Do civic elites seek to frame judgement on those matters which the populace cannot properly evaluate, so to insulate themselves from criticism?

Writing of Guicciardini’s

Dialogo

, JGA Pocock observes:

…Guicciardini had himself expressed in earlier writings that the many are good judges of their superiors, able to recognize qualities which they themselves lack, and so fit to be trusted with the selection of the few to hold office. Once the distinguishing quality of the leader ceases to be virtu and becomes esperienzia, this belief becomes less plausible, since esperienczia is an acquired characteristic which can be evaluated only by those who have acquired some of it themselves, and since a republic is not a customary but a policy-making community, there is little opportunity for the many to acquire experience of what only governors do – a form of experience whose expression is not custom but prudence.

JGA Pocock, Machiavellian Moment, 2016, p234.