Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea

Neoconservatism probes what neoconservatives call their “philosophy of governance” — their plan for governing America.

C. Bradley Thompson
David Boaz

David Boaz was a distinguished senior fellow of the Cato Institute and played a key role in the development of the Cato Institute and the libertarian movement. He was the author of The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom and the editor of The Libertarian Reader.

Boaz was a provocative commentator and a leading authority on domestic issues such as education choice, drug legalization, the growth of government, and the rise of libertarianism. Boaz was the former editor of New Guard magazine and was executive director of the Council for a Competitive Economy prior to joining Cato in 1981. The earlier edition of The Libertarian Mind, titled Libertarianism: A Primer, was described by the Los Angeles Times as “a well-​researched manifesto of libertarian ideas.” His other books include The Politics of Freedom and the Cato Handbook for Policymakers.

His articles have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, National Review, and Slate, and he wrote the entry on libertarianism for Encyclopedia Britannica. He was a frequent guest on national television and radio shows and has appeared on ABC’s Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, CNN’s Crossfire, NPR’s Talk of the Nation and All Things Considered, The McLaughlin Group, Stossel, The Independents, Fox News, BBC, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and other media.

Tod Lindberg

Tod Lindberg is a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, whose research focuses on political theory, international relations, national security policy, and American politics. He also serves as the editor of Policy Review, the Hoover Institution’s Washington, D.C.–based bimonthly journal, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Featuring the author C. Bradley Thompson, Clemson University; with comments by Tod Lindberg, Hoover Institution; moderated by David Boaz, Cato Institute. C. Bradley Thompson, professor of political science and executive director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism, has written (with Yaron Brook) a comprehensive and original analysis of neoconservatism. Neoconservatism probes what neoconservatives call their “philosophy of governance” — their plan for governing America. It explicates the deepest philosophic principles of neoconservatism, traces the intellectual relationship between the political philosopher Leo Strauss and contemporary neoconservative political actors, and provides a trenchant critique of neoconservatism from the perspective of America’s founding principles. What makes this book so compelling is that Thompson actually lived for many years in the Straussian/​neoconservative intellectual world. Neoconservatism therefore fits into the “breaking ranks” tradition of scholarly criticism. Thompson charges that neoconservatism is a species of anti-​Americanism, a claim sure to draw strong opposition — probably from Tod Lindberg, editor of Policy Review and a member of the Hoover Institution’s Task Force on the Virtues of a Free Society.