Date: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 06:21:34 -0400
Subject: Re: M-I: New Right
From: farmelantj-AT-juno.com (James Farmelant)


Michael,

I think it is more correct to say that neoconservatism and the New Right
represent the two sides of the shift to the right that American politics
has experienced over the past couple decades.  Neoconservatism IMO
is a phenomenon of intellectual and public policy elites whereas the
New Right especially the religious right represents genuine mass
movements.  Both neoconservatism and the New Right seek largely
similar policy outcomes and they have generally been allies. 
Nevertheless,
there are major differences between them in terms of their respective
social compositions.  Neocons are mainly intellectuals who either hold
academic positions or work for the multitude of rightist think tanks that
have sprung up since the late 1970's.  A disproportionate number of
neocons are Jewish (and many of them whether or not Jewish are probably
agnostics).  The New Right in contrast tends to draw much of its mass
base
from the lower middle class and working class.  Most New Rightists seem
to
be either Protestant fundamentalists or are Catholics.  Religious
fundamentalism
is clearly a driving force of the New Right.

This difference between the social compositions of the neocons and the
New
Right certainly opens the door for the emergence of contradictions
between
the two movements.  Carrol quite rightly points out his has on occasion
led
to such amusing spectacles as Irving Kristol's (who was a student of
atheist
philosopher Sidney Hook) attempts at placating creationists in his 
WSJ column.  Some New Rightists like Pat Buchanan and Joe Sobran
have at time attempted to push the idea of a war between 'paleo-cons'
and the neocons who have supposedly hijacked conservatism.

Michael is certainly correct that traditionalist conservatives are
victims
of false consciousness insomuch as they are unwilling to face the
contradiction between their support for unbridled capitalism and their
commitment to traditionalism.  As Marx pointed out long ago if
capitalism does anything it undermines and destroys traditions and
traditional values- "all solid melts into air."  An occasional slightly
more sophisticated traditionalist conservative like George Will will
perceive the contradiction but will still not be able to draw the
necessary
conclusions.

                                                                    
James F.
On Fri, 1 Aug 97 19:46:56 18000 Michael Hoover <hoov-AT-freenet.tlh.fl.us>
writes:
>Andrew A:
>> neoconservatism extended well down into the masses--in many ways it
>> was also the product of large segments of the population, given 
>voice by
>> neoconservative intellectuals (and other elite factions). 
>> Neoconservatism, neofascism, and fundamentalist religious movements 
>in
>> the US were elements in an overall reactionary movement that has 
>been
>> called the New Right
>> The conservative Christian movement is beligerently pro-capitalist
>
>neoconservatism may have articulated some of the anger and volatility 
>that
>emerged in the late '60s & early '70s...it may have resonated with a
>population group that Donald Warren (*The Radical Center: Middle
>Americans and the Politics of Alienation*/1976) called 'middle 
>American 
>radicals" - Warren identified them as lower-middle class people angry
>about their circumstances and determined to vent their anger...the
>distinctive feature of MARs was alienation from the national gov't,
>welfare agencies, unions, corporations...but these are the folks that
>Kevin Phillips called "populist conservatives"...Phillips used the
>term "New Right" in the mid-70s to identify Howard Phillips' 
>Conservative Caucus, Terry Dolan's NCPAC, Richard Viquerie's
>activities, Paul Weyrich's Committee for a Free Congress...these
>guys, among others, were "organic" intellectuals who organized &
>mobilizied a growing socio-political movement...I don't recall the 
>neo-cons in that way...in fact, they were self-consciously anti-
>populist (much like left critical theorists have often been)...
>
>I would distinguish between neoconservatism and the New Right while 
>acknowledging a lot of issue and policy congruency...and much of the 
>difference is located in their relationship to "mass" publics...the 
>New 
>Right is activist in a way that neocons could never be comfortable 
>with...
>
>with repect to the christian conservative movement's capitalism, this
>is an example of that currently unfashionable concept - "false 
>consciousness"...embracing capitalism and preaching traditionalism is 
>a 
>contradiction...the "sex & drugs & rock & roll" that Ian Dury and the 
>Blockheads sang about manifest themselves in the context of 
>contemporary 
>consumer capitalism...Michael
>
>
>
>
>
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