DESTRUCTICONS
by MALIK ISASIS



My liberal brethren may be surprised to know that the neoconservatives evolved from a group of elite liberal intellectuals. The taxonomy can be traced back to the start of the Cold War when these liberal intellectuals began advocating for a more robust and aggressive foreign policy toward the Soviet Union. James Zogby aptly defined neoconservatives as a reaction to the Democratic Party’s appeasement toward the Soviet Union (Eurolegal). These intellectual liberals were a small influential group of writers, and commentators who where against the banning of abortion, and against school prayer (Center for Media and Democracy) but believed in a protected class, and that an elite and privileged few should govern the masses. (Berlet and Lyons). The social movements of the 60s and 70s like the feminist movement, student movements and African Americans gaining equal access to their Constitutional Rights caused this strand of liberals to precipitously evolve, “these liberals drifted toward conservatism: thus they are new (neo) conservatives” (Center for Media and Democracy).
The neoconservatives developed political narratives through their think-tanks, political operatives, and the Southern Strategy which emphasized American Exceptionalism and the casting of the Democratic Party as feminine and weak. The contrasting narrative of the Republican Party as the party of strength and the Democratic Party as the party of weakness played out during the Vietnam War, and during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The neocons constructed pseudo-sociological paradigms that transformed political philosophy into racial, geographical and gendered-based tribalism (see the Southern Strategy). The neocons were evolving again. “The advent of Ronald Reagan shifted the emphasis from pragmatism to an ideology. Now, the emphasis was on "the Evil Empire", which was not merely to be contained, but overthrown” (Eurolegal Services). The neocons were seen as a splinter group by mainstream politicians and to the paleo-conservatives (or traditional conservatives) such as Bob Dole,William F. Buckley, Pat Buchanan, John McCaine, Robert Novak and President George Bush’s father, George Hebert Walker Bush, the neocons were still seen as a movement on the fringes of governance. They were in fact a fringe group, working as very successful political operatives, creating public relation firms, and think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and The Project for the New American Century . The Project for the New American Century began in 1997 with the philosophy “that American leadership is good both for America and for the world; and that such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle” (Project for the New American Century). Even with its prestigious members ranging from Donald Rumsfield (current Secretary of Defense), Dick Cheney (current Vice President), Dan Quayle (former Vice President) Richard Perle (former member of Defense Policy Board under Bush Administration), Scooter Libby (former Chief of Staff), Jeb Bush (Governor of Florida), James Woosely (former CIA Director), Paul Wolfawitz (former Under Secretary of Defense) to Jeane Kirkpatrick (United Nations Human Rights Commission) the neocons were still viewed as extreme and were minimized by the paleoconservatives--except during political season when the neocons were brought out like the Gimp, in the feature film, Pulp Fiction, to fuck the American populace in the ass and then swiftly escorted back into the shadows of the Republican Party’s propaganda machine until the next election cycle. Although the paleoconservatives treated the neocons like a one-night stand, they also understood they were a good fuck. They were efficient and won elections, however, the paleoconservatives were not interested in a serious relationship.

This all changed when the United States Supreme Court handed George W. Bush the Presidency in 2000. Although President Bush came into office under a cloud of controversy--losing the Popular vote, he was going to govern as though he had a mandate. The Bush Administration had no less than 30 Project for the New American Century members at every level of the new government (Source Watch). The neocons were no longer confined to political mercenary missions. They had reached the pinnacle of power, capturing all three branches of government: the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial. When September 11th, 2001 happened, their values and ideology once viewed as extreme, would become mainstream Republican governance.

The neocons’ skillful tactic of conflating Right-wing conservative ideology which is secular, with religion has created millions of neoconic ideologues. They are able to mobilize the Evangelical base by dividing the world into Good versus Evil. Republican voters, typically Evangelical Christians, have become dogmatic and based their support on faith, rather than reality.

After September 11, 2001, the same strategy of using black and white, carefully polled, and marketed language was used to categorize the whole wide world into two positions, “You’re either with us, or you are with the terrorists.” The Bush Administration’s intial response to September 11th was the Bush Doctrine, which made no distinctions between the terrorists who committed acts of terrorism and Nations who harbored them; the neocons fashioned a simple language, researched and produced by pollsters such as Frank Luntz, who coined the ubiquitous term, “War on Terror”(Rushkoff and Goodman). This ubiquitous term proved fruitful. The media forgoing its Constitutional responsibility to keep a check on government began using the term “War on Terror” without questioning its meaning. In fact the media used the term as a marketing campaign during the build up to the Iraq War and subsequent occupation. The Democratic Party acquiesced and gave George Bush everything he has asked for without much of a fight.

The neocons are sustained by keeping the people ignorant, scared and paranoid. Six years of complete power has wrought overwhelming destruction in the world. The power lust of just a few and their tendency to self-indulge has made America, arguably one of the most destructive forces on earth. In our name, the United States has illegaly invaded and is now illegaly occupying Iraq. During the invasion and now the occupation, more Iraqis have been killed by war, death squads, disease and civil strife than under Saddam; terrorism has flourished world wide; the United States sold weapons and munitions to Israel during the Lebanon and Israeli War which killed hundreds of civilians; and under their leadership nuclear proliferation among Iran and North Korea has expanded.

The necons are great and efficient at destroying things, but are miserable at building and Statesmanship. They have attempted to disassemble Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal-- social welfare programs like social security, unemployment benefits etc., by bankrupting the treasury with over-spending, corporate tax cuts, and uncontrolled spending on the occupation of Iraq. They have nothing but contempt for the government and for the people whom they govern. This is why they continue to lie even when the lie is pointed out to them. They are great performers, having built a public realtions and crisis management style of governing, however, they can no longer run or hide from the shit that they’ve shovelled under the carpet. Six years of insecurity, legislative and economic failure has revealed to the American people their lack of compassion, their lack of sacrifice. They have sold themselves to the American people as the tonic for the Democratic Party’s moral decay, however, it’s a reflection of their incompetence in governance and moral decay. The neocons’rule of thumb: project your weakness and short-comings onto your political opponent to destroy him.

I can not stand these people. They will do anything to hold onto to power. They have become a destructive force in politics and global interaction. Having turned politics into blind ideology, they have torn the country apart. The Destructicons is probably a more accurate name for the Republican Party, it is a name that has been well-earned.



Sources:

A Project of the Center for Democracy, Liberalism, Neoconservatives
Dr. James Zogby, Arab American Institute.
Berlet, Chip and Lyons, N. Matthew, Right-Wing Populsim in America: Too Close for Comfort, New York: Guilford Press (2000)
Brown, David Washington Post, "Study Claims Iraq's ‘Excess' Death Toll Has Reached 655,000”October 11, 2006.
Carter, Estanislao, “1984 Orwellian Parallels” October 1, 2006.
Euro Legal Services, The Neoconservatives
Find Articles “Nixon’s Southern Strategy and Forces Against Brown”
Goodman, Barak, and Rushkoff, Douglas Frontline: The Pursuaders. Narr. Douglass Rushkoff. PBS. WBGH Boston. 9 November 2004.
Human Rights Watch, US: Deny Israeli Request for Cluster Munitions
Mandel. Joan, How Political Is the Personal?: Identity Politics, Feminism and Social Change, Colgate University.
Mazetti, Mark New York Times “Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat” September 23, 2006.
United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Voting Section
Project for the New American Century
Steve Schoenherr, Professor of History, University of San Diego

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