Public Opinion — Chapter XXVI Intelligence Work

1. 1. Democratic theory assumes voters make decisions from an inherent will, but practice has developed invisible governing hierarchies and constructive adaptations.
2. 2. Agencies like the Census Bureau, Geological Survey, and Children's Bureau represent unseen factors and interests that would not automatically appear through elections.
3. 3. The expert's power depends on separating knowledge from decision-making, not caring about the decision, and representing the unseen.
4. 4. When faced with an obtrusive fact they cannot explain away, people either ignore it, refuse to act, or adjust their behavior to the enlarged environment.
5. 5. The only institutional safeguard against experts becoming a bureaucracy is to separate absolutely the staff that executes from the staff that investigates.
6. 6. Introducing intelligence agencies into existing government machinery is better than attempting a full logical reorganization, which would disturb too many passions.
7. 7. Intelligence officials should be independent of Congressional committees and department heads, with secure funds, life tenure, and full access to materials.
8. 8. Intelligence bureaus would serve as a connecting link between Congress and departments, making departmental operations visible and reducing the need for minute legislation born of distrust.
9. 9. The value of competition depends on the standards used to measure it; better index numbers can turn competition toward ideal ends like efficiency and service.
10. 10. A central clearing house for government information would become a focus of knowledge, open to scholars, and could form the basis of a national university.
11. 11. The intelligence principle applies to state, city, and county governments through federations of bureaus with comparable accounting systems, enabling regional coordination without centralization.
12. 12. Intelligence work is the clue to betterment because it overcomes the subjectivism of human opinion by making unseen environments reportable and neutral to prejudice.