Tucker Carlson on Fox News lately gave his audience another dose of his skepticism of American military “adventurism” – bashing our ventures in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and future ones in places like Venezuela – and couldn’t resist another wack at his favorite whipping boy, “neocons”. But what are “neocons”? His definition appears to be a cartoon.
First, his variant of “neocons” has more to do with his need for a label to affix to advocates of something loosely called “nation-building”. “Neocon” is readily available as it had most recently become the buzzword bogeyman for peacenik groups of the early 2000’s like Code Pink. To understand Code’s orientation, they couldn’t have chosen a better word than “pink”.
Oh, Tucker’s no pinko. He’s just got an antifa rendering of “neocon” implanted in his head, or Mick Jagger’s “My Sweet Neocon” on an endless loop.
That’s the cartoon translation of the term. The reality is quite different. To be blunt, neocons were liberal idealists of the 60’s who were mugged by the realities of the 70’s. I’m old enough to remember it.
Many were part of JFK’s “best and brightest”, rolling up their sleeves to conquer society’s worst social problems. Along came LBJ’s Great Society and within a decade things unraveled. Crime, family breakdown, out-of-wedlock births, a drug epidemic, lifestyle diseases (AIDS, Hep C, Syphilis, Herpes), etc., hit the roof.
In the international arena, the hopes of “peaceful coexistence” with the Soviets, welfare for the Third World (foreign aid and the Peace Corps), bountiful negotiations, and UN-love were dashed by a Soviet arms buildup, Soviet/Cuban adventurism, the UN General Assembly’s descent into demagoguery, the fall of Saigon, and the frantic attempt by populations to escape the ravages of communism’s advance. Remember the Boat People and the Killing Fields?
On the intellectual side, a grand rethink began. Charles Murray’s “Losing Ground”, James Q. Wilson’s “Broken Windows”, George Gilder’s “Wealth and Poverty”, Charles Krauthammer’s writings, and publications like Commentary Magazine laid out the devastation and what to do about it. In a nutshell, they advocated a return to older values and institutions. Sounds like the “con” part of “neocons”.
Internationally, these ex-liberals realized that John Lennon’s “All You Need Is Love” wasn’t a mature foreign policy. They pressed for a military build up and a stance against the communists and other anti-American actors who would turn the world into their personal playground. No more American self-doubt. Sounds like Reaganism … and it is.
There’s something to be learned from all of this. Don’t let cable news personalities be your sole window to the world. Sometimes they get it horribly wrong.
RogerG