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What is a “neocon?”

by | 6:58 pm, April 14, 2009 | 5 Comments

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." - Inigo Montoya.

The term "neocon" is thrown around as an insult, like "moron," at anyone who does not agree with a given speaker. This is a specially common epithet in libertarian circles. 

But definitions matter. What does the word really mean?

Whenever I ask what "neocon" means, especially to someone that has just used it, they stumble around like a drunk sorority girl on her first spring break. Thankfully, however, most of them keep on their shirt.

Way back in 2004, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review associate editor Bill Steigerwald had the same question. What did he do? He
rang up four of the biggest names in the punditry business and asked them the same questions. Rich Lowry is editor of National Review. Paul Weyrich is chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation. Paul Gigot is editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page. And George Will is the famous syndicated columnist.
The answers are enlightening. Even they can't all agree, and it is the job of these guys to know.

They all pretty much agree on the origin of the term of term. Gigot explains:
the neoconservatives were people who in the 1970s were former liberals, in some cases socialists, who moved right in reaction to the left's shift on cultural mores, personal responsibility and foreign policy. So I think the term "neoconservative" has that narrow meaning of that historical period. I think of them as the Podhoretzes and the Kristols and others.
Of course, people that use it today are not using the term to describe former flower children that realized how wrong they were about social and economic policy. Surely it would be a compliment to recognize that one was wrong and has now seen the light. It worked for Paul (nee Saul).

It seems that most people today use it to describe pro-war hawks that pushed G.W. Bush into invading Iraq on bad intelligence. And they do not mean it as a compliment.

Steigerwald asked, "Is this a neoconservative war in Iraq?"

The responses:

Lowry: "No."

Weyrich: " I don't think that you could make that case."

Gigot: "No."

Will: "It had a neoconservative overlay, to the extent that it was a war -- however mistakenly -- based on the confident belief that there was a growing arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; that was not a distinctly neoconservative rationale."

Only Will gives the common usage any creedence. But he points out that many NON neocons urged the same course of action. Hillary Clinton certainly did.

I can only conclude that the word has no meaningful modern usage. I suggest that instead of using it as a generic insult, people should use more specific words, like "moron," "idiot," or "dumbass." Such usage far more accurately describes the users' intent and is far less pretentious.

BlueCarp

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Comments

  1.   Drudge Potato Al
      April 14th, 2009 @ 8:44 pm

    Great post, but the actual definition is still absent. The true definition of neocon is a person who is a supporter of Israel (as I am) who politically was liberal but adopted more conservative positions as a result of previous left-leaning politics that were perceived as endangering Israel. 9/11 being a big catalyst of this. That’s precisely where the neo comes in- as in “new” conservative. I should also mention that while I’m a big supporter of Israel, I’ve always been conservative so I technically would be a “paleocon” instead of a neocon.

  2.   Zundfolge
      April 14th, 2009 @ 9:48 pm

    I still contend that most on the left use the word “Neocon” (more often to describe ACTUAL conservatives) because it sounds vaguely like “Neo-Nazi”. They forget (or don’t know) that the prefix “Neo” means “new”. I think they believe “Neo” also means “Nazi”. So that would mean they think Neo-Nazis are Nazi Nazis.

    Yeah, they’re pretty silly folk over there on the left.

  3.   The Scarlet Letter
      April 14th, 2009 @ 10:03 pm

    It had a specific meaning at one point. Much like what happened with the term “fascist” in the 1970s, it has become so over-used that it has lost that meaning and become a generic slur to use against anyone someone might disagree with.

  4.   Christopher Williams
      April 14th, 2009 @ 10:29 pm

    The book Fighting Words by Ben Wattenberg proposes to be a history of the neocon movement, currently available in your library…

  5.   Snaggle-Tooth Jones
      April 15th, 2009 @ 7:52 am

    Yeah, yeah, the term is devoid of meaning, used only as a pejorative, is the code language of anti-semites, “Necon – Mo1!?”, blah, blah, etc., etc. We’ve heard it all before, David. And to anyone who wants to know what neoconservatism is, the information is out there.

    So which is it, David: are you a libertarian or a neocon?

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