Why Did George Bush Mention the Homestead Act in His Inaugural?
George F. Will, in the Wa Post (1-30-05): In his inaugural address, which was largely about America’s stance toward the world, President Bush’s reference to the Homestead Act was tantalizingly tangential: “In America’s ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act and the GI Bill of Rights.” Unpack the implications of those two sentences, and you will find the core of conservatism updated for Republicans who think of themselves as a party of governance rather than of opposition to government and who have come to terms with this fact: Americans talk like Jeffersonians but expect to be governed by Hamiltonians. The Homestead Act was passed in 1862, when Congress would have been forgiven for devoting all its attention to more pressing matters. But just as construction of the dome of the Capitol continued, d
