Alaska News

Political contradictions alive and well

It's been a great tradition in the economic development of the American West, including Alaska, to depend on the federal government for substantial financial support, but to reject any constraints or advice that come with the money. A cartoon reflecting that tradition might have a figure representing the West, or Alaska, with one hand holding out a tin cup while the other displays a raised palm, the universal sign for "stop!"

In the West, the federal government mapped the land and laid out the trails, built forts to protect travelers and settlers and implemented the policy to defeat and contain the Indians, then paid for the transcontinental railroads that moved goods to market, subsidized the telegraph which kept agents in touch with investors, and built the high dams that facilitated the growth of agribusiness.

In Alaska it did much the same, identifying and publicizing the natural resource deposits, building and operating the railroad and the telegraph and later the highway, and resolving Alaska Native land claims, partly to lubricate the oil pipeline project and generate a tax revenue stream for the state. Yet the favorite romantic image of the true westerner, or Alaskan, is a crusty libertarian swearing he neither needs nor wants any damn interference from the federal government.

Lest anyone think this contradiction is a relic of the past, John B. Judis, a senior editor at the New Republic, analyzes in just this same context the current Tea Party protests about a proposed "government take-over" of the country's health care system. He cites a recent Pew Poll which found "steady support" for specific elements of President Obama's health care plan, while popular support for the whole plan has declined to 34 percent. Similarly, another recent poll found significant support for limiting CEO salaries and establishing a new consumer financial-protection agency; yet opposition to the president's overall plan for regulation of business and finance has risen to 68 percent, reflecting a fear of "too much government."

Judis argues that American anti-statism was born in the Revolution and runs deep in the American political psyche. But particularly since the abuses coincident with the unregulated capitalist expansion that accompanied industrialization in the last third of the 19th century, Americans have embraced several significant reform programs, including banking and securities regulation, Social Security and unemployment compensation, and most recently, civil rights enforcement. Thus, an ideological libertarianism -- anti-statism -- marched hand in hand through the 20th century with operational liberalism -- reform imposed by government.

The origins of operational liberalism lie in practicality. In the American West, construction of the railroads and the extensive dam and irrigation system was simply beyond the means of private capital, yet clearly necessary to develop the region and link it to the rest of the country. In Alaska, analogous reasoning applied to construction of the Alaska Railroad and other federal projects in the territory. During the Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War, a disproportionate portion of federal construction was undertaken all across the American West, partly to insure the region's continuing development.

Social Security, and later, civil rights enforcement, enjoyed widespread national political support because of demonstrated need. By the 1930s Americans recognized that in those times when capitalism fails, the citizenry cannot be left without resources. By the 1960s Americans realized that states were unable or unwilling to enforce guarantees of equal treatment before the law and the opportunity to vote, which were constitutionally mandated by the 14th and 15th amendments. So they sanctioned federal reform responses which addressed those crises.

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Since the off-year elections last week, pundits have disagreed whether the results -- Republican governors in Virginia and New Jersey, Democrat victory in New York's 23rd Congressional district -- represent a resurgence of conservatism and the Republican Party, and a loss confidence in the Obama administration, or reveal little about how Americans may vote in 2010 and 2012. The Tea Party phenomenon seems consistent with ideological libertarianism, but the widespread support for health care reform and some new regulation of banking and finance seem consistent with operational liberalism.

In Alaska, we are as conflicted as ever, sufficiently anxious about our economic future to support the gas pipeline incentive, yet persistently distrustful of any government encroachment of free enterprise.

Steve Haycox is a professor of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Steve Haycox

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Steve Haycox

Steve Haycox is professor emeritus of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

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