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

280 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

ticswastheeclipseoftheliberalwingoftheRepublicanPartyandofthe
progressiveRepublicantradit.ion.TheoldnortheasternRepublicanism
hadbeentheexpressionofa self-confidentcorporateelitethatenjoyeda
comfortableandstablepartnershipwiththenationalgovernmentand,
sincetheCivilWar,hadbeenthechiefvesseloftheHamiltonianmes-
sage;itsvirtualdisappearancefromthecommandingheightsofnational
politicsduringthe1980sandearly1990Stestifiedtothecomplexityand
importanceofthechangestakingplaceintheAmericancorporateworld.
Thegapbetweenbusinessandthenationalgovernmentmanifested
itselfinanotherandpotentiallyevenmoredamagingway.Bythe1980s
manylargecompanieshadsoughttoreinventthemselvesastruemulti-
nationalcompanies.TheyhadanAmericanorigin,buttheywereworld
companies,equallycommittedtotheircustomersandtheirstockholders
wherevertheymightlive.Corporationswerebecomingcitizensofthe
world,cosmopolitanorganizationswithnospecialloyaltytoanygovern-
mentorsociety.Thisdevelopmenttoounderminedthehistoricsupport
forHamiltonianthinking.
Therewasincreasingtalkamongbusinessleadersofa new, "post-
national" corporation.Couldthemultinationalcorporationofthe1980s
reallybeconsidereda nationalcorporationanymore?IfGeneralMotors
boughtequityinJapanese carcompanies whileJapanesecompanies
openedproductionfacilitiesintheUnitedStates,couldoneconvincingly
sayanymorethatwhatwasgoodforGeneralMotorswasgoodforthe
UnitedStates?
Theidea,widespreadinthe1990s,thatglobalizationweakensthe
powerofthenation-stateposedanevendeeperchallengetotheHamil-
toniantraditionandtothepoliticalpowerofAmericanbusiness.From
AlexanderHamiltonondown, Hamiltonianshave believed thatpro-
businesspolicieswouldstrengthentheAmericanstateandthereforeren-
derthenationmoresecureandmorepowerful.Ifthatassumptionno
longerholds, and theevolutionofmodernbusiness means thatthe
AmericanstatelosestheabilitytodefendAmericaninterests,thenthe
Hamiltoniantraditionasweknowithascometoanend,andHamilto-
nians will have to choose between eitherstrengthening businessor
defendingthestate.
Americanbusinessinterestshavebeenaccusedofmanythingsover
two hundredyearsofhistory:greed,indifferencetotheplightofthe
poor,theuseofillegalmeanstocrushthesmallfarmerandtheinde-
pendentbusiness.Agenericpublicloss ofconfidenceintheessential