RINO
RINO stands for Republican In Name Only, a disparaging term for a member of the United States Republican Party whose words and actions are thought to be too fiscally or socially moderate or liberal.

The term RINO came into widespread usage around 2000 (but has been cited in newspaper stories as far back as 1992) and is used by conservative members of the Republican Party who oppose other members of their party who they deem to be too liberal. Those Republicans who are labeled RINOs counter that the conservatives who call them RINOs are extremists and politically naive to believe that conservative Republicans can be elected in moderate and liberal areas of the United States (i.e., Blue States).

Some famous RINOs:

• Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, a former Democrat
• California politician and former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan
• Gov. Arnold A. Schwarzenegger of California, who is pro-choice
• Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who has in the past voiced pro-choice beliefs
• Former New Jersey governor and EPA head Christine Todd Whitman, a moderate
• Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is pro-choice
• Former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani, who, though very critical of John Kerry at the 2004 Republican National Convention, is pro-choice and has voiced support for gay rights

NEO-CONSERVATIVE
As compared with traditional conservatism and libertarianism, which sometimes exhibites an isolationist strain, neoconservatism is characterized by an increased emphasis on defense capability, a willingness to challenge regimes deemed hostile to the values and interests of the United States, pressing for free-market policies abroad, and promoting democracy and freedom. Critics have charged that, while paying lip service to such American values, neoconservatives have supported undemocratic regimes for realpolitik reasons.

But the newly aggressive support for democracies is founded on a new recognition that, over the long term, it will reduce the extremism that is a breeding ground for islamic terrorism. Neoconservatives have often postulated that democratic regimes are, on aggregate, less likely to instigate a war than a country with an authoritarian form of government. In support, they argue that there has been no war between democracies anywhere in the world since the War of 1812. Further, they argue that the lack of freedoms, lack of economic opportunities, and the lack of secular general education in authoritarian regimes promotes radicalism and extremism. Consequently, the Administration has advocated spreading democracy to regions of the world where it currently does not prevail, most notably the Arab nations of the Middle East.

According to Irving Kristol, former managing editor of Commentary and now a Senior Fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington and the Publisher of the hawkish magazine The National Interest, a neoconservative is a "liberal mugged by reality." Broadly sympathetic to Woodrow Wilson's idealistic goals to spread American ideals of government, economics, and culture abroad, they grew to reject his reliance on international organizations and treaties to accomplish these objectives.

Some famous NEO-CONS:

• George W Bush
• Jeb Bush
• Dick Cheney
• Donald Rumsfeld
• Paul Wolfowitz
• Jeane Kirkpatrick
• Ann Coulter
• Rush Limbaugh

PALEO-CONSERVATIVE
Many paleoconservatives identify themselves as "classical conservatives," and trace their philosophy to the Old Right Republicans of the interwar period who successfully kept America out of the League of Nations, cut down non-European immigration in 1924, and stood opposed to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal proposals.

Some historians, such as Paul V. Murphy and Isaiah Berlin, see the paleoconservatives' intellectual ancestors as those anti-modern writers who defended hierarchy, localism, ultramontanism, monarchy, and aristocracy.

Paleoconservatives esteem the principles of subsidiarity and localism in recognizing that one must surely be an Ohioan, Texan or Virginian as they are an American. They embrace federalism within a framework of nationalism and are typically staunch supporters of states' rights. They are also more critical of the welfare state than the neoconservatives tend to be. They tend to be more critical of overreaching national power usurping state and local authority. They are more willing to question free trade, harshly critical of further immigration and tend to embrace an isolationist foreign policy, although few call themselves isolationist, and during the Cold War many supported overseas committments as necessary to the defense of the United States.

The paleoconservatives view neoconservatives — or those whom they identify as such — as interlopers. This tends to be a one direction political fight as most neoconservatives do not identify themselves as such and focus their energy on opposing the liberal left, not the extreme right. The paleoconservatives' view of the mainstream conservative movement is that of a self interested movement lacking the self confidence to defend its old ideas.

The best known contemporary paleoconservative is probably the commentator Patrick Buchanan, whose culture war speech is probably the most widely known paleoconservative critique.

Some famous PALEO-CONS:

• Lou Dobbs
• Pat Buchanan
• Paul Gottfried
• Robert Novak

Posted by Michael at August 12, 2005 12:35 PM