Between Populism and Elitism
“You can probably recognize both sides of this battle easily. The elite would be the doctors, lawyers, politicians, and those who trust them and run in their circles.” - P&D
It’s unclear in this piece what an elite is and what elitism is.
doctors, lawyers, politicians, and those who trust them and run in their circles
Doctors and lawyers are professionals.
Politicians can be anybody from a former pro wrestler to a community organizer to a real estate tycoon.
Whoever these alleged “elites” are, do they lie? All humans lie.
So which is better:
- All the flaws of human nature + knowledge and skill
- All the flaws of human nature + ignorance and lack of skill
The topic needs reframing.
A major problem with our current populist wave is that “elite” has becoming a catch all for “the people who are think they are smarter than us… and that we don’t trust.”
But (thankfully!) lots of people are “smarter” than me. And I’m smarter than a few people I know also.
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (Ro 12:3)
So I appreciate the article’s call to humility. Anybody can be wrong.
The probably of anybody being right is greater than zero.
But who do you want to do surgery on your brain aneurysm?
An elite. I guarantee it.
Scripture honors diligence, personal discipline, hard work, and learning and doesn’t laud the wisdom of crowds. But the Bible is also clear that elite or otherwise, humans are humans and are doing to behave like humans.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
I think Mr. Hicks misses who the elites actually are. Yes, they will be disproportionately from the skilled professions like medicine and law, but it does not include all doctors and lawyers, but is rather those doctors and lawyers, among others, who have gained access to the corridors of power. More or less government bureaucrats and those who receive large grants from the government, and where there is a political angle to their work.
Really, a fair amount of the mistakes during COVID (and more) were the result of perhaps well-meaning bureaucrats deciding that the people could not be trusted to know the actual facts of the matter, and making decisions more or less to manipulate Americans to do "what they thought was best." In doing so, what we got was arrows on the floor guiding us into the very plume of aerosolized COVID viruses that previous shoppers had left behind them.
I think we can be trusted with the truth in these things.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
You have put your finger on one of the core problems, and it’s not “the elites.” It’s not even really “bureaucracy,” though that is a lot closer. The lack of disclosure of information has at least two things driving it: (a) The arrogance you noted (and Hicks addressed also with the call to humility), (b) fear of things like bad press, public criticism, political disapproval, or just work getting more complicated. I think sometimes it’s also a fear of losing turf, so to speak, and with that, career hopes and ambitions.
So, human stuff.
It has expressions in government and politics that are a bit special, but other than that, it’s not very special.
And “the masses” have expressions of all the same problems, especially once they start to align behind figures who are perceived to be representing or leading them. The moment that happens, guess what starts to form? “Elites” and bureaucracy, arrogance, fear, information hoarding, information spinning. All that.
Do we really think that populist leaders are any better about that than alleged “elite” leaders?
Now in its second, more radical incarnation, this pattern is obvious in the MAGA government and its peripherals NGOs and personalities. A huge, huge power grab has occurred and is ongoing, and with that all the “we know better than you” and secret-keeping the “elites” are roundly criticized for.
At best, populism can be temporary check on the abuses of those in power, but unless we’re going to be ruled by pure democracy (something America’s founders were rightly opposed to), there is always going to be a much smaller representative body—and those they employ. And they will act like humans in those kinds of roles always do. (Edit: Though not all in equally deplorable ways. But we’re in a post-ethical/post-virtue phase now, where nobody cares about principle, only power, so there is no reason right now to think a new elite is going to be better than the old elite.)
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
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