The Conservative Origins of the American Regulatory State
The Conservative Origins of the American Regulatory State
This chapter argues that the American state was initially created by the response of conservative political elites to electoral pressures and concerns regarding the rationality of public opinion, rather than a product of popular outrage toward industrialization. It explains how populist social demands led certain liberal reformers and Republicans to endorse bureaucracy in an attempt to resist public opinion and to educate voters. It suggests that certain conservatives empowered bureaucracies, particularly the Treasury Department and the Interstate Commerce Commission, to implement policies they believed were extremely unpopular, culminating in a new regulatory state capable of limiting public opinion's influence upon politics.
Keywords: public opinion, industrialization, liberal reformers, Republicans, bureaucracy, conservatives, regulatory state, Treasury Department, Interstate Commerce Commission
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