What is a 'neocon'?

Question

We hear the term "neocon" or "neoconservative" quite a bit lately, usually meant as a pejorative by liberals. But I'm curious, what's so "neo" (new) about conservatism? What is a "neo"-con?

Answer 1

Actually, "Neocon" was first used by real conservatives to separate themselves from the pack... REAL conservatives do not behave like Enron... REAL conservatives do not talk out of both sides of their mouth trying to trick dems and liberals into thinking that they share some similar ideas...

I am a liberal and I can have a great conversation with a conservative... I couldn't be in the same room with a hypocritical, lying, cheating, money worshipping neocon like Kenneth Lay.

A conservative wants to protect the American way and make sound decisions to preserve our countries ideas and morals.

A neocon wants money, power and control and will use the fear and ignorance of conservatives to gain it and then spit on them later...

Answer 2

Neoconservatism is a political current and ideology, mainly in the United States, which emerged in the 1960s, coalesced in the 1970s, and has had a significant presence in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. It is today most closely identified with a set of foreign policy positions and goals: a hawkish stance during the Cold War and, more recently, in various conflicts in the Middle East. At times there have been distinct neoconservative positions in domestic policies; in particular, the first generation of neoconservatives were generally less opposed to "big government" and to social spending than other U.S. conservatives of the time, though they also called for significant restructuring of the goals and methods of many social programs.

The prefix neo- refers to two ways in which neoconservatism was new: many of the movement's founders, originally liberals, Democrats or from socialist backgrounds, were new to conservatism; neoconservatism was also a comparatively recent strain of conservative thought, which derived from a variety of intellectual roots in the decades following World War II. While some (such as Irving Kristol) have described themselves as "neoconservatives", the term is used today more by opponents and critics of this political current than by its adherents, some of whom reject even the claim that neoconservatism is an identifiable current of American political thought.

Within American conservatism, the foreign policy of neoconservatism is particularly contrasted to isolationism, especially as found in paleoconservatism. While the neoconservatives share some of the Christian right critique of a purely secular society, this is not as central to their politics as it is for the Christian right, nor are the neoconservative prescriptions always the same as those of the Christian right.

Neoconservatism is associated with periodicals such as Commentary and The Weekly Standard and some of the foreign policy initiatives of think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). Neoconservative journalists, pundits, policy analysts, and politicians, often dubbed "neocons" by supporters and critics alike, have been credited with (or blamed for) their influence on U.S. foreign policy, especially under the administrations of Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) and George W. Bush (2001-present).

Answer 3

Neo-conservative.

Would an answer like the one above from, crazyotto65, be considered plagiarism? Cut/pasting from a website without attribution... in that case from Wikipedia site listed below?

Answer 4

It's some made up 'bogeyman' label they use. Usually when they tell ghost stories to their followers to scare them.

Oooooooo - it's the big bad neocon!

Answer 5

NEOCON is a word invented by the NEOHALFWITS