I don’t like to be called a “neo-con.” I’m a moderate. Not because of the company “neo-con” puts me in... I admire the Kristols, Wolfowitz, Rice and many others... but because “neo-con” is a poor descriptor. I and they are not conservative by any stretch of the imagination.
I don’t know or care about a god, I see no moral problem with abortion, I want some restraint on executive compensation and less restraint on immigration. I’m not “neo” either. I love commerce and the status quo because it is so dynamic, expansive and volatile.
I’m moderate and pragmatic. The “neo-cons” are.....
I’m moderate and pragmatic. The “neo-cons” are thinkers who realized
from empirical evidence that welfare was a tragic failure, that America
afraid to use its military power invited terrorist attacks, that market
based democracy out performed communism and socialism on every
dimension and that income redistribution was detrimental to economic
prosperity for everyone. Empirical evidence is what attracted all of
them to their current views; and me too.
I am a Dewey/Rorty acolyte. I believe that democracy thrives on dialog
and debate. That an American democracy is only dialog and debate
carried out over long periods of time. We still debate Hamilton versus
Jefferson and political power is still arrayed along these lines.
The core value of American democratic dialog is the willingness to
listen and seriously consider alternative ideas. Dialog is
particularly valuable when it relies on empirical evidence. Evidence is increasingly on the Hamiltonian side.
I change my mind regularly based on empirical evidence and intelligent dialog. That makes me a moderate.
Americans have settled on several interesting moderate positions,
albeit after long debate and vigorous power struggles. The military
“don’t ask, don’t tell” is a moderate position; the popular abortion
position is moderate “abortion should be legal, but should be strongly
discouraged.” The California law is moderate: civil union has all the
rights of marriage and divorce including adoption, but marriage itself
is a religious matter. Moderate.