Government and expertise rely on each other, especially in a democracy. The technological and economic progress that ensures the well-being of a population requires a division of labor, which in turn leads to the creation of professions. Professionalism encourages experts to do their best to serve their clients, respect their own knowledge boundaries, and demand that their boundaries be respected by others, as part of an overall service to the most important client, which is society itself.Dictatorships, too, demand this same service of experts, but they extract it by threat and direct its use by command. This is why dictatorships are actually less efficient and less productive than democracies (despite some popular stereotypes to the contrary). In a democracy, the expert’s service to the public is part of the social contract. Citizens delegate the power of decision on many issues to elected representatives and their expert advisers, while experts, for their part, ask that their efforts be received in good faith by a public that has informed itself enough –a key requirement –to make reasoned judgements.This relationship between experts and citizens rests on a foundation of mutual respect and trust. When that foundation erodes, experts and laypeople become warring factions and democracy itself can become a casualty, leading to mob rule or elitist technocracy. Living in a world filled with gadgets and once unimaginable conveniences and entertainments, Americans (and many other Westerners) have become almost childlike in their refusal to learn enough to govern themselves or to guide the policies that affect their lives. This is a collapse of functional citizenship, and it leads to a flood of other terrible consequences.In the absence of informed citizens, for example more knowledgeable administrative and intellectual elites do in fact take over the daily direction of the state and society. It has been said that the greatest danger to liberty today comes from the men who are most needed and most powerful in modern government, namely, the efficient expert administrators exclusively concerned with what they regard as the public good.There is a great deal of truth in this. Unelected bureaucrats and policy specialists in many spheres expert tremendous influence on the daily lives of Americans. Today, however, this situation exists by defaultrather than by design. And populism actually reinforces this elitism, because the celebration of ignorance cannot launch communications satellites, negotiate the rights of U.S. citizens overseas, or provide effectivemedications. Faced with a public that has no idea how most things work, experts disengage, choosing to speak mostly to one another.Meanwhile, Americans have developed increasingly unrealistic expectations of what their political and economic systems can provide, and these high expectations result in continual disappointment and anger. When people are told that ending poverty or preventing terrorism or stimulating economic growth is a lot harder than it looks, they get bored and roll their eyes. Unable to comprehend all the complexity around them. they choose instead to comprehend almost none of it and then resentfully blame elites for seizing control of their lives.
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democracy1 ( recorded by
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Corrected Textmore↓Government and expertise rely on each other, especially in a democracy. The technological and economic progress that ensures the well-being of a population requires a division of labor, which in turn leads to the creation of professions. Professionalism encourages experts to do their best to serve their clients, respect their own knowledge boundaries, and demand that their boundaries be respected by others, as part of an overall service to the most important client, which is society itself. Dictatorships, too, demand this same service of experts, but they extract it by threat and direct its use by command. This is why dictatorships are actually less efficient and less productive than democracies (despite some popular stereotypes to the contrary). In a democracy, the expert’s service to the public is part of the social contract. Citizens delegate the power of decision on many issues to elected representatives and their expert advisers, while experts, for their part, ask that their efforts be received in good faith by a public that has informed itself enough –a key requirement– to make reasoned judgements.This relationship between experts and citizens rests on a foundation of mutual respect and trust. When that foundation erodes, experts and laypeople become warring factions and democracy itself can become a casualty, leading to mob rule or elitist technocracy. Living in a world filled with gadgets and once unimaginable conveniences and entertainments, Americans (and many other Westerners) have become almost childlike in their refusal to learn enough to govern themselves or to guide the policies that affect their lives. This is a collapse of functional citizenship, and it leads to a flood of other terrible consequences. In the absence of informed citizens, for example, more knowledgeable administrative and intellectual elites do in fact take over the daily direction of the state and society. It has been said that the greatest danger to liberty today comes from the men who are most needed and most powerful in modern government, namely, the efficient expert administrators exclusively concerned with what they regard as the public good. There is a great deal of truth in this. Unelected bureaucrats and policy specialists in many spheres exert tremendous influence on the daily lives of Americans. Today, however, this situation exists by default rather than by design. And populism actually reinforces this elitism, because the celebration of ignorance cannot launch communications satellites, negotiate the rights of U.S. citizens overseas, or provide effective medications. Faced with a public that has no idea how most things work, experts disengage, choosing to speak mostly to one another. Meanwhile, Americans have developed increasingly unrealistic expectations of what their political and economic systems can provide, and these high expectations result in continual disappointment and anger. When people are told that ending poverty or preventing terrorism or stimulating economic growth is a lot harder than it looks, they get bored and roll their eyes. Unable to comprehend all the complexity around them. they choose instead to comprehend almost none of it and then resentfully blame elites for seizing control of their lives.
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I had to make a quick self-correction towards the end of the text while recording. The word 'expert' was written instead of 'exert'. Hopefully, the little stutter doesn't bother you.