An Obituary for Neoconservatism?

by Liberty and Power

A new book has rocketed to the the top of my already too-long reading list: Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea. It is already winning praise from across the political spectrum ranging from Richard Epstein, the distinguished professor of law at the University of Chicago to Thom Hartmann, an Air America Radio Network host.

The author C. Bradley Thompson, the Executive Director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism, has come forward not only to be the academic grave digger of the movement but expose its history beginning with neoconservativism's godfather, Leo Strauss. As someone who once often moved in Straussian circles, he can write with rare authority. I only hope that his"obituary" is not premature.

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David T. Beito - 7/21/2010

Hmmm...all the more reason to tune in when he appears on Scott Horton's Show...which should be soon.

Russell Hanneken - 7/20/2010

I think you might be in for a disappointment. C. Bradley Thompson appears to be an Objectivist of the orthodox sort, and his co-author, Yaron Brook, is the president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute.

One review of the book says, "It may be, in fact, . . . the first critique of the neoconservatives to fault them for excessive dovishness on foreign policy. 'Terrorist nations should feel terrified to threaten us— but they do not. Why? Because, per the neoconservatives' prescriptions, America has placed the full use of its military capabilities off-limits. The neoconservatives have taken all-out war--real war--off the table,' the authors write."