Final answer:
American intellectuals and educators D) decried the domination of big business in the American idea of freedom on the eve of the Great Depression, advocating for government regulation to prevent oligarchical control and protect public interest.
Step-by-step explanation:
On the eve of the Great Depression, American intellectuals and educators D) decried the domination of big business in the American idea of freedom.
This stance emerged as a response to the growing power of corporations and the increasing inequalities in wealth distribution.
Dissenters feared that the unchecked rise of oligarchical control by corporate barons would lead to detrimental impacts on democracy and the general welfare of society.
As business mergers consolidated industries, technology advanced, and a national consumer market formed, critiques of the materialistic culture and the gap between the rich and poor intensified.
These critics included a variety of reformers who, while generally upholding the capitalist system, argued for government intervention to regulate the market and protect the public interest against the excesses and risks taken by financiers and industrialists.