WASHINGTON -- As Democrats comb the 2004 election results for lessons, one should be obvious: we need bolder, newer ideas, particularly in this post-9/11 world in the realm of foreign policy. Just as neocons have provided much of the spark and intellectual energy behind modern-day Republicanism, Democrats need a "neoprogressive" movement to give purpose and vision to their party -- and political hope to their future candidates.
Big ideas are needed in a changing, challenging international environment. They are also good politics. Candidates with big ideas convey purpose and gravity. They also convey resoluteness and firm beliefs--traits that helped President George W. Bush appeal to voters on the grounds that he had character and shared their values.
Neocons have shown how to come up with big ideas in recent years. They provided some of the intellectual heft and vision behind President Ronald Reagan's outlandish belief that the Berlin Wall should come down. More recent notable examples are Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz's conviction that the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could help remake the Middle East, former foreign-policy adviser Richard Perle's willingness to confront Saudi Arabia over its internal policies and the beliefs of John Bolton, Bush's undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, that arms control can be used in a more confrontational way to put pressure on extremist regimes.