The Myths of Neo-Conservatism

...Encumbered by such myths, their book is unblemished by any serious discussion of any specific constitution, executive, legislature, court, statute or vote...

...In short, confronted by problems that would tax the collective wisdom of a thousand Solomons, these neo-conservatives intone as a universal prescription a series of platitudes...

...The public welfare is best promoted neither by extreme collectivism nor by extreme individualism...

...Reviewed by Joseph Kraft Contributor, "Saturday Evening Post," New York "Times Magazine" WILLIAM MCGOVERN and David Collier belong to the "neo-conservatives...

...Here are some examples of the technique, picked at random: "Liberalism in the broad sense of the term means for us a political movement or a political philosophy which, on the one hand, advocates democracy as oppo sed to authoritarianism (the rule of one or few) and, on the other, advocates individualism as opposed to statism (the rule of the all-powerful state...

...The features of the central position are daubed in by allusions to the irrelevant...

...Of policies on taxes, housing, public power, states rights and education there is not a word...

...Without raising the critical issue of standards, they agree with "the vast majority of the people," who "believe that the state should prohibit the public display and sale of literature which is outright pornographic and the public performance of plays which are openly obscene...

...Their aim is to breathe doctrine into life, or, as they put it, "to provide at least the beginning of a coherent philosophy of conservative liberalism...

...Middle-ground is defined by a setting of boundaries against virtually nonexistent extremes...

...Every important social and political movement in history," they write, "has been in large measure the result of widespread acceptance of some myth...

...The Myths of Neo-Conservatism Radicals and Conservatives...

...Through the cloud of platitudes there occasionally breaks a ray of prejudice...

...What they achieve is a demonstration, unwitting but overwhelming, of the proposition that in politics the conservative mind is a contradiction in terms...

...They call party discipline "a characteristic of totalitarian regimes...

...Howevers," "yets," and "buts" are mobilized as a line of defense...

...McGovern and Collier assert the primacy of ideas over men and of myth over events...

...Here is their judgment on the urban, immigrant masses: "The enormous growth of the population as a whole, the great increase in the proportion living in congested urban areas, the constant incorporation into the community of persons of foreign birth and alien background, whatever may be the desirable by-products, have created difficulties in maintaining democratic institutions established when the countries had a small, predominantly rural population, sharing a common cultural background...

...And, the narrower claims do not inspire confidence, either...

...The technique of presentation is the familiar "tactic of the moderates...

...While it is true that in many cases economics has strongly influenced political developments, it is also true that in many cases politics has strongly influenced economic developments...

...The cold war, segregation, colonialism and the underdeveloped countries go by the boards...

...They admire the regimes of President Eisenhower, Konrad Adenauer and former Premier Shigeru Yoshida of Japan, discerning there "the most vital political movement in the world today...

...McGovern and Collier tend to equate socialism with tyranny: "property rights and human rights are basic to each other...

...If the ultra-radicals were wrong in making environment account for everything, the ultra-conservatives were equally wrong in making heredity account for everything...

...Mostly the showings are too general (e.g., "Recent history shows that tradition has a good as well as a bad side") to be challenged...

...As authority for such views, there is a standard incantation: "History shows...