OK. That's a lot to digest, but let me pull out some of the more pithy descriptions of a Neocon and compare them to my beliefs.
Historically, neoconservatives supported a militant anticommunism,
-- Yes, I'm not a fan of communism, but I'm certainly not militant. I've never protest marched or demonstrated in my life. I certainly never felt that the US should have bombed Russia or China back to the stone age.
tolerated more social welfare spending than was sometimes acceptable to libertarians and mainstream conservatives,
-- OK, I'm there in that regard.
supported civil equality for blacks and other minorities, -- Yup, that's me too.
and sympathized with a non-traditional foreign policy agenda that was less deferential to traditional conceptions of diplomacy and international law and less inclined to compromise principles even if that meant unilateral action.
-- Nope. I'm a firm believer in actively using the full range of diplomatic incentives.
Quote:
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Ira Chernus, a professor at the University of Colorado, argues that the deepest root of the neoconservative movement is its fear that the counterculture would undermine the authority of traditional values and moral norms. Because neoconservatives believe that human nature is innately selfish, they believe that a society with no commonly accepted values based on religion or ancient tradition will end up in a war of all against all. They also believe that the most important social value is strength, especially the strength to control natural impulses. The only alternative, they assume, is weakness that will let impulses run riot and lead to social chaos.[5]
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Nope. Not by a long shot. I'm nowhere near that uptight. I still have a big soft spot for the counterculteral artist types and look back fondly at the early David Bowie, The Sex Pistols and the Clash. The most important social value is certainly not strength, I'd have to say compasion and intellect in equal amounts.
Most people currently described as "neoconservatives" are members of the Republican Party,
-- OK, but only marginally true. I'm hardly a flag waver of the Republican party.
but while neoconservatives have generally been in electoral alignment with other conservatives, have served in the same Presidential Administrations, and have often ignored intra-conservative ideological differences in alliance against those to their left, there are notable differences between neoconservative and traditional or "paleoconservative" views. In particular, neoconservatives disagree with the nativist, protectionist, and isolationist strain of American conservatism once exemplified by the ex-Republican "paleoconservative" Pat Buchanan,
-- Very true, I am not a big fan of those views.
(In particular, neoconservatives disagree with..)and the traditional "pragmatic" approach to foreign policy often associated with Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, which emphasized pragmatic accommodation with dictators; peace through negotiations, diplomacy, and arms control; détente and containment — rather than rollback — of the Soviet Union; and the initiation of the process that led to ties between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States.
-- Absolutely untrue of me. I've always been a big fan of the Kissinger style "realpolitic".
I guess at the end of the day, as a reasoning, thinking individual, I don't fit very well into the particular box that you are using to sterotype me. So let's just stop going there -- OK?