The Curse Of Conservative Republicans – Or Please Shun The Neocons

I have often referred to neocons in my post and I thought perhaps I could expound on what I mean when I use that term and why I use it.  You might notice that I refer to and have a tremendous admiration for Theodore Roosevelt.  He was a Republican by the way.  I also have a tremendous respect for other Republican presidents, Senators, Congressmen, statesmen and many others.  I say that because to me there is a significant difference between these traditional “conservative” Republican public servants and the minority neo-conservatives who would be conservative Republicans, leaders and public servants of today.  Let me add this thought for emphasis before I go on.  I believe the neo-conservatives are the minority in the Republican Party but unfortunately they are the ones in charge.  

The terms I hear most often with regards to these modern conservative politicians is neocons, neo-conservatives and chicken hawks and there are other “names” I could use but I won’t.  To me what sets these modern day conservatives apart is this.  On the floor of the House or Senate or on the national stage they play to the camera and not the American people.  They want to win for the sake of winning and when there is power and money to be won they want to win even more.  Their focus is not on winning for the American people.  

Let me start these next comments with this.  Serving in the military is not nor should it be a prerequisite for holding public office.  Having said that I would say that today’s neocons are by and large people who have never served in the military and ‘also’ have no understanding of the military except as a tool to help them get their way and not a tool to achieve a foreign policy goal or protect the country or its interests.  (I use the words ‘get their way’ because of the childish connotations of the terms and the neocons in my opinion are in some ways very childish when it comes to their money and power.)  Having an understanding of the military can and frequently does make up for not having served and gained the understanding and people of all stripes can achieve an understanding if willing.  But what makes the neocon different is, not only do they not serve but they do not have an understanding nor is gaining an understanding of the military of interest to them.  One other thing that makes the neocon stand out is that not only do they usually not serve but many of these people went out of their way to avoid serving at a time when it was required to do so by our nation.  (For those of you, who will jump on the Clinton thing, don’t.  In this regard he’s the same and I have a great disdain for him because of it and besides you’ll just let it cloud your thoughts.)  That requirement makes not having served very different from those who were not required to serve and simply chose not to.  To me avoiding makes it more sinister and dishonest and might I add cowardly.

Another thing these modern day neocons have in common is that they are what I would call intolerant ideologues.  They have by their actions proven time and again that they will not tolerate others ideas.  If one disagrees with their opinions they are mortally assaulted as was the case with Max Clellan and John McCain (whom I no longer respect because he continues to play the lap dog to Mr. Bush) who’s patriotism and morals were questioned and whose sacrifices were demeaned by the neocon political machine because they had differing ideas.  Understand that I am not referring to open and honest political sparing or debate.  Neocons do not just engage in this but they go deeper and assault with lies and innuendo the character of these individuals.  These are just two ready examples there are many more.

I have come to the conclusion that this group of neocons are corrupt to the extreme.  I will not go into the litany or list as I have pointed these out numerous times in past posts but they include the usual George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Bill Frist, Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham (More old school), I. Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, and Representative Ney whose first name escapes me at the moment and the list goes on and on.  

Let me say also that these folks have not all been indicted or even tried or convicted of a crime but I believe that every American has a constitutionally guaranteed right to look at public documents and media sources and come to their own conclusion on whether a politician or public servant deserves their individual respect and confidence.  Based on that available information I have come to the conclusion that I do not respect this group of neocons and I am concerned to the extreme that they are in charge of all of the branches of our government.

There was a time in Congress and the Senate that each stood and voiced their opinions, concerns, positions, and thoughts and then they all sat down and found the answer.  This process has been eliminated by the neocon leadership of both houses.  They have also abdicated their constitutional mandate for oversight.  Sad don’t you think?

Those Are The Sergeant Majors Thoughts On That.