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And yet many tenured academics get their position by politics, who they know, or merely by keeping their head down low and supporting the right political department head. My wife is an English professor. I have the pleasure of meeting with their happy cohort on occasion. Most of them...I wouldnt trust with deciding anything more important than sock color.More simplistic populist, mass democratic nonsense meant to stroke your egos.
Joe Sixpack doesn't live in the consequential real-world of complex financial institutions, international diplomacy, and so forth. They are stuck to their localities, if that. How much more fantasy-land can you get than that? Is it any wonder why we had bred people like Henry Stimson?
Wilson is practically the Godfather for modern bureaucratic structure and civil service. He wasn't just some idealistic schmuck that screwed over the Fourteen Points and made the hopelessly naive sentiments about the last Great war among men.
We cant merely assume that the professor in a typical Ivy league setting is any more or less 'intelligent' than Joe Six Pack. At best, we can assume they have been presented academic opportunities in a very specific field of study and capitalized on it in a purely academic setting. Whether that knowledge and experience translates to practical use or the ability to govern...thats a helluva stretch.
Its not a knock on academics. I have an uncle who is an engineer. Dood cant carry on a conversation with common folk...thinks on a different plane...think a less geeky version of the Sheldon character from The Big Bang Theory. A close in-law was a literal rocket scientist. Couldnt fix a car, change oil, repair anything around the house and frankly wasnt blessed with 'common sense'. At the same time...one of the smartest men I know is a blue collar machinist.
Picking one or the other is rather silly IMO. I'd bet we could find 535 intelligent and qualified academics. I'm also certain we could find 535 average Joes.