In response to Kristol's weekly standard column...


A centerpiece of the neocoservative movement that emerged in response to the civil rights victories by black and other minority groups in the 1960s has always been the idea that any good society values individual rights over group rights. For the neocons this rearticulation of citizen rights and equality gave them a platform on which to stand when arguing against any group rights established by reforms of the 1960s (affirmative action, quotas, hate crime legislation) and group based movement politics (black nationalism, feminism, gay rights). Neocons were essentially able to frame their opposition to anything not traditional, Christian, or white without any overtly racist, sexist, or homophobic overtones.


Kristol's hypocrisy in relation to his ideology is most ironic. By extending rights or privilege to a group, or in this case denying rights to a group while individuals outside of the group are afforded them, Kristol validates the liberal policies of the 1960s that were a catalyst in the creation of the neoconservative movement to begin with.