[lbo-talk] Neocons explained

Chuck Grimes cgrimes at rawbw.com
Wed May 7 09:23:53 PDT 2003


Doug wanted a concise definition of a neoconservative and I wrote about a page and half on Strauss. Not concise and not really on point.

So I got to thinking about what they really are, in the most essential and compact form. They're all assholes, their politics stink, their theories seem to scrape the bottom of the historical bilge tank for every lousy idea that ever filtered down to collect as sediment. And yes they push hierarchy, paternalism, and reactionary value schemes borrowed from the worst of the Judeo-Christian past.

But most of all what neocons best resemble is themselves: white, male, middle class. That's when it hit me. I was thinking about Irving Kristol sitting on the couch between Hannah Arendt and Mary McCarthy, paralyzed with anxiety. What a perfect dramatic symbol. Neoconservatism is just the identity politics of insecure white men in some kind of identity crisis. That's why it seems tailor made to appeal to only them. And I think that is why neoconservatism has proved to be a political success.

In a sense the neoconservatives are the perfect reactionary template to the whole spectrum of identity politics of the disadvantage, since the necons are their perfect enemy: white men of privilege. Historically the popular progressive politics of various groups, minorities, women, gay/lesbian, disabled, et al. arose together in the 60s-70s as the new political landscape and they all agreed on who their central enemy was: white men of privilege and power. And that is exactly who and what the neoconservates made themselves into. They were threatened by attacks on their race, their sex, their preconceptions about the world, their intellect, their unexamined values, their aesthetics, and their spiritual beliefs. They didn't like these assaults and took cover, set about re-constructing themselves into the real assholes they were accused of being in the first place, and not doubt grumbled about revenge some day. So now that day has come and they are riding high.

So the concise definition is neoconservativism is the identity politics of middle american white men.

Chuck Grimes



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