Act Like You've Been There Before

"We had the ideas; they provided the facts." So said William F. Buckley, Jr. about the relationship between neoconservatives and paleoconservatives.

The distinction between these two kinds of conservatives is now meaningless. There is no significant group of young conservatives who began life as liberal Democrats or, in the case of the original neocons, Trotskyites. Sure Irving Kristol, the godfather of neoconservatism, is still among the living, but he is now simply a conservative. I doubt that Buckley himself would say otherwise. Kristol himself wrote in 1995 that the "neoconservative episode" was now drawing to a conclusion.

When one hears the word "neoconservative" now it's mostly uttered by Pat Buchanan-isolationist types who are no longer Republicans and who, one senses, use the word as code the way Germans used to use the phrase "deracinated urban-dwellers." Just listen to loudmouth Chris Matthews (who's no conservative) on a nightly basis and you'll get the jack-booted picture.

The fact is that Ronald Reagan has won -- and it's a good thing too. For the time being at least, the Reagan Doctrine is now the official GOP platform. That doctrine is an aggressive, morally-grounded foreign policy. On the domestic side, Reagan's preference for tax-cuts is also enjoying a revival. The real split in the GOP is between Reaganites and Nixonians, with the Nixonians or Rockefeller Republicans quickly becoming extinct. If one classifies a neoconservative as a Democrat who eventually became a Republican, then Ronald Reagan is the original neoconservative. He's certainly the "original Reagan Democrat," as Dinesh D'Souza says in his excellent biography of Reagan. Incessant reference to Ronald Reagan will be more effective in stifling isolationists who want to center the debate around Irving Kristol and intellectuals. All conservatives, neoconservative intellectuals included, are suspicious of intellectuals, journalists, and policy wonks. For this reason it is an important rhetorical strategy to cite Reagan.

Reaganites should also stop drawing distinctions so much between themselves and others as a matter of prudence; let the losers complain and draw distinctions. Charles Krauthammer, inventor of the phrase "Reagan Doctrine," writes today in the Washington Post about the various kinds of conservatives and their reaction to the Lott Affair. Certain of our blogger brethren have taken heart from this piece which shows the moral superiority of the neocons. I wonder if the politically prudent thing to do here, however, is for Reaganites to act like they own the party now -- which they do. Vince Lombardi chastised a young player once for hot-dogging it when he scored a touchdown. "Act like you've been there before," sneered the legendary coach upset with the ostentatious display. The more Reaganites continue to feel like outsiders and draw distinctions between themselves and other factions, the more they keep their enemies in the game. Krauthammer is not a "hot-dog," but he's talking about commentators who are so irrelevant now -- Buchanan and Robert Novak -- that it's really not worth the effort, and it keeps them in the game unnecessarily.

Lott is gone and the war is on. It's fine to attack the racist-isolationist axis when needed, but not to the point of letting them forget that they're totally marginalized now.