Irving Kristol

Nice column by Jacob Weisberg in the latest issue of Newsweek, discussing the legacy of Irving Kristol. Here's some excerpts:

The passing of Irving Kristol last month at the age of 89 coincided with the death, at a much younger age, of the intellectually serious conservatism he did so much to foster. As a liberal who was fond of both, I've been feeling the loss.
. . .
Those on the right frustrated with the paltry politics of today's GOP may find some inspiration looking back at Kristol's best work, which was done in the late 1960s and 1970s when he was hovering somewhere between left and right. With his friend Daniel Bell, Kristol in 1965 founded The Public Interest, one of the really important American political magazines, and went on to edit it for the next 40 years.
. . .
"Neo-conservatism is not at all hostile to the idea of the welfare state, but it is critical of the Great Society version of the welfare state," Kristol wrote in 1976 (in NEWSWEEK). His well-known formulation was that a neoconservative is a "liberal who has been mugged by reality." But the goal of the neoconservatives—in those days, principally focused on domestic rather than foreign policy—remained better government, more mindful of tradition and respectful of the values of the people.

How did this prudent outlook devolve into the spectacle of ostensibly intelligent people cheering on Sarah Palin? Through the 1980s, the neoconservatives became more focused on political power and less interested in policy. They developed their own corrupting welfare state, doling out sinecures and patronage subsidized by the Olin, Scaife, and Bradley foundations. Alliances with the religious right skewed their perspective on a range of topics. They went a little crazy hating on liberals. Over time, their best qualities—-skepticism about government's ability to transform societies and rigorous -empiricism—fell by the wayside. In later years, you might say Kristol and the neoconservatives got mugged by ideology. Actually, they were the muggers. "It becomes clear that, in our time, a non--ideological politics cannot survive the relentless onslaught of ideological politics," Kristol wrote in 1980. "For better or for worse, ideology is now the vital element of organized political action."