After Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are the two
most popular rightwing talk hosts in America, defining for millions
the definition of the term "conservative." Lately,
Beck has focused on attacking "progressivism," often
stressing that the progressive foreign policy of President Woodrow
Wilson, who wanted to "make the world safe for democracy,"
was identical to that of George W. Bush. Hannity takes a very
different view, stating, "You can’t deny that George
Bush was conservative on national security issues." Yet,
Beck does deny this, quite regularly. Who’s right? Better
yet, who’s "conservative?"
That depends on your definition. The notion of "making
the world safe for democracy" is unquestionably a liberal
or "progressive" sentiment, but it is also true that
it has been standard foreign policy for the mainstream Right
for sometime. Self-described conservatives have associated endless
military intervention with American "toughness" and
viewed those who questioned the government’s wisdom in
waging war as "weak" or "anti-American."
This has certainly been the view of Limbaugh and Hannity and
for most of Bush’s eight years, it was also the view of
Beck.
Yet the notion of America as the world’s policeman is
not remotely conservative in the traditional sense, but "neoconservative,"
a term most mainstream right-wingers are either ignorant of,
embarrassed of, or don’t use because the wholesale takeover
of the conservative movement by the neocons has made using the
"neo" prefix unnecessary.
Neoconservatives care about one thing—war (and where
they can wage it). Says contributing editor to The Weekly Standard,
neocon Max Boot: "Neoconservatives believe in using American
might to promote American ideals abroad," a progressive,
Wilsonian vision, if there ever was one. As for traditional
conservative concerns like limited government, fiscal responsibility
and constitutional fidelity, these are ideas neoconservatives
will occasionally pay lip service to, so long as none of these
principles interferes with their more important task of global
military domination. It is no coincidence that George W. Bush—the
first full-blown neoconservative presidential administration—did
not limit government, was not fiscally responsible and shredded
the Constitution, while still implementing the most radical
foreign policy in American history. Writes conservative columnist
George Will "The most magnificently misnamed neoconservatives
are the most radical people in this town."
