{"id":18934,"date":"2019-12-14T22:41:09","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T22:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=18934"},"modified":"2019-12-16T23:03:09","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T23:03:09","slug":"in-impeachment-spotlight-dueling-views-of-professionalism-appear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/in-impeachment-spotlight-dueling-views-of-professionalism-appear\/","title":{"rendered":"In impeachment spotlight, dueling views of professionalism appear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael J. Brown<\/a>, Rochester Institute of Technology<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Impeachment hearings have thrust a handful of public servants into the spotlight, where competing ideas about government professionals \u2013 variously called the establishment<\/a>, the \u201cdeep state<\/a>,\u201d technocrats<\/a>, bureaucrats<\/a>, experts<\/a> and elites<\/a> \u2013 shape public reaction to their testimony.<\/p>\n

A recent New York Times column by Frank Bruni captures the divide<\/a>. Bruni salutes professionalism as \u201ca reality-based enterprise\u201d with \u201ccredentials, benchmarks, all sorts of yardsticks by which a person can be judged.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a commenter on the column going by the name of David<\/a> wants \u201cmuch less of \u2026 the arrogance of those \u2018true professionals\u2019 presuming that they know better what is good or bad for the country than a democratically elected president and American people who elected him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruni\u2019s professionals \u2013 the sort recently honored by Time magazine as \u201cGuardians of the Year<\/a>\u201d \u2013 are a thin, principled line restraining the president\u2019s worst instincts. Commenter David\u2019s are out-of-touch elites scorning his particular view of the popular will<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This conflict is not new. As a historian writing about the role of the intellectual in American politics<\/a> for a forthcoming book, I see it often.<\/p>\n

For at least a century, professionalism and the unflattering term \u201ctechnocrats\u201d have suggested people who, setting aside self-interest, take an objective, expert approach to public affairs.<\/p>\n

Thinkers across the political spectrum have questioned this connection, however, seeing in professionalism a bastion of authority rather than a badge of competence. To them, the virtues underlying professionals\u2019 status \u2013 rationality, responsibility, detachment \u2013 mask their play for power.<\/p>\n

How the officials now in the spotlight are perceived \u2013 as professionals bound by facts, standards and duty or as elites who invoke them while pursuing their own agenda \u2013 may determine whether impeachment proceedings elicit public support or opposition.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
In this 1884 newspaper illustration, armed guards escort workers through a strike demonstration. It was a chaotic time that led to calls for impartial experts to work on behalf of all citizens.<\/span>
\nLibrary of Congress\/Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A path to progress<\/h2>\n

By the late 19th century, American political life looked chaotic and corrupt to a growing movement of reformers.<\/p>\n

Greedy political bosses<\/a> presided over cities, and labor disputes involved the naked use of force, with Pinkerton private security guards and state militias in open battle<\/a> against striking workers. Amid the melee, many Americans searched for order<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The possibility that objective, fact-based analysts could do the public\u2019s work, with only the public interest in mind, was an appealing prospect. Self-dealing city bosses could be replaced by well-trained city managers. Public administration might control chaos and corruption. Professionalism could bring progress.<\/p>\n

A route to power<\/h2>\n

Critics, however, glimpsed a narrower agenda. Historian Christopher Lasch, for instance, wrote that budding professionals had \u201cno resources, as a class, except argument and exposition<\/a>.\u201d Lacking the concentrated wealth of the upper class and the numerical strength of the working class, members of the educated middle class were, Lasch argued, underdogs in a brute-force political world. Their best advantage lay in a society governed by reasoned argument rather than raw power. The quest for competent, impartial administration represented middle-class professionals\u2019 vision of progress and their path to influence.<\/p>\n

Instead of rising above class struggle, conservative commentator Irving Kristol claimed, professionals joined it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe professional classes \u2026 are engaged in a class struggle<\/a> with the business community for status and power,\u201d Kristol warned in 1972. Thinking they could \u201cdo a better job of running our society<\/a>,\u201d professionals sought the levers of government to do so. Kristol had in mind the domestic regulatory apparatus that the Trump administration wants to undo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anarchist-socialist intellectual Noam Chomsky emphasized professionals\u2019 role in global domination rather than stateside business. Borrowing a term for imperial Chinese officials, Chomsky called policy professionals \u201cnew mandarins<\/a>.\u201d To him, they were administrators and apologists for an American empire. Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.<\/a>, who had served in the Kennedy administration, attributed the Vietnam War to a sequence of blunders; Chomsky<\/a> thought it \u201cdesigned and executed by these new mandarins.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A career diplomat, Ambassador William Taylor has been criticized by the president and his supporters as a biased \u2018Never Trumper.\u2019<\/span>
\nAP Photo\/Andrew Harnik<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A higher code?<\/h2>\n

Chomsky, Lasch and Kristol span the political spectrum, from anarchism to neoconservatism, yet all three were skeptical of professionalism.<\/p>\n

Behind professionals\u2019 values, they saw a strategy for advancing professionals\u2019 power. But these skeptics were not cynics who thought all values were shams or self-interest the only interest. They believed that public figures could live by a higher code, for they encouraged intellectuals like themselves to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose lies,\u201d Chomsky declared<\/a>. Similarly, the Ukraine whistleblower wrote of \u201cfulfilling my duty to report this information<\/a>,\u201d exposing facts that others might prefer remain hidden.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s defenders take a more cynical view: Officials who question his conduct do so from personal motives rather than public responsibility. The whistleblower, they claim, is politically biased<\/a>. Likewise, the president dubs Ambassador William Taylor, who testified before the House Intelligence Committee, a \u201cNever Trumper<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professionalism or citizenship?<\/h2>\n

Calling these professionals \u201cradical unelected bureaucrats<\/a>,\u201d the president\u2019s allies aim to shift attention from his actions to the specter of an anti-democratic establishment. Indeed, both sides of the impeachment debate claim a duty to democracy: Convicting Trump ends his corrupt authoritarianism; vindicating him protects the people\u2019s \u201cvoice<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

When reason and public responsibility define professionalism, these virtues implicitly distinguish professionals from others. That distinction is uncomfortable for democracy. It suggests that professionals are not just a group apart but also one above.<\/p>\n

In a culture of dueling stories about professionalism, the officials who testify at impeachment hearings may find that their evidence reaches its widest audience when presented in light not of virtues exclusive to professionals but decency common to citizens.<\/p>\n

[ Insight, in your inbox each day.<\/em> You can get it with The Conversation\u2019s email newsletter<\/a>. ]\"The<\/p>\n

Michael J. Brown<\/a>, Assistant Professor of History, Rochester Institute of Technology<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael J. Brown, Rochester Institute of Technology Impeachment hearings have thrust a handful of public servants into the spotlight, where competing ideas about government professionals \u2013 variously called the establishment, the \u201cdeep state,\u201d technocrats, bureaucrats, experts and elites \u2013 shape public reaction to their testimony. A recent New York Times column by Frank Bruni captures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":18935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[7394,7395,7397,7396,2034,672,4339,7399,7398,7247,7207,7393],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18934"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18948,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18934\/revisions\/18948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}