They long for initial letters after their name. As late as the 1950s more than half of all reporters lacked a college degree. There has also been an interesting parallel growth in monopolization of the press. Among the common characteristics of professions is that they are closed shops and have strong monopolistic tendencies. The professional aspirations of such formerly unpretentious occupations as journalism, teaching, and politics is one of the most dangerous of the numerous anti-democratic currents of the day.
Professionals hoard knowledge and use it as a form of monopolistic capital.
For example, one of the most constructive ways to improve health in the country is through preventive action and personal habits, which depend upon widespread information and education. The medical profession regarded this as a trade secret. Lawyers have been more successful in withstanding the democratic spirit. The fact that there are ways of dealing with civil disputes and community justice other than in the traditional legal adversary system is still not widely known. Through semantic obfuscation, a stranglehold over our courts and legislatures, and an arcane collection of self-serving contradictions known as law, attorneys have managed to turn human disputation from a mere cottage industry into a significant factor in the gross national product.