Technocrats have long told us what we can and can't do, what we're allowed to own, what our kids must learn in school, and so on. For the most part, we never voted for any of that, yet we have gone along docilely, not noticing or not caring or, at best, unwilling to make waves.

The result has been the rise of self-selected "experts," the credentialed class, who exist primarily to impose their will on others. Their ranks have swelled recently with the exponential growth of government and education bureaucracies and the emergence of "academic" programs designed not to increase knowledge but to feed those bureaucracies.

This is what I refer to as "credentialism:" the pursuit of dubious credentials, like degrees in pseudo-sciences and quasi-academic subjects, solely for the purpose of advancing one's own career and personal policy preferences. The term might also apply to those with legitimate credentials who in their hubris believe being an "expert" gives them the right to tell everyone else how to live.

Much to the dismay of the credentialed class, Americans' tolerance of this system began to wane about four years ago, when it became apparent to many that a) the experts don't always know what they're doing, and b) they don't necessarily have our best interests at heart.

Anyone who was paying attention could see, as early as April 2020, that much of what the "experts" were telling us—about masks, "social distancing," school closures—had no basis in science. Anonymous social media accounts routinely exposed the technocrats' contradictions, statistical errors, and bold-faced lies.