Post it, describe it, discuss it.
And by all means include links!

http://www.newamericancentury.org/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pnac


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-con


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-liberal

They started out as a small group of predominantly Jewish, East Coast liberals who were disatissfied with the turn liberalism was taking. They felt it was appeasing the Communists, cozying up to them so to say. Their mainstay was the fear and hatred of Communism, and as they weren't really conservatives, they became their own thing, which was termed (I forget by who, but not one of them) neconservatives (new conservatives). There was a split in ideologies after the fall of the USSR. Some wanted to adopt a new enemy and use military power, the Wolfies of the world, and some, like Irving Kristol, thought it a bad idea to pursue foreign policies that were not directly in American interests. The first group won out. As more became disenchanted with liberalism, they too joined the ranks. The first real break they had was when Reagan took control as he appointed several members in key positions, but were unable to accopmplish much without Congress in their pockets. Bush senior didn't agree with the neocons so almost none of them received positions in his administration. They waited in the wings until Bush the lessor took over, and bingo, chaos city.
Quick and dirty for starters.

As an American citizen, someone who is otherwise a good human, but is also generally quite politically apathetic and uninformed politically, why should I care who these Neo-cons are or what they want?

Can you convince me why I should bother my already full personal schedule to find out what this Neo-con stuff is all about?

My main reason is pure intellectual curiosity, of neconservatism in particular, but also of political theory in general. As for a more useable reason, far too many, perhaps even a majority of the conservatives I have spoken to have never (or at least claim not to have) even heard of the neocons. They often get a blank look on their faces when you ask them if they're a neocon? Huh? Must be because the right-wing radio hosts don't tend to mention that's where they're getting their marching orders. So it helps to know about them when talking to a conservative. I use it all the time..."When did you become a neconservative?"..."Huh?" "When did you give up traditional Goldwater/Eisenhower conservative values in favor of a necon ideology?"..."Huh, what?"
It's amazing to me how many don't know, and we can educate them. Probably not convert them, but make them take two steps back.