Jefferson and Hamilton—Core of American Crisis

The United States has grown more schizophrenic about the role of government for a long time. United States citizens have grown accustomed to denouncing the growth of government, yet at the same tolerating, even welcoming it under our noses. In President Washington's Cabinet, these two views of government crystallized between two competing Fathers of the nation.

Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson wanted a limited national government in which the states held most of the authority and managed their own affairs. He favored a strict construction of the Constitution, which basically meant that unless the Constitution conferred a power on the United States Government, then the government could not appropriate that power. In contrast, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton favored a broader, more elastic vision for the country. One where the Federal Government played a strong, large, prominent role in the Republic, directing affairs more . . .directly in the daily lives of the citizenry. Unlike Jefferson, Hamilton believe that the "elastic clause" of the Constitution, which maintained that Congress could enact legislation which was both "necessary and proper" to the machinations of the Government, notwithstanding whether that power was specifically delegated in the Constitution. This competing vision of the United States, large government or small government, has dominated the national political conversation since the beginning of the Republic. A healthy, and often heated though for too long unheeded, discussion, the very nature of federalism implanted in the Constitution makes this ongoing debate both necessary and proper.

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So, where do Americans stand on this matter? Frankly, they want to have their cake and eat it, too. Because of Free Market Economists like Milton Friedman and his indirect disciples Like President Ronald Reagan, Americans have been taught to resent big government bureaucracy which impinges on freedom and individual ingenuity, which throttles the states and municipalities at the expense of a burgeoning federal government, a Leviathan dedicated to amassing more power and wealth at the expense of Joe and Jane taxpayer. In this sense, we walk in lock-step with Thomas Jefferson.

Americans cherish their handouts, their pensions, their benefits, their entitlements

On the other hand, most Americans cherish their handouts, their pensions, their benefits, their entitlements, which when implemented by Congress were designed to be a mere subsidy for American independence. Americans want their individual Congressman and Senators to steer tax dollars and political influence to their districts, maintain army bases and military operations providing jobs for the local, albeit at the growing cost of taxpayers across the country. When there is an economic downturn, voters want the federal government to step in, punish Wall Street, regulate stocks and bonds, put up more defenses to make sure that markets across the country never fail again. Plus with the growing number of state jobs, more citizens-cum-state employees do not want to see government to cease offer many services, even though the Constitution never delegated Congress to appropriate those powers In essence, Alexander Hamilton holds sway over the American will, if not the American mind.

American people have a love-hate relationship with big government

Without a doubt, the American people have a love-hate relationship with big government. In the past, especially during the extended era of progressive progression from FDR to LBJ, Americans happily received help from Washington. Yet at this point, whether you love-love government, love-hate government, or hate-hate the expanding role of the federal government--both by demanding its reduction and really pushing for it--Big Government, from Washington to Trenton to Sacramento, is simply unsustainable. This Jefferson-Hamilton hypocritical economic-political schizophrenia is reaching the breaking point in this country. Just as more than one hundred years ago, this nation could no longer endure "half free, half slave," the American people can no longer labor under the inherent delusion of "Jeffersonian Hamiltonianism."

Hamilton's legacy of strong central government is wilting the face of Jefferson's ideal vision

Citizens are out of work, they cannot pay income taxes without an income, and the state cannot collect sales taxes when everyone is selling but no one is buying. They have up to know depended on Uncle Sam and his cohorts across the fifty states to step in and bridge the gap between recession and recovery, still prattling away about the evils of government growth yet delighting in the last-minute hand-outs which rescue the seemingly down-trodden and down-and-out. Yet the uncompromisable dissonance between wanting less government with one hand, and expecting more with the other, cannot endure for much longer. No matter where one stands on this issue, Hamilton's legacy of strong central government is wilting the face of Jefferson's ideal vision. Yet what happened to cause such discordant philosophies to merge, and how do we correct the minds of the voters across the nation once and for all to forsake demanding more from a government that has less to give--less of your time, energy, and money, that is.