"Ignoramitocracy"

Paul Krugman made a new word!

Part of what’s going on here is simply opposition for the sake of opposition. But as Pollack says, the underlying problem is that anyone with actual expertise and any kind of public profile — in short, anyone who is actually qualified to hold a position — is bound to have said something, somewhere that can be taken out of context to make him or her sound like Pol Pot. Berwick has spoken in favor of evaluating medical effectiveness and has had kind words for the British National Health Service, so he wants to kill grandma and Sovietize America.

So what lies down this road? A world in which key positions can only be filled by complete hacks, preferably interns from the Heritage Foundation with no relevant experience but unquestioned loyalty.

In short, we’re on our way to running America the way the Coalition Provisional Authority ran Iraq.

Professor, you live in Princeton: you already live in a state where this has quickly become the de facto way to run a government.

We have a Teacher Effectiveness Task Force - which recommended using standardized tests to rate teachers - without a single classroom teacher or education researcher on the panel. Because anyone who knew what they were talking about might point to the mound of evidence that says this is a bad idea.

Didn't we have a politician before who used to "govern" this way?

How'd that work out?