The Real Meaning of Neoconservatism

In 1996, the late Norman Podhoretz—who, along with Irving Kristol, is considered one of the founders of neoconservatism—composed a “eulogy” for that greatly misunderstood political tendency. The essay is far more a declaration of victory than a lament, and does much to explain what that tendency, which has had such a formative influence on Mosaic, means. Thirty years later, it seems in some places quaintly optimistic, and in others remarkably relevant, but every sentence offers insight and clarity. The first neoconservative principle Podhoretz outlines is a clear-eyed view of the threat from America’s enemies, foreign and domestic, expressed in a loathing for Communism that set them apart even from their fellow conservatives: