04/22/05

In our own time -- and especially since the ascendancy of George W. Bush to the presidency -- 'neoconservative' has become a term of opprobrium, frequently accompanied by ad hominem attacks and charges of arrogance and hubris. But the heat generated by the term also stands as a backhanded tribute, an acknowledgment that the neoconservative impact has been substantial. It is today too soon to offer a comprehensive assessment of that impact. The discussion of neoconservatism offered here has a more modest objective, namely, to suggest that one aspect of the neoconservative legacy has been to foster the intellectual climate necessary for the emergence of the new American militarism. As a practical matter, the task of reinventing neoconservatism for a post-Communist world -- and of spelling out an 'imperial self-definition' of American purpose -- fell to a new generation. To promote that effort, leading members of that new generation created their own institutions. The passing of the baton occurred in 1995...

http://tinyurl.com/d94as

from Mother Jones, by Andrew Bacevich


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp