QUOTE OF THE DAY, MAYBE OF THE YEAR - AT 7:14 A.M. ET:  A distinguished academic alerts us to this quote from George Orwell's "1984," as used in Andrew Stuttaford's piece in the Weekly Standard:

The new aristocracy was made up for the most part of bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, and professional politicians.

Our academic asks, "Hmmm . . . are we there yet?"

COMMENT:  If we're not there, we're arriving at the station.  And it's a pretty frightening prospect.  Harry Truman once said that you can't tell an expert anything because then he's not an expert anymore. 

We are developing an aristocracy of "expertise," but expertise, especially when it is the product of our educational system, often comes with a slant, an ideological package.  And "experts" often turn out to be either wrong, or their opinions given disproportional weight. 

True leaders know how to employ an intellectual aristocracy, yet keep it at a distance.  Do we have a true leader today? 

I'll add another hmmm...

June 8, 2009