[briantakita]

Meritocracy is a myth. The government cannot create meritocracy. The government can only steal resources from some people & give back less resources to other people. This process of wealth redistribution is not 100% efficient. There is significant waste. The government will have to take away public freedom by increasing regulations to enforce this redistribution of wealth. The people bear the brunt of compliance in time, freedom, wealth, etc.

We are allowing the government to build inter-generational wealth by reducing the inter-generational wealth of the citizens & their families via taxes & printing fiat. The tax revenue & money printing benefits the people who control the aspects of the economy (aka the wealthy). Estate taxes only gives more power the largest, most entrenched power, which is the government, corporations, & it's beneficiaries. The ultra-rich families who would have to pay these taxes also benefit from the consolidation of wealth via government & corporate control even more aspects of life. This leaves out middle-class families, where parents can longer pass along a house & land to their children/grandchildren without being heavily taxed. Instead, the house & land go to "the people", aka under the control of the government, corporations, politically powerful, & the ultra-wealthy. Independent families lose, the well-connected utra-wealthy win.

[aaron-santos]

In agreement. Meritocracy seeks to purposefully confuse the idea that anyone can succeed with the idea that everyone can succeed. It's an individualizing ideology which short-circuits systems-level thinking. I'm immediately suspicious of ideas which entangle concepts and shut down systems-level thinking. I expect that anyone who calls themselves a critical thinker to do the same.