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

42 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

theWorldBank,andtheUnitedNationsonlystrengthenstheappealof
manyAmericanpoliticiansbackhome.
Thereis anotherproblem. Thedebate overforeign policy inthe
UnitedStatesoftengivessubstantialweighttothekindofvoicesthatare
deemedeccentricordangerousinmanypartsoftheworld.TheAmeri-
canvoiceswhowanttoputtheenforcementofhumanrightsonthefront
burneroftheinternationaldiplomaticagenda,thosewhodonotwant
theirsonsanddaughterssentabroadexcepttodefendtheUnitedStates
fromdirectattack,thosewhowantanendtothesecretivebureaucracies
andenormousmilitaryandintelligencebudgetsofwhatColdWarcrit-
icshavecalledthe"NationalSecurityState"22andthosewhoworrythat
the EU may prefigure the kingdomofthe Antichrist, all embrace
approachestoforeignpolicythatdifferradicallyfromthemoreconven-
tionalviewsheldinthechancelleriesofourNATOallies.
TheUnitedStatesisnotuniqueinhavingidealisticand/orpopulist
voices initsforeign policy-thinkofthe CatholiczealofHapsburg
Spain,theantipoperyofBritishpopularfeelingundertheStuarts,orthe
anti-GermanrevanchismeofFrenchpopularopinionafter 187 I-butthe
particularmix,power,andcompositionofthesevoicesisourown.
Unconventionalvoicesarestronginpartbecausewhiletheinterests
andvaluesofthecommercialclassesalongtheeasternseaboardhavehis-
toricallyhadsimilaritiestotheviewsofsimilarelitesinEurope, the
UnitedStateshasalwaysincluded manyregionswithdifferentviewsand
prioritiesinforeignpolicy.Suspicionofbotheliteinterestsandstrong
governmentrandeepintheearlyyearsoftheRepublic;theConstitution
wasdeliberatelyloadedwithprovisionsthatwereemphaticallycalcu-
latedtomakeitdifficultforthegovernmenttotakestrong,active,and
swiftactionin internationalpolitics, and the distributionofpower
amongthestatesensuresthateachregionalvoicewillreceivedueweight
intheAmericanpoliticalprocess.
TheSenate, apportioningitsvotesequallyamongthefifty states,
makescertainthatthefullregionaldiversityoftheUnitedStateswillbe
faithfullyreflectedintheconductofitsforeignpolicy.SincetheUnited
Statesisoneoftheworld'smostregionallydiversesocieties,thedecen-
tralizingeffectoftheSenateonAmericanforeignpolicyis marked.The
thicklypopulated, overwhelminglyindustrialstatesoftheNortheast
and theMiddleAtlanticregions andthe isolated,lightlypopulated
statesoftheRockyMountainsandthesouthwesterndesertshavediffer-
entforeignpolicyinterests.WhatisgoodforTexas,historicallya low-