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

TheRiseandRetrearofrheNewWorldOrder 279

CEOsevenofleadingcompaniesprogressivelynarrowedtotheeconomic
interestsofthecorporationforwhichtheyworked.
Mostimportantofall,therelationshipbetweencorporateleadership
andthefederalgovernmentchangedprofoundly,anditchangedinways
thatchallengedsomeofthecoretenetsofHamiltonianthinking.Bythe
1970StheregulatorystructuresoftheNewDealstate,onceacceptedby
mostofthebusinessworldasprovidinganorganizingandstabilizing
frameworkforprofitablebusinessactivity,hadbecomeobstaclestocor-
porationsstrugglingto reinventthemselves and redefine theirbusi-
nesses. Businessneededflexibleaccess tocapital.TheFederalReserve
wantedtomaintainregulatorycontroloverinterestratesandfinancial
markets. Business wantedfreedom to setitsown rates and toslash
unprofitableactivities.Federalregulatorswantedtopreservearchaicsys-
temsofregulation.
Beginninginthe 1970Sandacceleratinginthe1980s,thefederal
government,longseenbyHamiltonianbusinessinterestsasthenatural
andinevitablepartnerandagentofthebusinesscommunity,cametobe
seenastheenemyofbusiness. Federaltaxesweredestroyingentrepre-
neurialspirit;federalregulationswerestranglingbusiness.
Thesewarcrieswerenotnew inAmericanhistory,buttheloudest
attacksonfederal strengthhadgenerallycomefromJeffersonianand
Jacksonian enemies ofbig business. Hamiltonian industrialists had
pushedfortheBanksoftheUnitedStatesandthetariff;theyhadsup-
portedthegrantstotherailroadsandtheassertionoffederalauthority
overthestatesininterstatecommerce;abovealltheyhadsupportedthe
federalgovernmentinthelongandbittercontestoverstates'rightsthat
climaxedintheCivilWar.
Laissez-fairewasonce thecryofsmallproprietorsand businesses
tooweaktogainfederalpatronageandsupport.Duringthelastthirdof
thetwentiethcenturyitreigned,temporarily,asthepriorityofthecut-
tingedgeofcorporateAmerica-anideologyappropriatetonewbusi-
nesses strugglingto grow into majorcorporate leaders, and to old
businessesstruggling-toreinventthemselvesandtoadjusttothenew
andmoredynamicmarketconditionsoftheera.
Whatallthis meantwas that,apartfromtradeand international
policy,AmericanbusinesswaslosingfaithinthecoreHamiltonianbelief
thatAmericanbusinessneededa strongandeffectivegovernment.The
naturalconstituentsofHamiltonianpolicywereabandoningthecause.
OneimportantmarkoftheweaknessoftraditionalHamiltonianpoli-