Zionist Is To Jew, What Neoconservative Is To Christian

[Gold9472]

I'm not clear on the definitiion of neocon. What earns it the "neo" prefix? I can't figure that out. Waht the difference between conservatives and neo-conservatives? Are all conservatives today called neocons?

A true conservative believes in less Government, etc... a Libertarian for example, is a true conservative. A "Neoconservative" is a group calling themselves "conservative" even though they are fascists.

[Partridge]

A true conservative believes in less Government, etc... a Libertarian for example, is a true conservative. A "Neoconservative" is a group calling themselves "conservative" even though they are fascists.

Well, I don't think its a prerequisite of conservatism to be against Government (with a capital G) - its that conservatives tend to want lower taxes (for the rich anyway), and less social spending - spending that makes them or their friends richer (such as defence contracting, government subsidies for business etc) is fine.

Another thing about conservatives is their value system - which is where what we would call cons in the US (ie republicans, ultra-right dems etc) differ from libertarians. They conservative 'moral' (i HATE that word) values, wheereas libertarians are generally progressive on 'moral issues' (pro-choice, pro-drug legalisation, pro-contraception, seperation of church and state, a minimum of laws dictating the actions of an individual, basically)

However, I don't think the terms conservative and liberal are particularly helpful. Because today's conservatives (and I don't mean neo-cons - I mean the ones that always go on about the Constitution and the Founding Fathers and their value system etc) were yesterday's liberals. Washington, Paine, Jefferson, Madison et al were liberals in their day - the conservatives were the monarchists - there was even a conservative wing of the revolutionary movement who argued that the US should be governed by an 'American King'.

But then, if memory serves, wasn't the Republican Party founded as a liberal (for its time) party, whose main platform was abolitionism?

Being conservative really I guess means 'not wanting a change in the status quo' - and well, to me anyway, that seems to incorporate a whole section of the Democratic Party as well.

But the neo-cons, I would classify them as not just conservative, but radically reactionary. It seems they would shred the constitution if they could get away with it (and they are trying).