

Few books detail the danger the cells of neoconservatives in the executive branch were capable of better than Ambassador Joseph Wilson in "The Politics of Truth." It is fair to say that I. Liar "Scooter" Libby is the poster child of neocon abuses of power. But he is far from unique.

James Bamford's book "A Pretext for War" is an important source of information. Buy the second edition, with the new afterword. It details the amount of espionage associated with the neoconservatives who seek positions giving them access to intelligence. We do not always hear about this type of thing in the corporate media; the neocon-AIPAC espionage scandal should be front page news, for example.

Finally, re-read John Dean's classic "Worse Than Watergate" for some valuable information. See pages 103-104 in particular. Dean uses some information he attributes to libertarian Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex), who notes, "Modern neoconservatives are not necessarily monolithic in their views, but they can generally be described as....

- They agree with Trotsky's idea of a permanent revolution.

- They identify strongly with the writings of Leo Strauss.

- They express no opposition to the welfare state and will expand it to win votes and power.

- They believe in a powerful federal government.

- They believe the ends justify the mean in politics - that hardball (in) politics is a moral necessity.

- They believe certain facts should be known only by the political elite, and withheld from the general public.

- They believe in preemptive war and the use of military force to achieve any desired ends.

- They openly endorse the idea of an American empire, and hence unapologetically call for imperialism.

- They are very willing to use force to impose American ideals.

- They scoff at the Foundinf Father's belief in neutrality in foreign affairs.

- They believe 9/11 resulted from a lack of foreign entanglements, not from too many.

- They are willing to redraw the Middle East by force, while unconditionally supporting Israel and the Likud Party.

- They view civil liberties with suspicion, as unnecessary restrictions on the federal government.

- They despise libertarians, and dismiss any arguments based on constitutional grounds."

It is important to recognize that the neoconservatives today are a consequence of their origins, but that the movement has not remained exactly what it was 40 years ago. As people like Wolfowitz and Libby were able to convert two people in particular -- Rumsfeld and Cheney -- to true believers in some of the more important issues they advocated, the movement was transformed into what can most accurately be called the necroconservative movement.