July 23, 2019
We recently read an opinion piece by William Davies, published in the New York Times about a year ago (July 13, 2018). The title: “Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Rise of Radical Incompetence” about says it all. And what’s left is covered by the tag “Like America’s president, Brexiteers resent the very idea of governing as complex and based in facts.”
Radical incompetence! Now there’s a term for the times.
But what to do? Here’s a thought.
In the States we have two governments – professional and elected. It has come into fashion to attack the former as the “deep state” because of its semi-permanence and lower visibility. Although deep state is sexier, there were already plenty of terms on hand (bureaucracy, institutional memory, and maybe even the fundamental quality of inertia come to mind) to cover the bases regarding the professional government, or as Steve Bannon called it, the administrative state.
In reality, the administrative state is the government in the sense that it is what makes the government work. The United States Government is the United States. So deconstructing it, as Bannon has called for, would be an odd thing. This especially because the country is blessed with a good professional government, run by trained professionals who show up and tend to do their jobs competently day in and day out. Whether you agree with that last statement or not, it can be said that they possess demonstrable skills and take qualifying tests, such as the Civil Service test.
Then there is the elected government. Qualifications are essentially nil, unless you want to be President – in which case you have to have been born here and have attained the age of 35. A pulse helps. Lesser offices generally do not have such stringent standards.
Cincinnatus was a rare type and he’s long gone now. These days, those who seek elective office, more often than not, intend never to leave. In the absence of term limits, that’s entirely possible. Since those running for office are looking at it as a career, they should be asked to take a test, like the Civil Service test. Their scores should be posted prior to running. It is of vital interest to the people to know if a candidate can find China on a map, add up a column of numbers, spell their name correctly, follow instructions, and print clearly. If that is too much to ask, then the candidate should be directed to the barn to wait for the next feeding.
MOE
M.I.C.H. – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity