During the pandemic there has been a virtual consensus on the left that Dr. Anthony Fauci was a great leader. The media constantly gave him a platform as if he were more important than the president and practically drooled over everything he said.
However, as the pandemic continued, Fauci’s biases and expansion of authority began to come under fire by many conservatives. In an early interview Fauci stated that churches should “limit the number of people, so that you don’t have people in the pews right next to each other.” However, when he was asked by Congressman Jim Jordan about whether or not the government should attempt to limit protests Fauci said, “I think I would leave that to people who have more of a position to do that.”
The contradictory statements made by Fauci on different issues and his willingness to act as if he were a politician illustrates that he is an expert who has attempted to overstep the limits of his profession.
In society, the purpose of a politician is to take into account the different and sometimes conflicting advicea of his experts and constituents and then implement a feasible program. However, because Fauci is an unelected bureaucrat, he doesn’t have to do any of these things.
He can make recommendations whether or not they are feasible or democratic. Additionally, the limits imposed upon him by his particular field of knowledge prevented him from truly understanding the psychological impact of his lockdown recommendations. A politician would need to take into account all of these things.
The authority that Fauci was given by the media and Democratic politicians illustrates the direction in which the liberal order is moving in this country. Many on the left would like to see individual freedom and intelligent statesmanship replaced by an administrative bureaucracy that is staffed by “experts.”
Leftists are often baffled by the right’s apparent distrust of intellectuals. However, it is not a distrust of the intellectual that drives the right. It is a distrust of institutions that seek to place unelected intellectuals in positions of power, where they make decisions concerning individual conduct.
Despite the fact that he is an unelected bureaucrat, many treated Fauci’s recommendations as if they were the final word without concerning themselves with the suggestions of any other members of society. By definition however, an expert is someone who is extremely specialized in a certain field. It is the job of politicians to sort out the recommendations of different experts and their constituency. This is why Fauci failed as a coronavirus leader. He attempted to usurp the authority of a politician while fulfilling none of their functions. He should have been kept behind the scenes to give advice to the real leaders and recognized the deficiencies of his own knowledge.
