The latest TIME tells us we have entered a ?post-trust era? in which elites no longer enjoy the type of respect they?ve had in the past. Writer Christopher Hayes says this about the corruption and incompetence of ?nearly every pillar institution in American society?:
[A]t the root of these failures are the people who run these institutions, the bright and industrious minds who occupy the commanding heights of our meritocratic order. In exchange for their power, status and remuneration, they are supposed to make sure everything operates smoothly. But after a cascade of scandals and catastrophes, that implicit social contract lies in ruins, replaced by mass skepticism, contempt and disillusionment.
This assessment is offered, of course, without much evidence or attribution. But to the extent Hayes has hit on any truth, it?s a bad time for those who hold what Thomas Sowell calls the ?vision of the anointed,? the idea that elites should decide what?s best for everyone else. It?s the kind of vision that would lead people to believe that Washington can decide better than individual consumers how best to meet their health-care needs.
