Meaning of neo-con?

Question

I am curious to see how many people know what the term neo-con really means. I will give the points to the first person who correctly and fully defines it. So many people use that word on these forums without a clue what it means.

Answer 1

This is the definition that I use, that I got from Wikipedia. It is what I think of when I hear or read the work neo-con.
The prefix neo- refers to two ways in which neoconservatism was new. First, many of the movement's founders, originally liberals, Democrats or from socialist backgrounds, were new to conservatism. Also, neoconservatism was a comparatively recent strain of conservative socio-political thought. It derived from a variety of intellectual roots in the decades following World War II, including literary criticism and the social sciences.
According to Irving Kristol, the founder and "god-father" of Neoconservatism, there are three basic pillars of Neoconservatism[1]:

1. Economics: Cutting tax rates in order to stimulate steady, wide-spread economic growth and acceptance of the necessity of the risks inherent in that growth, such as budget deficits.
2. Domestic Affairs: Preferring strong government but not intrusive government, slight acceptance of the welfare state, adherence to social conservatism, and disapproval of counterculture.
3. Foreign Policy: Patriotism is a necessity, world government is a terrible idea, statesmen should have the ability to accurately distinguish friend from foe, protect national interest both at home and abroad, and the necessity of a strong military.

Answer 2

I really like this question. I think that MANY people throw this word around without having any clue as to its actual definition.

According to Irving Kristol, the founder and "god-father" of Neoconservatism, there are three basic pillars of Neoconservatism[1]:

1. Economics: Cutting tax rates in order to stimulate steady, wide-spread economic growth and acceptance of the necessity of the risks inherent in that growth, such as budget deficits.
2. Domestic Affairs: Preferring strong government but not intrusive government, slight acceptance of the welfare state, adherence to social conservatism, and disapproval of counterculture.
3. Foreign Policy: Patriotism is a necessity, world government is a terrible idea, statesmen should have the ability to accurately distinguish friend from foe, protect national interest both at home and abroad, and the necessity of a strong military.

Irving Kristol described them as "liberals mugged by reality."

The first reference is a wilkipedia article. The second article referenced, but not cited here specificially provides some excellent background information and insight on the concept by Gary North.

Answer 3

Neo means "new", so it's shorthand for New Conservatives. It's a term that was initially applied to folks who were mostly former-Democrat cold warriors from the Scoop Jackson camp of the Democratic Party who became Republicans.

They tend to favor an aggressive tact with respect to foreign policy, so they really liked Ronald Reagan's rhetoric in his first two years of his Presidency.

Oddly, the Soviet Union was crumbling internally due to economic problems that were exacerbated by the cost of Soviet militancy, and Russia was always a much poorer country than the USA, so the Neocons over-estimated (consistently) Soviet strength, and they seem to have learned the wrong lesson from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Part of the problem in the Soviet Union was a rigid ideology and insistence on asserting Soviet force. The Neocons have a similiarly rigid ideology, and they insist on asserting US force abroad. While they consider themselves as being from the opposite end of the political spectrum, they are unwittingly repeating the errors that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It's possible to get so caught up in the personalities and details (e.g. Kristol and his trotskyite past, etc) that you sort of miss seeing the forrest because all the trees get in the way.

Neocons developed within the context of overestimating Soviet strength (e.g. the missle gap), deploring the oppressive characteristics of the Soviet political system, and they gained their first political foothold within the Democratic Party within that faction of the party epitomized by Scoop Jackson's hardline cold-warrior policies.

Famous poltically relevant neocons like Paul Wolfowitz got their start working for Jackson. Eisenhower never took them (or Breznev) that seriously because he had visited Russia before and after the war and knew the USSR was a paper tiger). Succeeding presidents--one by one--had to rediscover this truth amid the hysteria of cold war propaganda/rhetoric. This is why Eisenhower delivered his famous speech about the dangers of the "Military-Industrial Complex".

Ronald Reagan rejected Neocon policies and ideology about 2-years into his first term (it is alleged that Wolfowitz was lobbying the President to go to war with the USSR over the crisis in Lithuiania) and even provided economic aid to Russia, and this enabled Gorbachev and other reformers within the Communist Party to initiate reforms and dismantle much of the Soviet military apparatus abroad.

Answer 4

It's short for neoconservatism and is the political idealism most associated with George W. Bush's administration. However, most that adhere to this political view do not refer to themselves as neoconservatists. Their general beliefs are to foster economic growth, partiotism and a strong military.

The people who call them neocons are usually in disagreement with their unscrupulous tactics to achieve said goals.

Answer 5

neo means new

Most libs think it sounds like "neo nazi", so they assume it is a bad thing. They don't realize that means "new nazi" or a nazi that was not around during WWII.

It could be construed as a newer type of conservative, but the "neolibs" have yet to describe what that means.

A neolib, is a new era liberal, or someone who considers themselves to be a liberal, but ignores the classic definition of liberalism. Basically a socialist.

Answer 6

NeoCons.....I would say they are GOP, Republican and even Democrat leaders in key government positions who have been bought out by corporate america. They neither serve the people or the country. They wage wars for empire plundering the wealth and resources of soveriegn nations.

Answer 7

New Conservative.

Neo for New, and Con short for Conservative.... great pun, isn't it?

----

To the answerer right above me, Marx was a COMMUNIST, in other words an ENEMY to Capitalism.

Stop listening to your very misguided grandfather, who probably thought that anyone who didn't agree with his views was automatically labeled a Communist.

Answer 8

NeoCon actually means New Conservative. I think of it as someone who values capital more than life. Kind of Marxist.

Answer 9

From what I gather its a democrat defector?

Answer 10

Nazi ayrian nation skinhead = Pat Robinson and Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Rielly and so on...