The neoconservative-neoliberal alliance united against the welfare state rather than against the state itself

Evidence

Despite evincing an anti-statist rhetoric, neoliberalism is in practice not opposed to the state per se – as the bank bail-outs of 2008 demonstrated – but rather to particular uses of state funds; meanwhile, neoconservatism’s strong state was confined to military and police functions, and defined itself against a welfare state held to undermine individual moral responsibility. — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 127

Extrapolating a little from Brown’s arguments, we might hypothesize that what held the bizarre synthesis of neoconservatism and neoliberalism together was their shared objects of abomination: the so called Nanny State and its dependents. Despite evincing an anti-statist rhetoric, neoliberalism is in practice not opposed to the state per se – as the bank bail-outs of 2008 demonstrated – but rather to particular uses of state funds; meanwhile, neoconservatism’s strong state was confined to military and police functions, and defined itself against a welfare state held to undermine individual moral responsibility. — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 127

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the CBOE/options market chapter — ‘state funds for banks but not welfare’ shows capital defends the state only as an enforcement-and-bailout instrument. — connects to: Neoliberalism decentralized bureaucracy instead of abolishing it — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 43; Neoconservatism and neoliberalism unite mainly through shared hatred of the welfare state; Neoconservatism and neoliberalism remain contested as distinct or overlapping schools — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1822 (+4 more)
• CANDY: Tweetable formulation: Neoliberals don’t hate the state — they just want it spending on bailouts and policing, not welfare.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 127

Related

• Anti-welfare animus, not anti-statism, unites neoconservatism and neoliberalism. (similarity 0.95)
• Neoconservatism and neoliberalism unite mainly through shared hatred of the welfare state (similarity 0.87)
• Neocons and liberal interventionists differ only over international institutions (similarity 0.86)
• Neoliberalism seeks to transform and take over the state, not shrink it (similarity 0.83)
• Neoliberalism seeks to capture and reconstruct the strong state, not shrink it (similarity 0.82)
• Neoliberalism subordinates the state to capital rather than freeing markets (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberalism’s purported state-skepticism actually mandates a strong state (similarity 0.81)
• Neoliberalism centrally requires a strong state, not state retreat (similarity 0.80)
• Neoliberalism activates the state for the economy rather than withdrawing it. (similarity 0.80)
• Neoconservatism and neoliberalism remain contested as distinct or overlapping schools (similarity 0.80)
• Neoliberalism seeks a strong state that thwarts democracy, not a weak one (similarity 0.80)
• Neoliberalism strips the state to military-police functions rather than abolishing it (similarity 0.79)
• The 1938 neoliberal agenda assigned the state a large welfare role (similarity 0.79)
• Neoliberalism endorses wide state action to construct markets, not laissez-faire. (similarity 0.79)
• Neoliberalism differs from traditional conservatism in ways that shield it from accountability (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Neoconservatism and neoliberalism unite mainly through shared hatred of the welfare state #corroborates (1.00)
• Neoconservatism and neoliberalism remain contested as distinct or overlapping schools #qualifies (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1822