Neoconservatives now have control in nation's capital

To the editor:

To neoconservatives, traditional values held by conservatives are bunk. The conservative views on war, life and religion are out of tune with the views that the followers of Trotsky hold. The neoconservatives are more statists than traditional conservatives, and now they hold the reins of power in the Republican Party as well as in Washington.

To emphasize this point, I refer you to that accepted father of neoconservatism, Irving Kristol, who was at one time a social democrat. The neoconservatives believe a strong central government is needed to lead economic and other decisions that affect the general welfare of the public at large. Neoconservatives are Keynesian to the hilt concerning economics.

Neoconservatives believe a country needs war to maintain its proper spirit, to rally the people around a common cause. If there were not an Iraq, then one would have been invented to further the American spirit against conservatism. Human lives are treated as a commodity to serve the common good, much in the same way that Stalin and Mao used them.

Neoconservatives believe those in a leadership position must be made to look strong. The war in Iraq is not only about oil. It's about presenting President Bush as something other than a wimp.

JAMES NALL

Marble Hill, Mo.