Feathers in Hair said:
I think he thinks that they're 'zionists', which would make the neo-cons... erm... pro-semitic?
yes it would make the zionists pro, but it would make him anti-semetic. I was adressing his view not the zionists.
The more I look over it, I'm not sure how to describe Neo-Conservatism. It seems to mainly encompass the viewpoints of several political leaders, but I'm not sure where the viewpoint fits in with the voters or anything other than policy.
ok. here is a quick explanation but if you are not familiar with the writings it won't help much.
Plato's Republic is an argument/discussion searching for the true definition of Justice. In the book, Thrasymachus argues that Justice is "the advantage of the stronger" Plato argues against this.
There was a philosopher at the University of Chicago named Leo Strauss who believed that the book (the Republic) had been misunderstood and that Plato's point was to show that Justice really was the advantage of the stronger. It would help if you have read Strauss' writings. Included in Plato's argument was an argument against democracy and how poor of a government it is. Strauss believes that social democracy is good and that might makes right (justice is the advantage of the stronger).
Anyway, Irving Kristol was a student of his at the U of Chicago. He was probably the practical "father" of neo-conservatism. His son William Kristol is a major proponent today along with Fred Barnes, in the media.
So, If you are familiar with the arguments in the Republic and with Strauss' interpretation, you can see what the philosophy would entail. In case you aren't familiar, here is a very basic idea:
neo-con foreign policy is one of roll-back in the Allan Dulles style. Rather than simply contain our enemies (like George Kennen did) it is the neo-con position to actively work against our supposed enemies and this includes things like knocking down a country before they can attack us (pre-emptive war) to set up a democracy and turn them into a friend. This is the same foreign policy JFK had. It is very risky and very aggressive.
The neo-con domestic policy is one of social democracy. It is quite liberal (however Bush has a decidedly Christian twist to it). This is why we see things like expanded entitlements, prescription drug coverage, etc etc.
The bottom line is that the philosophy has nothing whatever to do with Jews and it is only anti-semitic people who continue to try to smear the Jews with this conspiracy theory. If somebody thinks that the Zionists or jews or whoever, is really running the government. Then lets see some reputable evidence. Not junk from your brother-in-laws conspiracy theory website, but rather some substantive evidence.
If anyone would actually like to get into a deeper discussion on what exactly the philosophy is, I will be happy to. I happen to be fairly educated in this area.
