Thread by @noone_pj

In Defense of Managerialism

Let's be realistic. The ideal of a thriving, self-governing republic of virtuous, informed citizens is a beautiful 18th-century fantasy.

Look at the world you're so keen to 'preserve.' The average voter is emotionally driven, poorly informed, and susceptible to demagoguery and base prejudices.

They vote based on which candidate they'd rather have a beer with, not on a nuanced understanding of monetary policy or geopolitical strategy.

The problems of the 21st century are terrifyingly complex: climate change, global pandemics, international financial systems, artificial intelligence.

These are not issues that can be solved by a majority vote of a populace that struggles with basic scientific literacy. They require expertise. They require dispassionate, data-driven analysis from those who have dedicated their lives to understanding these intricate systems.

We are not 'imposing' anything. We are guiding. We are the adults in the room, making the tough, necessary decisions that the emotional and shortsighted body politic is incapable of making for itself.

Is it really 'tyranny' to mandate vaccines during a deadly pandemic? Or to regulate industries destroying the planet for future generations? Or to enforce basic standards of dignity and inclusion to prevent the social friction and violence that comes from bigotry?

This isn't about power for its own sake. It's about steering humanity away from the cliff. Democracy, in its pure form, is not infinitely scalable and it is certainly not immortal. It often leads to short-term gratification at the expense of long-term survival.

Left to their own devices, democratic electorates will vote themselves unsustainable benefits, reject necessary but painful reforms, and scapegoat vulnerable minorities.

We, the managerial class, are the circuit breakers on that suicidal impulse. We are the necessary check on the chaos of pure democracy. We are doing humanity the great, unthanked favor of saving it from itself.

Our rule is not of blood or soil, but of knowledge and reason. It is, in fact, the only form of governance sophisticated enough to handle the problems we face. You may call it imposition; we call it necessary stewardship.

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