Five Steps for a Hamiltonian Republican Majority

A friend and mentor of mine who will go unnamed wrote the following to me in an email conversation some time ago. I share it here because it offers up an interesting alternative Republican policy strategy in the Hamiltonian tradition. Perhaps a paper on a new American industrial policy could be written by expanding on the proposals listed in #2, #3, and #4.

It remains to be seen whether the Trump Administration will mellow out and provide something like this program, whether the Sanders-Warren Democratic Party will adopt these into its platform, and whether resurgent centrist Republicans will use something like this in opposition to Trumpism. My inclination is to believe that on the first point, Trump won’t be strategic enough to act thus; on the second point, the Sanders-Warren Left’s energy austerity and anti-corporate bias will kill their ability to support true industrial policy; and that on the third point, the GOP centrists will not organically approach industrial policy unless prodded.

It’s too bad. This would be a damn good update of Hamiltonianism.

“1.  Kick out the libertarians. 

2.   Give American industrial businesses (which may be US subsidiaries of global firms) what they need.  Infrastructure, tax breaks, R&D, export promotion, protection from foreign mercantilism.

3.  Give the transracial working class what it needs (not necessarily what it wants).  Social insurance, living wage, protection from low wage immigrant competition.

4.  Pay for the above with growth friendly taxes that can’t be evaded (consumption, property, payroll and severance taxes).

5.  Subordinate private finance to national industry and protect the working class from financial exploitation.”