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Originally Posted by 70Chip
This is a lot better than many definitions I've heard. You could certainly teach certain television commentators a thing or two.
The term seems to have been coined by a British socialist named Micheal Harrington in the mid 1970s to describe what was then a newish phenomenon- the conversion of ex leftists (mainly Trotskyists) to Conservatism. He was thinking of people like Irving Kristol, Norman Podhoretz and too a lesser degree, Milton Friedman. I think they were the driving force behind Commentary Magazine, but I'm just riffing here and could be wrong. This was somewhat alarming to the left because these guys gave Conservatism a kind of urbane, intellectual heft that it had been lacking. The Jewish ethnicity of most of these folks seems to have contributed to the faulty notion that Israel is the primary motivating consideration in the formulation of their worldview. Not so. They were primarily anti-communist and anti-Soviet Union, although there support for Israel which is easily understood, did reveal a gap between them and the "paleo-conservatives" like Taft, William F. Buckley, and more recently, Pat Buchanan. This was the context in which I first heard the phrase in 1985.
But I think terms and concepts evolve and certainly in the absence of an overriding threat from the Soviet Union, which glossed over a lot of these distinctions, your definition is fair enough for the current debate. Interestingly, it seems that it was the incesant use of the term, by Chris Matthews, in connection with certain Jewish last names combined with the insinuation that Israel was calling the shots behind the scenes that got Scooter Libby fired up to the point that he called Tim Russert to bitch. I watch Hardball fairly regularly and I do recall that Chris was on something of a tangent in the summer of 2003 in this regard.
I don't know why I waste the energy when it's stated much better here:
Neoconservatism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Yeah, that's definitely more intricate than my definition. The only point I would argue is the assertion that Milton Friedman was an "ex-leftist". Admittedly, I haven't done a whole lot of research on him. If I'm wrong on that though, I have certainly learned something new.
How do you describe yourself politically, 70Chip?