Who are the neocons?

"Of all enemies of public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded,
because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. . . .
No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."
- James Madison, 1795

Irving Kristol, father of Bill Kristol, the current neocon high priest at the Weekly Standard, is generally regarded as the father of neoconservatism, which has a lot in common with American progressivism and other collectivist isms. The bottom line for neocons is that a large government isn't necessarily bad, that it can be good used to mold the world to their standards, and that since an expanding state is "inevitable," it might as well be used for remaking the world in America's image.

There are just all kinds of inconsistencies there, not the least of which is that neocon doctrine runs counter to the basic ideas of individual liberty and limited government that form the basis, to this day, for American culture. But, perhaps not so strangely, the neoncon message is very much similar to the ideas of Franklin Roosevelt and very close to other authoritarian political doctrines that we thought had passed from us with the end of the 20th century.

At home, the neocons have pushed for federalization of education, the most recent example Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, and for a dramatic expansion of executive power, much like FDR's attempts to expand executive power after he came to office. The neocons have applauded the attempts to shred the Bill of Rights and have jumped up and down and yelled themselves silly that all the outrages of the administration against the Constitution are justified in the war on terror.

Ben Franklin once said that a people willing to give up liberty for security in the end give up both. The neocons have nothing to do with the hearts and minds of Franklin, Madison, Adams and the other founders. The latter would find them, indeed almost all our current crop of political leaders, repugnant.

Abroad, the neocons were the drumbeaters for the Iraq War, part of their larger strategy, developed well before 9/11, for an American "virtual" empire or worldwide hegemony. Think Pax Romana renamed Pax Americana except that neither deserve the Pax part.

Imperialism is foreign to the original and continuing basic cultural impulse of people in America, which is "Please leave me alone and I'll do the same for you and yours." That impulse also runs contrary to what we must now call the progressive-neocon agenda to manage and direct individuals within a greater "national purpose." It is interesting that we hear very similar rhetoric supporting these notions both from Hillary Clinton, supposedly a leftist, and Rudy Giuliani, supposedly a rightist, and the other candidates for high office.

The truth is that all of the presidential candidates, except Ron Paul, can safely be called neocons, even those who propose vastly expanded social programs and higher taxes.

It's all cut from one very old, very dirty cloth, slightly purplish in color. That's the same one that Julius and August Caesar wrapped themselves in while setting up a dictatorship, the same one that Napoleon waved while destroying liberty and along with half of Europe, the same one that 20th century autocrats pulled from the trash bins of history to wear once again and once again soak with blood.

At home, America's basic original cultural impulse calls for a tiny federal government that doesn't dictate how we conduct our daily lives, insofar as we respect the same rights of others. Abroad, that means a tiny federal government that doesn't try to police every troublespot on the globe and that is truly limited to defending Americans.

The Iraq War was neocon imperialist adventurism at its most naked and egregious. It was not good for Iraqis, not good for Americans, and not good for anyone else. And, by the way, the Iraqis, most of whom are Shia, already did not like al-Qaeda, most of whom are fanatic Sunnis. The Kurds already did not like al-Qaeda, since the Kurds are moderate Sunnis.

And recent relevations show that the Bush administration had enough reason to seriously doubt intelligence about Saddam's WMD to refrain from going to war, just on a practical basis, forgetting the ethical and moral issue of launching wars anytime you feel the least bit threatened by something.

The neocons are the latest manifestation of those who worship the state and turn government and politics into a kind of civic religion. Every few years, a new "savior" is sought from among the crowd of sinners found on Capitol Hill and the various statehouses, and is crowned president after a cynical ritual of elections which present no real choice to the voters. The eventual winner does not have the consent of even a majority of adults; the running dogs chosen for Congress are much more representative of a Darwinian throng of special interest groups than of ordinary individual Americans.

The neocons, like their ideological cousins the progressivists on the left, are caught in the delusions of anger and animality and, in a compassionate and rational society, will have no future as leaders.