Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

ChangingtheParadigms 9 I

ciselythesameconfusionmyuseofhis nameforthepopulistschool
compoundsandsupports.ManyofJackson'sfollowerswereunreflective,
uneducatedpopulists.Jacksonhimselfwasa subtle,sophisticated,andin
manywayssurprisinglymodernstatesman.
WhatJacksonlosesby my method,Wilsongains.Amongother,
moreadmirabletraits,Wilsonunfortunatelywas afflictedwitha des-
picable racism; heimposedJim CrowsegregationontheDistrictof
Columbiaandgavea specialWhiteHouseshowingofTheBirthofa
Nation,D.W.Griffith'sapologiafortheKuKluxKlan.Healsorejected
theJapaneserequesttoincludea declarationonracialequalityinthe
TreatyofVersailles.Toputthisman'snameona schoolofthoughtthat
has spearheaded the driveagainst racism at homeand imperialism
abroadis a stretch.
Peccavi. Yet theotheralternative, toborrow abstractnouns from
politicalscienceorintellectualhistorytolabeltheschools, wouldbe
equally irresponsibleandevenlesshonest.Termslikeidealist,realist,
populist,andlibertarianlookmuchlessambiguousthanthenamesofhis-
toricalfigures,buttheappearanceofclarityis deceiving.Noonewasa
"realist"inthemodernsenseintheeighteenthcentury;thetermaswe
useittodayreferstoa seriesofhistoricalexperiencesandintellectual
debatesthatdidn'texistthen.To callnineteenth-centuryWilsonians
"idealists"isjustasanachronisticastocallthemWilsonians;thepseudo-
precision oftheabstract term lendsanunjustifiableairofpolitical-
science authority to the discussion that the softer, less precise
"Wilsonian"doesn'tcarry.TocallJeffersonians"libertarians"orJackso-
nians"populists"similarlywouldcreateatleastasmanyconfusionsas
thelabelsI havechosen.ThefourschoolsasI seethemaredefiniteand
distinctentities,burtheychangeovertime,theymixandblur,and,
mostimportant,theyarepartofpoliticalhistoryratherthanthehistory
ofideas.Theyaremovementsandcommunitiesofinterestandfeeling
ratherthanabstractprinciples.Theyarechurchesratherthancreeds.
Intheend,itseemedbettertogivetheschoolsnamesthatfrankly
admitandeven advertisetheirtentativeandinexactcharacterwhile
evokingthegreatthemesandstirringstoriesthatmakeupthehistoryof
Americanforeignpolicy.Weare,afterall,usedtoa certainimprecision
inthesehistoricalterms.KarlMarxoncefamouslyremarkedthathewas
nota Marxist.Manyobservershavenotedthesometimessharpdistinc-
tionbetweenFreudandsomeoftheFreudians,anddifferencesbetween
ChristandtheChristianshavesometimesbeenpointedout.