"Reading Hamilton From the Left"

[Uncle Joe]

http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/13/reading-hamilton-from-the-left/

In most of the world, the real story of capitalism is not the story of laissez-faire — a doctrine the strong impose upon the weak — nor a quaint story about egalitarian local economies, but the story of the state presiding over a mixed economy. Hamiltonian developmentalism — the unnamed ideology — is amoral, pragmatic, instrumentalist and flexible.

(snip)

Like Hamilton, we face a profound crisis rooted in an economy that demands to be remade. The old redistributive agenda is not enough. Due to its dependence on the environmental curse of fossil fuels, the economy must also be significantly rebuilt around a clean energy sector. And history is very clear on the implications: In capitalist society, moments of crisis and transformation have always involved an increased economic role for the state. We are entering one of those periods.

As the waters rise and the storms grow more intense, the state and the public sector will be called forth. What the state can or will become as it “returns” is an open question — or rather, open to being reshaped by pressure from social movements.

Unfortunately, American society is very far from facing the crisis. And a huge part of the problem is the Jeffersonian notion that “the government that governs best is the one that governs least.” While that is true as regards individual liberty, it is absolutely dangerous to think that way as regards the economy.

Much more on the link.

I believe this is a good analysis.

[idlisambar]

1. Good analysis indeed

Hamilton doesn't fit neatly on today's left or the right (neither does Jefferson), but his approach to economic development proved successful then and has been repeatedly successful for developing economies ever since. A strong central government IF wise can be a powerful instrument of positive change.