tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post1619833482957089962..comments2023-09-25T04:26:51.568-06:00Comments on The Barefoot Bum: The enemy of my enemyLarry Hamelinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-62304715413200540202008-04-28T11:44:00.000-06:002008-04-28T11:44:00.000-06:00The thing to remember about neo-conservatives is t...The thing to remember about neo-conservatives is that they're essentially neo-Platonists that embrace a bifurcated "philosopher king" model of governance, like that advocated by Plato in <I>The Republic</I>. They are not explicitly Christian, but encourage a <I>Judeo-Christian</I> outlook, a belief in a firm moral framework and -- ironically, for a movement founded by "reformed" Trotskyites -- an opium for the masses being profoundly necessary to a smoothly functioning society in their view.<BR/><BR/>You hit it on the head when you bring up authoritarianism: Neoconservatives are essentially plutocrats. If you read their seminal texts, such as the compilation of Irving Kristol's writings entitled <I>Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea</I>, you are inescapably drawn to the conclusion that their ideal model is authoritarian, with the philosophers -- the neocon intellectuals -- providing the guiding hand for the "men of action" (as Eric Hoffer would put it), with moral agency providd by religious authority, together forming a plutocracy.<BR/><BR/>In all, neoconservatism exemplifies the pattern of mass movements Eric Hoffer observed with Communism, Nazism, fascism, and religious movements, in <I>The True Believer</I> and <I>The Ordeal of Change</I>.James F. Elliotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16747033407956667363noreply@blogger.com