Is a professional career workforce consistent with conservative principles?

Interview transcriptTerry Gerton I’m really interested in your perspective on this topic because the current popular narrative says that conservatives and the professional civil service are fundamentally at odds. And so there has been tensions between the civil service and that view. But underneath that, you have, in fewer officers, government officials, and the civil service, and the Civil Service is hired and fired based on merit. So Chris, your article is called ‘A Conservative Case for the Professionalized Civil Service.’ What is the conservative case for a merit-based civil service?