No, and I don't really need to listen to a neocon talk for hours to have a good idea of their positions.
But the fundamental beliefs of what is called "neoconservatism" are important, and are held by many who have never read Plato or Leo Strauss. They include scorn for relativism, disdain for anti-democratic movements, and the belief that freedom in the state, from the state, is the prerequisite for individual happiness. As an instinct or tendency rather than a manifesto, neoconservatism is both idealist and realist.
This fundamental (malicious) failure of intellectual honesty is the great problem of neoconservatism. The prerequisite for individual happiness is stability. Freedom in the state, and from the state, can only grow as far as the population allows it, while remaining stable.
It's an incredibly useful ideology for those who want to impose American will on the globe and install regimes that natives will eventually throw off, but it mostly just creates enemies for the American pleb, with very little tangible benefit.
No, and I don't really need to listen to a neocon talk for hours to have a good idea of their positions.
But the fundamental beliefs of what is called "neoconservatism" are important, and are held by many who have never read Plato or Leo Strauss. They include scorn for relativism, disdain for anti-democratic movements, and the belief that freedom in the state, from the state, is the prerequisite for individual happiness. As an instinct or tendency rather than a manifesto, neoconservatism is both idealist and realist.
This fundamental (malicious) failure of intellectual honesty is the great problem of neoconservatism. The prerequisite for individual happiness is stability. Freedom in the state, and from the state, can only grow as far as the populations demography allows it, while remaining stable.
It's an incredibly useful ideology for those who want to impose American will on the globe and install regimes that natives will eventually throw off, but it mostly just creates enemies for the American pleb, with very little tangible benefit.