Irving Kristol, the 'godfather of neoconservatism', has died

In recent times neoconservatism has become entirely associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (discussed by Alex Massie). Neoconservatism is actually a much broader, more interesting and very important political movement. As noted by the Washington Post in an article about the death yesterday of neoconservatism's 'godfather', Irving Kristol, it was first and foremost a reaction by left-leaning liberals against the failure of big government solutions to the problem of welfare dependency and high crime.  Liberals (in the American understanding of that term) who had been 'mugged by the reality' of the failure of their old beliefs began a journey towards conservatism.  But, unlike many conventional conservatives, they still had the transformational ambitions of liberals.  They wanted radical action to tackle crime, welfare and, yes, rogue nations.  Kristol argued that neoconservatism is best thought of as a “persuasion” rather than a “movement”: “It is hopeful, not lugubrious; forward-looking, not nostalgic; and its general tone is cheerful, not grim or dyspeptic”.

The internet is full today of tributes to Kristol (and of criticisms of him).  They paint a picture of a kind man, an intellectual fascinated by ideas but also a man who "occupied a unique space between the world of the mind and the world of action" (Robert Kagan).  He built institutions and publications that survive today.  These words from Myron Magnet stand out, however, as central to what Kristol attempted to teach public policy-makers:

"He knew how perversely wrong Marx had been to think that economic relations mold the world, giving form even to our ideas. On the contrary, Irving understood, the ideas, beliefs, customs, virtues, even the prejudices that make up the tissue of our culture are the true shapers of reality. As he explained in his greatest essay, “When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness,” which closes Two Cheers for Capitalism, Adam Smith, for all his greatness as an economist and philosopher, did not see how crucial to the functioning of markets as he described them was the Presbyterian culture of the Scotland that bred him, with its emphasis on probity, thrift, enterprise, and truthfulness. Even in the economic world, material reality is only part of the story."

Mr Kristol died of lung cancer.  Gertrude Himmelfarb, his wife of their 67 year marriage, survives him.  As does Bill Kristol, his son and Editor of the influential Weekly Standard magazine in Washington.

Conservatism has lost one of its greatest thinkers.

Irving Kristol RIP.