27 October 2005
Don’t Believe that Neocon Idealists Were Hoodwinked
One has to distinguish between cynical manipulators of world events and neoconservative idealists who really believe that liberal democracy is the end of history. Neocons certainly took advantage of the events of September 11, 2001 to pursue their dream of political reform in the Middle East by promoting the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The election brokers behind the Bush Administration were quick to make neocon arguments central to their strategy for retaining executive power in Washington.
The democracy idealized by the neoconservative true believers became shorthand in the language of Bush’s political operatives for a system of government in which powerful interest groups manage the agenda. After all, it is their resources that have come to dominate election outcomes and resulting policies.
Do neoconservative theorists willingly allow their ideas to be co-opted by power brokers, or have they been fooled into justifying wrongful policies like the invasion of Iraq? Does the neocons’ hope of achieving a utopian objective mask the undesirable methods their manipulators use to maintain control? Do they dismiss international aggression as collateral damage that cannot be avoided? Or do neoconservatives think of themselves as realists who cannot envision remaking the world without state-sponsored violence?
One has to distinguish between cynical manipulators of world events and neoconservative idealists who really believe that liberal democracy is the end of history. Neocons certainly took advantage of the events of September 11, 2001 to pursue their dream of political reform in the Middle East by promoting the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The election brokers behind the Bush Administration were quick to make neocon arguments central to their strategy for retaining executive power in Washington.
The democracy idealized by the neoconservative true believers became shorthand in the language of Bush’s political operatives for a system of government in which powerful interest groups manage the agenda. After all, it is their resources that have come to dominate election outcomes and resulting policies.
Do neoconservative theorists willingly allow their ideas to be co-opted by power brokers, or have they been fooled into justifying wrongful policies like the invasion of Iraq? Does the neocons’ hope of achieving a utopian objective mask the undesirable methods their manipulators use to maintain control? Do they dismiss international aggression as collateral damage that cannot be avoided? Or do neoconservatives think of themselves as realists who cannot envision remaking the world without state-sponsored violence?
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