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Home , Christian right, Lionel Trilling, Michael Novak, Neoconservatism, Paleoconservatism

Mark Gerson. The Neoconservative Vision: From the Cold to the Culture . Lanham, Md. and London: Madison Books, 1997. x + 368 pp. $27.95, cloth, ISBN 978-1-56833-054-9.

Reviewed by David Rovinsky

Published on H-Teachpol (November, 1997)

Neoconservatism in American is a , , regulation of the phenomenon that social scientists, especially that economy, religion in the public sphere, and race majority whose political home remains to the left relations became part of the conventional wisdom of center, have never fully understood. The term of American political life. To the extent that the is regularly misused, primarily in reference to Left has resurrected itself, it has done so by em‐ free-market during the 1980s and bracing many of the arguments of neoconser‐ 1990s. In this sense, is not prop‐ vatism. erly distinguished from conventional conser‐ In The Neoconservative Vision, Mark Gerson vatism, or "," in the parlance of presents a detailed synthesis of neoconservative the neoconservative. Neoconservatism refers to a thought, going back to the battles among pro- and specifc intellectual school in the de‐ anti-Stalin factions within the American socialist scended from the liberal anti- of the movement of the 1930s. In the wake of War World War II era and its aftermath. It is distin‐ II, democratic socialists were frequently lumped guished primarily by its rejection of the pro‐ together as "fellow travelers" with pro-Soviet in‐ nounced radicalism of both the American left in tellectuals. The future neoconservatives resented the early years of the , and early twenti‐ this association, and quickly came to see the radi‐ eth century . Neoconservatism is cal Left as more of an enemy than the main‐ thus not simply another branch of American con‐ stream Right. Gerson takes his summary of the servatism; in fact, a substantial majority of its ad‐ writings of neoconservatives from , herents continue to support the Democratic Party, , and Reinhold Niebuhr in the 1930s despite their intellectual proximity to the Republi‐ and 1940s through the observations of the likes of can administrations of the 1980s. The 1980s repre‐ and as they contem‐ sented, in some ways, the climax of the neocon‐ plated a world without Communism. Based upon servative movement, in that its views on such an extensive reading of neoconservative journals matters as Communism and American foreign H-Net Reviews and essays (the favored form of neoconservative inherently have difculties standing up to totali‐ writing; Gerson observes that neoconservatives tarian regimes, for these latter ideologies are able write few books) as well as dozens of interviews to penetrate into and infuence polit‐ with major neoconservative personas, Gerson ical debate. provides an impressive and perhaps unprecedent‐ For American intellectuals, the McCarthy pe‐ ed review of the literature of neoconservatism, riod dominated the 1950s. This was a difcult pe‐ one that will make The Neoconservative Vision an riod for all American leftists, as all were suspect‐ important reference work for students of political ed of connections to the Soviets. During the Mc‐ ideologies and American political thought. Carthy hearings, the split between pro-Soviet and The neoconservatives began their political anti-Communist liberals became pronounced, as lives as New Dealers, originally opposing the ex‐ liberal anti-Communists refused to join in the treme laissez-faire embodied by the anti-McCarthy hysteria encouraged by the far Republican Party of the 1920s. These New Dealers Left, while opposing McCarthy's witch hunts, rejected traditional conservatism not primarily claiming that they distracted from the true anti- for economic reasons, but for social ones. Tradi‐ Communist struggle, the Cold War. tional conservatives were white, Anglo-Saxon Neoconservatism came into its own during Protestants who discriminated against all those the and 1970s, and during these decades be‐ unlike themselves. The future neoconservatives came a force that would oppose the Left far more did not reject the mythology of American life. than the Right. Neoconservatives view the cultur‐ Rather, as representatives of traditional nine‐ al sphere as the most important one, a sphere teenth-century immigrant groups like Jews, Pol‐ from which economics and politics draw their ish, Irish, or Slavs, they sought to integrate them‐ meaning. Therefore, a battle over the defnition of selves into American society through the accepted American culture is one that neoconservatives route of hard work and individual achievement, view as one for the American soul. The only to fnd themselves excluded due to their non- appeared after 1960, with an agenda supporting British stock. To this day, neoconservatives are civil rights, the restructuring of the American uni‐ disproportionately Jewish and Roman , versity, and opposing the use of American mili‐ the "assimilated" immigrants. tary power overseas on the grounds that the Unit‐ Neoconservative intellectuals treat another ed States lacked the moral legitimacy to act as a group of intellectuals, the "anti-anti-Communists" global force. Neoconservatives joined the New (later to become the New Left), as their chief an‐ Left in opposing the , but on the nar‐ tagonists. In the wake of World War II, many rower grounds that the war, as defned by the Western intellectuals remained enamored of the Pentagon, was not winnable, and that the overall and "Uncle Joe" Stalin, convinced, as strategic interest of the United States in Southeast was Walter Lippman in the 1930s, that in the Asia was questionable. Neoconservatives also sup‐ USSR they had "seen the future, and it works." ported the civil rights movement, in that it ofered Neoconservatives, the liberal anti-Communists, the potential for to join the argued, as did in his novel Animal American mainstream in the same way that their Farm, that it was unprecedented for the intellec‐ own grandparents did. However, the civil rights tuals of a democratic country to fall under the movement soon spawned afrmative action pro‐ sway of a totalitarian ideology. Neoconservatives grams that ofered elaborate racial and gender like , editor of the journal Com‐ preferences to traditionally disadvantaged mentary, later went on to argue that democracies groups. Neoconservatives, sympathetic to individ‐

2 H-Net Reviews ual achievement without regard to membership Left critique of the United States that is more ne‐ in a social or racial group, opposed afrmative ac‐ farious and that demands pointed opposition. All tion for both ideological and self-interested rea‐ neoconservative writing is inspired by this per‐ sons: they believed that the true path to success in ceived need to protect American culture and the the United States was the one taken by their own forces that support it. families, and they were resentful that the discrim‐ Neoconservatives believe that politics is ination faced by their own families (especially about morality, and that morality should infuse Jewish ones) was repeated, this time as reverse political behavior. thrives upon what discrimination. they call "the bourgeois virtues" of thrift, the de‐ Neoconservative disafection with the laying of gratifcation, honesty, probity, and loyal‐ mounted particularly during the ty. The importance of individual moral responsi‐ Carter administration after 1976. They saw it as bility is the fip side of the classical liberal's insis‐ embodying New Left values, and the Iranian tence upon personal freedom and initiative; neo‐ hostage crisis and the administration's limp re‐ conservatives maintain that each side is needed to sponse to it showed that it remained a hostage to make the other work. For example, while material the Vietnam syndrome. For these reasons, most wealth is necessary for a thriving society with a neoconservatives supported 's suc‐ high standard of living, it is not an end in itself. cessful bid for the presidency in 1980. Reagan This wealth can be put in the service of the things promised not to be afraid to project American mil‐ that truly "matter" in life, such as education and itary power and undertook a substantial buildup intellectual vitality; , as in those medi‐ of American armed forces to send a clear message ating institutions that give society a collective ex‐ to the Soviets. At the same time, Reagan turned istence independent of the state; and religion. Re‐ Washington away from attempts at economic ligion is the source of the moral virtues that ani‐ management in the direction of a less fettered mate both individuals and the society in which capitalist economy, another favorite topic of neo‐ they live. conservatives, still chafng at the resentment This raises the question of the role of religion many New Left activists harbored toward capital‐ in public life. In recent decades, under the infu‐ ism and the way of life that upheld it. ence of modern , the practice of religion While Gerson's historical review of the neo‐ within public institutions has been discouraged conservative movement illustrates well the reac‐ on the grounds of separation of and state. tion of the group to specifc periods in American Neoconservatives, Jewish and Christian alike, re‐ political history, it runs the risk of obscuring the spond that this is too broad a reading of the con‐ common themes that have animated neoconser‐ cept. They note that the Constitution prohibits the vatism from the beginning. Above all, neoconser‐ establishment of an ofcial but does vatives stress the centrality of ideology and cul‐ not say that religion has no place as a motivating ture (they are two sides of the same coin for neo‐ force in politics. The state merely cannot do any‐ conservatives) in determining the course that a thing for interfere with the individual practice (or society ultimately follows. While paleoconserva‐ non-practice, a point on which neoconservatives tives difer from neoconservatives in their appar‐ do not all agree) of religion. Judeo-Christian ent lack of interest, and even contempt for, cul‐ morality is the starting point of American culture, ture, the New Left shows active hostility to an and neoconservatives believe that such contro‐ American culture developed over more than two versial events as invocations at public school centuries. Neoconservatives believe it is this New graduations and Nativity scenes on municipal

3 H-Net Reviews property refect this morality and do not stop fol‐ and greed. While neoconservatives are pro-capi‐ lowers of other faiths from practicing them. talism, they are anything but libertarians. Neoconservatives have displayed a religious Indeed, neoconservatives have a difdent at‐ fervor in their defense of . In fact, reli‐ titude toward democracy and freedom. Neither is gion and capitalism together create what neocon‐ a good in itself. Rather, they are acceptable only to servatives view as the ideal social order. While the extent that they are consistent with the bour‐ most of the paleoconservatives praise capitalism geois virtues. While they oppose totalitarian for promoting economic growth and personal regimes on the grounds that they impose an all- freedom, neoconservatives view the market as an encompassing ideology upon society, the bour‐ ideal mechanism of moral restraint. Libertarian geois virtues seem to take on the same kind of arguments for capitalism point out that the mar‐ global role. While castigating New Left intellectu‐ ket efciently translates individual demand into als for lacking touch with the common people, social outcomes. Neoconservatives respond that neoconservative intellectuals also complain that capitalism, having no values of its own, requires the United States is too democratic in its ideology, some form of moral background to sustain it, a leading the people to reject the wise advice that moral background that is to be found in religion. neoconservatives are ofering them. Similarly, If a public is infused with religious morality, it neoconservatives believe that freedom is inher‐ will infuence consumer demand, meaning that ently subject to abuse, with liberty dissolving into all participants in the economy, if they are to license, in the terminology of . Criti‐ thrive, must acknowledge this morality. There‐ cism of the bourgeois virtues ultimately under‐ fore, economics cannot pollute culture, but a cor‐ mines society's institutions, meaning that dissent rupt culture can be propagated by the ruthlessly is a threat to society rather than a vehicle for im‐ efcient market. Therefore, neoconservatives do proving it. Therefore, society is inherently fragile not fret over the likes of selfshness and greed-- and under constant threat. Perhaps neoconserva‐ they are moral failures that religion, not tives are not aware that they are using a similar or government regulation of the market, will cure. argument to that of totalitarian Marxists. Gerson, The neoconservative theologian Michael No‐ content merely to summarize neoconservative vak has put forward a moral defense of capitalism writings, never addresses this contradiction. along these lines that seems to have infuenced Similarly, what is the role of the intellectual? even Pope John Paul II. Keeping in mind that the Traditionally, from the Greeks to the present age, support that neoconservatives ofer to capitalism the intellectual has been the force to discomfort is more for moral than economic reasons, several the comfortable, the gadfy to shock society out of writers worry openly that capitalism, an inherent‐ its complacency. Life is to be examined, not sim‐ ly amoral system, is coming to undermine the ply to be accepted for what it seems to be. Indeed, Judeo-Christian ethic, just as it sustained it in the through Gerson's words, the neoconservatives past. For this reason, Irving Kristol has written dwell upon the consequences of ideas, arguing that capitalism deserves only two cheers instead that what intellectuals debate at their conferences of the traditional three. It supports the production today dictates the shape of society decades down of material wealth, and it is the most efcient of the road. The neoconservatives thus condemn the economic systems, but it also has the potential to New Left intellectuals who challenge the accepted undermine religion and morality by doing noth‐ institutions of society. Neoconservatives criticize ing to combat a nihilistic ethic of self-indulgence social scientists for putting forward ideas that are not necessarily workable, yet the Canadian neo‐

4 H-Net Reviews conservatives David Bercuson and Barry Cooper literature never brings this contradiction into the argue that inventive intellectual suggestions are open, and even in choosing the texts to review, vital to the political system, and that the give and Gerson's text often shows little distinction be‐ take of politics, and the inherent need to compro‐ tween the important and the trivial. mise, generally sand down the most unrealistic As 's "New Democrats" and Tony edges of intellectuals' prescriptions.[1] From Blair's "" preside over a renaissance American neoconservatives we again see the be‐ of the Left in English-speaking democracies, the lief that to contest society is to destabilize it. In‐ question of the origin of this post-Reagan Left stead, neoconservatives pride themselves upon arises. While Clintonite are typically de‐ celebrating bourgeois virtues and society's exist‐ rided as warmed-over Reaganism by the most stri‐ ing institutions. Is this to mean that the intellectu‐ dent liberals, in many ways, Clinton's administra‐ al's obligation is to serve merely as a cheerleader tion may well signal the reconciliation of the neo‐ for the status quo? Stalin demanded the same of conservatives with the Democratic Party. For ex‐ Soviet intellectuals--in what way is this diferent? ample, the Clinton administration has not shied Religion played an important, if not primary, away from the use of the U.S. military, defends role in the formation of neoconservative thought. welfare but supports measures forcing individu‐ Yet the place that religion is to have in the neocon‐ als to seek private employment, and maintains an servative vision is far from clear in the text. For overall attitude of tempering private activity with example, Gerson frequently writes that neocon‐ concern for its efects on the entire community. servatism is a unique alliance of Jewish and Chris‐ Blair's government in Britain is even more open tian (largely Catholic) intellectuals making a com‐ about its support for these traditionally neocon‐ mon defense of the Judeo-Christian ethic. In other servative themes. The success of Clinton and Blair places, Gerson portrays neoconservatism as a Jew‐ against paleoconservatives is rudimentary proof ish movement that only begrudgingly tolerates a that the neoconservatives were more liberal crit‐ Catholic presence. In places, Gerson hints that the ics of liberalism than converts to conservatism-- Jewish neoconservatives welcomed Christian al‐ their ideas were partly responsible for the resur‐ lies when politically useful (such as their courting rection of the Left. As 1990s conservatives contin‐ of the , another force that wanted ue to place economic growth before the health of religious morality to direct decisions in the mar‐ civil society, Kristol's refusal to give capitalism "a ketplace), but on other occasions depicts Christian third cheer" seems increasingly valid. conservatives as a threat to Judaism in the United While the analysis is severely underdevel‐ States, such as in a peculiar digression into Irving oped, Gerson provides an excellent summarized Kristol's heated opposition to religious intermar‐ history of neoconservative thought. For this rea‐ riage (p. 302). Is neoconservatism an ideology that son alone, The Neoconservative Vision seems to is meant to ofer something to every American, or be a prima facie candidate for classroom use. The does it boil down to the self-interest of Jewish in‐ only problem I foresee in my own courses is tellectuals? Is afrmative action distasteful be‐ where to place it upon a syllabus. Neoconser‐ cause its groupist focus is illiberal, or because it vatism is a rather specialized intellectual school, threatens the faculty positions of future Jewish in‐ and as such, does not rate more than cursory at‐ tellectuals? Is U.S. support for laudable be‐ tention in introductory classes. In "Contemporary cause Israel represents an important strategic in‐ Political Ideologies," my department's frst level terest of the United States, or are the neoconser‐ course in political theory, I already ask my stu‐ vatives merely another manifestation of the Jew‐ dents to read a chapter from Kristol's Two Cheers ish lobby? Once again, the approach of reviewing

5 H-Net Reviews for Capitalism, which is all the time that can be spared for a short course that covers ten distinct ideological systems. "American Political Theory" would be a possible candidate for this book, though again, in this course I focus on primary texts (including Kristol and Novak). Gerson, how‐ ever, may make useful supplementary reading. Where I see Gerson as being most useful in the classroom is at the graduate level, especially in a seminar on American conservatism or in recent trends in American political thought. Above all, Gerson's detailed summary and bibliography present an interesting and useful overview of neoconservatism for those who intend to go on to more detailed study of the subject. Notes: [1]. Bercuson, David and Barry Cooper. De‐ railed: The Betrayal of the National Dream. Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1994, p. 114. Copyright (c) 1997 by H-Net, all rights re‐ served. This work may be copied for non-proft educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ tact [email protected].

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Citation: David Rovinsky. Review of Gerson, Mark. The Neoconservative Vision: From the Cold War to the Culture Wars. H-Teachpol, H-Net Reviews. November, 1997.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=1440

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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