Where do Neoconservatives Come From?

The foreign policy of the United States has been controlled for the past 16-20 years by a group of people called neoconservatives. Every war, police action and foreign policy goal since 2000 has been controlled by people who share this ideology. Furthermore, a large amount of pundits, thinkers, writers, and columnists have supported neoconservative policy makers and presidents through the written word, sympathetic institutes, magazines, and organizations all dedicated to furthering the ideas of neoconservatism. The two leaders of neoconservatism in the US are Irving and William Kristol. William Kristol, along with Fred Barnes, are editors of The Weekly Standard.

Since their policy goals, objectives and actions have changed the modern world in profound ways, we should know where these people come from and what they think. They have also changed the United States in ways that will ultimately plunge us into a civil war (buy guns and food). We live in the greatest country on earth, and if we want to keep it this way, we need to be eternally vigilant against all enemies, foreign and domestic. So who are these neoconservatives, and where does their ideology come from? We need to examine history.
First, let’s see who these people are. We know of many of the leading neoconservatives as being part of the Bush and Obama cabinets. Isn’t that interesting? Even from a republican to a democratic administration, we have many of the same people advising Obama and leading his cabinet. Even more interesting is the same pundits and writers who cheered Bush on for 8 years cheered Obama and Clinton on while they destabilized one Arab country after another.
Some of the most prominent neoconservative policy makers active in this country include Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, John Bolton, Eliot Abrams, Paul Bremer, and many others. SourceWatch provides a handy listing of them. Know these names, so when you see them on TV, you will know what their objectives are. Something that is even more important is that they are not loyal to a particular party; whichever party is doing what they want will get their support. This is why you can see people like Max Boot supporting Hillary, even though he says he is a Republican. What is more important to Max Boot is which candidate pledges to pursue neoconservative goals.
So, from where does neoconservatism draw its origins? You might be shocked, but neoconservativism originates with Leon Trotsky. It is literally the other competing school of Communism besides Marxist-Leninism. If you’ll remember, communism as we know it really began with Lenin and Trotsky. Marx laid down the ideological foundation, but it was really put into action by Lenin and Trotsky. The two had a falling out, and Trotsky lived out his days in Mexico(*). While in Mexico, Trotsky began to develop a following, which included people such as Leo Strauss. Trotsky began to be influential, so Lenin had to have him killed, obviously. If it’s one things Communists do, it’s kill people, whether friends or enemies. I’m just kidding. Communists have no friends, only people they haven’t killed yet.

Since Communism is naturally expansionistic, with few exceptions, Strauss set out for the US in 1938 to spread the ideas of Trotskyism to the US. Jim Lobe of Alternet writes that Strauss believed in perpetual war instead of peace to unify society against an external threat. This unity would breed stability. He believed in a hierarchical society, divided into two groups: those who should lead, and those who should follow. It sounds familiar, as in the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, although unlike Marxist-Leninist thought favoring the proletariat, Strauss favored the bourgeoisie. He also believed in the necessity of religion to impose moral law on the masses, so you can see why his disciples migrated to the GOP, as the Democrats became more and more atheistic and secular.
Another surprising offshoot of Trotskyism is the Lyndon LaRoushe crowd. Hilariously true. Lyndon Larouche became a Trotskyist in the 1940’s, the same time frame that Irving Kristol did. I have received phone calls from the LaRoushe crowd on occasion, warning me that if we didn’t cease our use of nuclear weapons and global warming, Zeus and Athena would be upset and punish us. Most neoconservatives either don’t know this, or won’t admit to it. Hilarious, none the less. Roushies, as they are known, will set up tables at gun shows and hawk their wares. My mom likes to walk by and yell at them.
One of Strauss’ disciples was Irving Kristol. Irving’s son is William Kristol. We now know the Kristols as the leaders of neoconservatism. You can see that what most Americans think is mom and apple pie foreign policy is actually Trotskyite Communism. Don’t believe me? Take stock of your own ideas. Pro-Israel? Were you old enough to have political opinions in 1981? If so, think back to the Israeli bombing of Osirak, the

Iraqi nuclear reactor. That shut down Iraq’s nuclear program. Everyone in America cheered when Israel knocked out Iraq’s reactor, right? Wrong. Do you remember your reaction? I am exempt from this litmus test, as I was 7. Every Republican from Reagan on down, yes Ronald Reagan, condemned the action taken by Israel. All except for one man. That one man viewed the action as appropriate to ensure Israel’s national security. Remember back then, Iraq was our ally against the Iranians. Israel attacked our Middle Eastern ally. Don’t believe me? Back then, Israel was not the favorite nation of every Christian and Republican in the United States. Strange, isn’t it?

So how did we go from 1981 to 2016? In the 1970’s, Neoconservatives, led by the Kristols, left the Democratic party for the GOP. The Democratic Party was changing, and was becoming hostile to religion and moral order. Strauss believed that religion was essential, as I discussed earlier in the essay. A simple analogy is warfare/welfare. Modern Republicans favor warfare; Democrats favor welfare. Both grow the size and power of government, but from different directions. Bill Kristol found a home as the brain of Dan Quayle during Bush 41’s presidency. Obviously, that wasn’t a good anchor to hang around your neck in 1993, so Bill and his compatriots focused on writing and crystallizing their ideas in The Weekly Standard (founded in 1996) and the Project for a New American Century (PNAC). “Towards a New American Century” was written in 1996. It is the seminal work of the PNAC group, and is the best way to see the foreign policy of the next 20 years laid out for all to see, if you care to look. Bill and his buddies were looking for a vehicle to carry their ideas, and found it in the Bush 43 administration. Bush chose Dick Cheney as head of his VP selection team, and Dick chose himself. Once that was set, the neoconservatives flooded into the Bush administration, and the rest is history.
Fast forward to 2016, and I am surprised a crusade hasn’t been launched from North Carolina’s Outer Banks to wipe out Israel’s enemies. Christians and Republicans regularly genuflect to Israel. While I am not opposed in any way to Israel, they are another country, one with its own friends, enemies, foreign policy goals and interests. Which aren’t the same as mine. God’s chosen people, you say? Then God will take care of them, which includes disciplining them for better or for worse, which you can read about in the Old Testament. I am an American, and I only care about what is good for America. You should expect the same out of any leader in Washington, D.C. If not, why aren’t they in the country they want to look out for?
How did this 180 degree flip happen? Neoconservatives. Many neoconservatives are Jewish. Is this a feature or a bug? There are many topics that can take you in many tangents on this subject, so I will merely say that there are two options. Neoconservatives love Israel because many are Jewish, or they love Israel because it’s a 6 foot wide chink in the armor of the average Republican Christian. I will leave you to decide

that. Once Neoconservatives infested the Bush administration, they were able to deftly flip American Christian attitudes towards foreign policy, using Israel as a pivot point. Phrasing a neoconservative argument as being pro Israel/America/Jesus, leaves very little room for any dissent. You love Israel, America and Jesus in that order, right?
It is not possible to address all the people, ideas and criminal outcomes of neoconservatism, but this piece is a start. My intent is for you to read this, and do your own research. Good luck.