Socialism Requires Governance by The Elites
November 30th, 1999 | by BGuzzardi |
Socialism is premised on idea that a few Educated, Expert Elite Can and Will Run the Economy. There is a problem with that.
The problem with very smart people running the country, The Medical Model, the Philosopher King.
In the medical model, the doctor is someone with superior intellect, superior cognitive abilities, superior education and expertise, superior skills and the other party in the interaction is physically weak, frequently, in extremis, psychologically vulnerable and susceptible. In that context, the patient has almost no alternative except to accept that the doctor knows what is best for the patient and that the patient has no alternative but to do as he or she is told to do. And this is the everyday experience of the doctor and the more specialized and smart the doctor, the more his or her word is accepted without complaint or question. This, then, becomes the norm and he or she, not surprisingly, begins to think that he or she “knows everything and is never wrong”. And when someone like this goes into government, they take that paradigm into a venue where it is inappropriate and won’t work. The Arrogance of Intellect inextricably intertwined with the Arrogance of Power is not a good thing for the rest of us.
Plato is a proponent of the Philosopher King and studied and admired Sparta, which had a Military Model of Governance.
The doctor knows what is best for the patient and makes the decision with little, if any, consultation with the patient. This may, or may not, be optimal in medical or hospital venue, it, most certainly, is not in a political setting where power tends to corrupt and government has overwhelming power, the monopoly of violence.
Or to put it another way, throughout the Ages, the Few have ruled the Many, America was the Exception and many of us would like to preserve American Exceptionalism.