"We need to think like the Neo-con's"
In a staff meeting several weeks ago, an FCNL staff member said this statement. The room fell silent for a few moments. Everyone seemed to be pondering what he meant by this statement. I knew exactly what he meant. This is our moment.
For the last eight years, we have lived under the Bush Administration. During six of those years, progressives were trying to figure out just how to stay afloat, how not to lose on every issue we care about. The 2006 elections changed the dynamics slightly, but President Bush still held the veto, and enough legislators were willing to side with the administration in order to prevent any dramatic changes in policy.
2008 is a referendum on who's ideas will fill the gap of the outgoing Neo-Con's. While some influential commentators are still getting prestige (i.e. Bill Kristol was recently awarded a NYT column), the disaster in Iraq has clearly had its effect on the neo-conservatives. Nearly all been ushered out of government and replaced with old-school realists or internationalists. One of the most prominent examples is the replacement of Rumsfeld with the widely heralded Defense Secretary Gates, who has called for a dramatic increase in spending on diplomacy and development as part of a strategy to reduce our country's reliance on the military. Is this the same administration that made preventive war a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy?
So, getting back to "We need to think like the Neo-cons." This doesn't mean, we mean to adopt their tactics--domination and polarisation of the polity. It means, we push Congress and the next Administration hard to implement practical progressive solutions to foster a safer world, like shoring up our diplomatic corps, rebuilding expertise at our development agency, getting rid of our debt at the United Nations, and restoring U.S. leadership through respect for international law.
So how do we get there? That's were thinking "like the neo-con's fits in." Dominating the marketplace of ideas. What are your ideas for the next administration and congress on day 1?
For the last eight years, we have lived under the Bush Administration. During six of those years, progressives were trying to figure out just how to stay afloat, how not to lose on every issue we care about. The 2006 elections changed the dynamics slightly, but President Bush still held the veto, and enough legislators were willing to side with the administration in order to prevent any dramatic changes in policy.
2008 is a referendum on who's ideas will fill the gap of the outgoing Neo-Con's. While some influential commentators are still getting prestige (i.e. Bill Kristol was recently awarded a NYT column), the disaster in Iraq has clearly had its effect on the neo-conservatives. Nearly all been ushered out of government and replaced with old-school realists or internationalists. One of the most prominent examples is the replacement of Rumsfeld with the widely heralded Defense Secretary Gates, who has called for a dramatic increase in spending on diplomacy and development as part of a strategy to reduce our country's reliance on the military. Is this the same administration that made preventive war a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy?
So, getting back to "We need to think like the Neo-cons." This doesn't mean, we mean to adopt their tactics--domination and polarisation of the polity. It means, we push Congress and the next Administration hard to implement practical progressive solutions to foster a safer world, like shoring up our diplomatic corps, rebuilding expertise at our development agency, getting rid of our debt at the United Nations, and restoring U.S. leadership through respect for international law.
So how do we get there? That's were thinking "like the neo-con's fits in." Dominating the marketplace of ideas. What are your ideas for the next administration and congress on day 1?
posted by Trevor at
9:18 AM
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