A Concise Explanation of Republicans
Neal McCluskey, writing at Cato @ Liberty:
Neocons, one can’t help but conclude, must be politically and logically bipolar, able to swing from “no more government” to “hell yes, more government!” in a single op-ed. At the very least, they evince little understanding of why government works or fails, or what it can and cannot do. They appear simply to call on government to get the things they want and decry its dangers to fight things they don’t.
“Neocon” is a rather amorphous term, but I think McCluskey’s complaints apply to the majority of the Republican Party.
It is often very difficult, in practice, to distinguish between dishonesty and cluelessness.
To be fair, I think such tendencies apply to many people across the political specteum.
I agree that there are plenty of clueless people of every political stripe. While I’m not about to claim that leftists understand the practical limitations of government better than right-wingers, it doesn’t make them look hypocritical in the way it does the Republican Party.
I do think that libertarians have a comparatively good understanding of the limitations of government. (This is not to deny the existence of extremists who are blind to the limitations of markets, nor the existence of libertarians who are just generally clueless.)
As far as clueless people go, It’s the same on both sides of the aisle. BUT, I don’t think that Neocons and Republicans are or should be of the same distinction. I find it entertaining that the leftward leaning media chose not to cover the major revolt in the republican party during the election from the so call “necon” leadership. Any republican under 30 is considering, or in my case already has become an independent because of the destruction of the party. Republican or democrat, founding principals aren’t what they once were, and I think the whole situation calls for new leadership on both sides.
Joe: noted. I should have said “the majority of Republican politicians“.
The destruction of the GOP and of the USA body politic started with what is described here.
http://www.psychohistory.com/reagan/rcontent.htm
The Bushites finished off the assault on the collective body politic begun by Reagan
Plus I quite like the assessment of the legacy of Reagan described in this book.
http://www.morrisberman.com