Should partisan politics be sundered in favour of Meritocracy ?

Question

Academic and corporate structures determine merit. Would similar systems adopted along the lines of meritocracy over money politics and demagogues better serve the people, if at all?

(Perhaps a broadly defined meritocracy based on a tabled standard(s) from authoritative sources, subject to routine reviews, adjusted reactively and prospectively.)

Open discussion.

ABRIDGED
A utopian ideal whose practicality without support (liberals and trade unions) end in failure. (cynic..)

Meritocracy in its original intent is deviated by axiomatic (money and demagoguery) cause attributions. Rather than nature of requirements as a guiding force, pragmatism has proven to accommodate obfuscation in the electoral process, whilst enabling the better candidates to arise.(Red R..)

Answer 1

Meritocracies always sound like a good idea at the time, but have a tendency to deteriorate when those they serve tend not to receive equal service. The power meritocracies can exert to maintain their system is inevitably less than the power the "unequal" portion of the society can exert to overthrow them.

The American experiment might be viewed as an attempt to have a democratic form of meritocracy. The hope is that a balance of power will be reached that gives us the best of both worlds. Obviously money and demagoguery are among the methods used to both maintain and upset that balance.

But in my view the problem is less with the structure than with the nature of humans in general. Changing the structure always appears an easier thing to do than changing our natures, but paradoxically those who change the structure have generally done so with either the hope or the expectation that it will change our natures as well.

The pragmatism that has arisen as a basic component of the American adventure has allowed us to adapt the structure in response to the dictates of our nature rather than the other way around. But again it's always an act that requires continued effort at maintaining its balance.

Answer 2

A wonderful idea, but liberals and trade unions would never support any system which recognized and/or rewarded merit.