Twilight of the technocrats

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaking at the Teamsters Vote 2020 Presidential Candidate Forum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last Saturday.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaking at the Teamsters Vote 2020 Presidential Candidate Forum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last Saturday. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Democrats looking for someone to unify their fractious coalition should take another glance at Mr Bernie Sanders - on the grounds that he's more popular across the party's different factions, more unifying, more exciting and potentially more appealing to non-liberals than his critics tend to assume.

In nominating Mr Sanders, the Democrats would be embracing one of the key forces in American politics right now - the distrust of technocracy, the sense that the smartest guys in each political coalition can't really be trusted, the feeling that the whole model of credentialled meritocracy is corrupt and self-dealing and doesn't deliver on its promises.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 09, 2019, with the headline Twilight of the technocrats. Subscribe