by Jonah Goldberg

I think I've had my fill of moral hypocrisy. We routinely hearstories of evangelical ministers who "mentor" hookers at$500 an hour, "family values" politicians who like thecut of a congressional page's jib, or senators who love to press theflesh, one bathroom stall at a time. And, given the times, weincreasingly hear stories about progressive politicians and columnistswho -- gasp! -- have bigger carbon footprints than they want the rest ofus to have: CO2 emissions for me and not for thee! For shame.

The press loves stories of moral hypocrisy. Catching a finger-waggingpolitician violating his or her own moral code warms the cockles ofevery reporter's heart. Indeed, sometimes journalists confuse hypocrisyfor the real crime. "If a politician murders his mother," the late Washington Post editorial pageeditor Meg Greenfield once said, "the first response ofthe press ... will likely be not that it was a terrible thing to do, butrather that in a statement made six years before, he had gone on recordas being opposed to matricide."

The crusade against moral hypocrisy necessarily hits conservativesharder, not because conservatives are more immoral but because theyuphold morality more publicly, making them richer targets. The left aimsmuch of its moralizing at moralizing itself -- "thou shalt not judge."Meanwhile, the right focuses on the oldies but goodies -- adultery, druguse, etc. I think we're right to uphold a standard even if we sometimesfail to live up to it.

What I don't think we hear enough about is intellectual hypocrisy.What's that? Well, if moral hypocrisy is saying what values peopleshould live by while failing to follow them yourself, intellectualhypocrisy is believing you are smart enough to run other peoples' liveswhen you can barely run your own.

I know many smart liberals for whom no idea is too complex, noconcept or organizational flow chart too hard to grasp. They wantgovernment to take over this, run that, manage some other things, and inall cases put people exactly like them in charge of pretty mucheverything. Many are geniuses, with SAT scores so high you could get abloody nose just looking at them.

But you wouldn't ask one to run a car wash.

The chairman of a small college's English department thinks it'sobvious intellectuals should take over health care, but he can't managethe class schedules of three professors or run a meeting without itcoming to blows or tears. A pundit defends government intervention inalmost every sphere of economic life, but he can't figure out how tomanage the interns or his checking account.

The most famous story of an intellectual hypocrite getting hiscomeuppance is the tale of George McGovern and his inn.The senator, 1972 presidential nominee and college professor thought hecould run a vast, technologically sophisticated nation with a diversepopulation and an entrepreneurial culture. Then, after leavingWashington, he bought an inn inConnecticut to while away his retirement years. Fora guy as smart as him, running an inn should have been child's play. Butit went belly-up before the end of the year, with a contritely befuddledMcGovern marveling at how much harder running a business was than hethought.

Or consider Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), currently subject of a House ethics investigation. Rangel heads the Ways and MeansCommittee, which writes the tax code. He backs the imposition of anincome tax surcharge on high earners to pay for health care, calling it"the moral thing to do." Yet he can't seem to figure out how to file hisown taxes properly or, perhaps, legally.

Now, I also know lots of conservatives who are basket cases ateverything other than reading and writing books and articles, givingspeeches and thinking Big Thoughts (likewise, I know liberals whodespise conservative moralizing about sex and religion who nonethelesslive chaste, pious lives themselves). The point is that conservativesdon't presume to be smart enough to run everything, because conservativedogma takes it as an article of faith that no one can be that smart.

Moral hypocrisy is still worth exposing, I guess. But we are livingin a moment when revealing intellectual hypocrisy should takeprecedence. A J.P. Morgan chart reprinted on the "EnterpriseBlog" shows that less than 10 percent of President Obama's Cabinet hasprivate-sector experience, the least of any Cabinet in a century. Fromthe stimulus to health care reform and cap-and-trade,Washington is now run by people who think they knowhow to run everything, when in reality they can barely run anything.

 

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