My guess is that this is a GOP where the Moderate, Liberal, and Libertarian Wings never really declined. Either that, or the neo-Cons and Religious Right have both been purged. In other words, my kind of Republican Party.
Actually, neo-Cons wouldn't be at all uncomfortable in the party where Moderate, Liberal, and Libertarian wings never declined, but the Religious Rigth was purged - if anything, they'd be very happy. Nor would they be controversial enough (in an absence of a badly going war) to be purged on their own. And, should be pointed out, they'd actually be helpful in gaining certain segments of coastal itelligentsia, making the proposed map easier to achieve. Don't foget, neo-Cons frequently come of the Dem backgrounds - there is a reason for that.
If they were purged now, it would probably be in response to Iraq or a similar widespread failure.
When I think of the
modern neo-Con agenda I think of basically social conservatism, borrow-and-spend economic policies and a belligerent vaguely Wilsonian foreign policy. Neo-conservatism has really only thrived because it's hatched an uneasy alliance with the Religious Conservatives, who have similar views towards the acceptability of using the federal government (i.e. "big government") to advance conservatism, the role of the US military (and Israel), etc.
Of course, I could see something like old-school Kirkpatrick-style neo-Conservatism emerging in a no-Goldwater GOP. But I was thinking more along the lines of Fred Barnes than her.
