“Neocons”
The following letter written by Richard Stinson was published in the the Oneonta Daily Star on 9/24/07. Dick lives in South Kortright and has participated in Peace Vigils in Delhi, Margaretville and Stamford N.Y. He wrote:
“What's in a name? ‘Neocon’ is a favorite word of the right-wing politicians and pundits, but what does it really mean?
“ ‘Neo’ is easy, it means new or recent. ‘Con’ stands for conservative, which Webster describes as "tending to preserve old institutions, methods, customs and the like. Adhering to what is old or established."
“It's clear that the right-wing "Neocon" is just another bit of Orwellian ‘truthspeak’ or, as George Lakov has pointed out, ‘framing’ by the Republicans. Framing is giving an action or program a positive-sounding title like ‘Clean Air Initiative,’ ‘No Child Left Behind’ or ‘Mission Accomplished’ while the administration follows a course that makes it all a lie, or at best, a misdirection.
“The Republicans are actively trashing the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, habeus corpus, the First Amendment and anything else our nation was built on that gets in their way. They have certainly not been fiscally conservative by turning a huge fiscal surplus in 2000 into a record debt that doesn't show any signs of abating in 2007.
“The Neocons are anything but conservative and, worst of all, they no longer represent the voting public. They work for the lobbyists of huge corporations, not you or me ... and yet we have the power to replace them on Election Day.
“We just have to shrug off our complacency and lethargy and demand more for our money. We must demand honesty, transparency and loyalty to their constituents, plus an end to the partisan stone walls that make it almost impossible to get anything accomplished. Let's see some old-fashioned conservatism where it counts, in preserving our Constitution, laws and economy ... and, with a nod to the religious right, a healthy dose of Christian charity, humility and love. Remember to ask yourself, ‘What would Jesus do?’”
“What's in a name? ‘Neocon’ is a favorite word of the right-wing politicians and pundits, but what does it really mean?
“ ‘Neo’ is easy, it means new or recent. ‘Con’ stands for conservative, which Webster describes as "tending to preserve old institutions, methods, customs and the like. Adhering to what is old or established."
“It's clear that the right-wing "Neocon" is just another bit of Orwellian ‘truthspeak’ or, as George Lakov has pointed out, ‘framing’ by the Republicans. Framing is giving an action or program a positive-sounding title like ‘Clean Air Initiative,’ ‘No Child Left Behind’ or ‘Mission Accomplished’ while the administration follows a course that makes it all a lie, or at best, a misdirection.
“The Republicans are actively trashing the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, habeus corpus, the First Amendment and anything else our nation was built on that gets in their way. They have certainly not been fiscally conservative by turning a huge fiscal surplus in 2000 into a record debt that doesn't show any signs of abating in 2007.
“The Neocons are anything but conservative and, worst of all, they no longer represent the voting public. They work for the lobbyists of huge corporations, not you or me ... and yet we have the power to replace them on Election Day.
“We just have to shrug off our complacency and lethargy and demand more for our money. We must demand honesty, transparency and loyalty to their constituents, plus an end to the partisan stone walls that make it almost impossible to get anything accomplished. Let's see some old-fashioned conservatism where it counts, in preserving our Constitution, laws and economy ... and, with a nod to the religious right, a healthy dose of Christian charity, humility and love. Remember to ask yourself, ‘What would Jesus do?’”
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