Yet far from finding a welcome reception Israel’s interests before America’s. Harvard from the conservatism to which they had de- historian Stanley Hoffman said neoconserva- fected, neoconservatives suffered a new kind tives “look on foreign policy through the lens of of vilification. The paleocons accused the one dominant concern: Is it good or bad for Is- newcomers of attenuating conservatism, of rael? Since that nation’s founding in 1948, corrupting the true faith. As one paleocon these thinkers have never been in very good (Stephen J. Tonsor) put it, “It is splendid odor at the State Department, but now they are when the town whore gets religion and joins well ensconced in the Pentagon.” the church. Now and then she makes a good But the paleocons had already traversed choir director, but when she begins to tell the this territory, having decades ago charged the minister what he ought to say in his Sunday neocons with dual loyalty. The country-club sermons, matters have been carried too far.” conservatives saw themselves as a Christian old Pat Buchanan added that the neoconserva- guard beleaguered by power-hungry interlop- tives’ tactics “left many conservatives won- ers, sons of Jewish immigrants who had insin- dering if we hadn’t made a terrible mistake uated themselves into positions of power. when we brought these ideological vagrants Neocons were often criticized as arrivistes, as in off the street and gave them a warm place parvenus, as overanxiously Americanized Jews. by the fire.” They were also seen as “Likudniks” who The most telling feature of the new criti- uncritically supported Israel. As Russell Kirk cism of neoconservatives, then, is also the one said in 1988: “Not seldom it has seemed as if that most tightly binds it to the old attacks from some eminent neoconservatives mistook Tel the right: the focus on Jewishness. Some of the Aviv for the capital of the United States.” In post-9/11 critics, like Jacob Heilbrunn, have short, paleocons felt crowded out by what Kirk defined neoconservatism as an “ineluctably called a “little sect” of upstart usurpers, John- Jewish” mentality that derives from ethnic ex- nies-come-lately who had taken over the pale- Benjamin Balint, a perience — “as much a reflection of Jewish im- ocons’ estate just as they were about to inherit. writer living in migrant social resentments and status anxiety Like Esau complaining that his birthright Jerusalem, is working as a legitimate movement of ideas.” Others was stolen by the deceits of Jacob, critics both on a book about Com- claimed that the neoconservative takeover was left and right will continue to find in neocon- mentary magazine. engineered by Jewish intellectuals who put servatives a convenient mark.

Is Neoconservatism Jewish? Peter Berkowitz n recent years, more than a few angry critics tions to stand ready to take action, including Ihave insinuated with malicious intent that military action, against the enemies of free- neoconservatism is an intrinsically Jewish dom; and Israel’s struggles against terrorism, school of politics and ideas. True, Jews are dis- autocracy, and religiously inspired fanaticism. proportionately represented in neoconserva- Yet no account of neoconservatism would tive ranks. But the same might be said of the be respectable if it omitted mention of emi- ranks of communism, socialism, and liberal- nent non-Jews such as Senator Daniel Patrick ism, to say nothing of the ranks of lawyers, Moynihan, Democrat from N.Y. state and, as doctors, financiers, and comedians. assistant secretary of Labor in 1965, author of Peter Berkowitz is the Tad It is a matter of record that a small group The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, and Dianne Taube Sen- of Jews played a leading role in the 1970s and which created a national storm by arguing that ior Fellow at the Hoover 1980s in originating what has come to be the deterioration of the black family was a cen- Institution, Stanford known as neoconservatism, and many of neo- tral cause of black poverty; Senator Henry University, and a visit- conservatism’s most prominent spokesmen “Scoop” Jackson, Democrat from Washington ing professor at George- today are Jewish. The sensibility or persuasion state and Cold War liberal around whom many town University. they cultivated did in some measure grow out emerging neoconservatives rallied in the of reflections on Jewish ideas and experiences: 1970s; Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, a pro- April 2008 the biblical teaching that all human beings are fessor of government at Georgetown who Nisan 5768 To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA created in God’s image; the importance of tra- staunchly represented the U.S. at the United www.shma.com dition, family, and education; the horrors of Nations under Ronald Reagan; Father Richard 2 the Holocaust; the enduring need for free na- John Neuhaus, founding editor of First Things and incisive analyst of religion and public life; vancement of American interests and the pur- William Bennett, former Secretary of Educa- suit of American ideals than do typical con- tion in the Reagan administration, author of servative realists. But in seeking to promote the bestselling Book of Virtues, and today host liberty and democracy abroad, neoconserva- of a popular talk radio show; and James Q. Wil- tives are much more skeptical of the United son, for many years a professor of government Nations and other international bodies than at Harvard and for decades an outstanding standard liberal internationalists. scholar of American politics. The Bush administration’s decision in the More important, however, than the diver- fall of 2003 to emphasize the promotion of sity of backgrounds of those who have elabo- democracy as the chief justification for the in- rated it, is the fact that neoconservatism does vasion of Iraq exposed a deep division within not rest on Jewish premises. Nor does it seek neoconservative ranks. On the one hand, to advance specifically Jewish goals. many neoconservative thinkers welcomed Neoconservatism’s founding premise is Bush’s speeches, culminating in his Second that liberal democracy in America is a great Inaugural’s ambitious call to spread liberty good. And its governing aim is to conserve the around the world, seeing in them a vindica- larger liberal tradition grounded in individual tion of their belief that by virtue of its power freedom, equality under law, tolerance for re- and its principles, America was uniquely well ligious and political diversity, respect for pri- positioned to advance its own interests by ad- vate property and free markets, and the vancing the cause of freedom globally. On the practice of limited constitutional government. other hand, over the last forty years, neocon- This more conservative form of liberalism servatism has done as much as any school in — which with equal justice might have been America to teach that liberty and democracy dubbed neoliberalism — arose in opposition have moral and social preconditions, a teach- to the left-wing interpretation of liberalism ing that, if taken to heart, would have com- that emerged in the late 1960s and took hold pelled far greater caution than the Bush in the 1970s. According to neoconservatives, administration showed in undertaking to de- this left-liberalism ignored or sought to un- mocratize societies in Afghanistan and Iraq dermine the discipline and culture on which whose language, family structure, tradition, liberty and democracy depended; searched sectarian divisions, and religious beliefs were for the solution to social ills in big government largely unknown to American policymakers. programs, that instead of encouraging habits This division is a reflection of the deeper of independence and personal responsibility struggle in the neoconservative mind to ap- fostered dependence on the state and un- preciate the tension between, and mutual in- leashed personally and socially destructive fluence of, liberty and tradition, a topic that conduct; and downplayed the evils of Soviet should be of permanent interest to Jews and communism, the chief foreign threat to Amer- non-Jews alike. ica, while greatly exaggerating America’s flaws. Neoconservatism’s emphasis on conserv- Discussion Guide ing a more traditional understanding of the Bringing together myriad voices and experiences liberal tradition puts it in tension with social provides Sh’ma readers with an opportunity in a conservatism and libertarianism, its major few very full pages to explore a topic of Jewish inter- partners in the broader conservative alliance est from a variety of perspectives. To facilitate a in America. Neoconservatives argue in favor fuller discussion of these ideas, we offer the following of greater respect for religion in public life, questions: but stop short of those social conservatives who wish to infuse the constitutional frame- 1. Is there a connection between Judaism work with religion. And neoconservatives de- and neoconservatism? Between Judaism fend the free market as the engine of our and liberalism? prosperity and an expression of our freedom 2. Does the detail & extensiveness of Jewish but are more attuned than many libertarians law suggest that Judaism is inherently con- to the cultural contradictions of capitalism. servative? April 2008 In foreign policy, neoconservatives also 3. How do our religious and political think- Nisan 5768 occupy an in-between position. They see a ing help us address evil? To subscribe: 877-568-SHMA much closer convergence between the ad- www.shma.com 3