[elefanten]

You're arguing against the American system as it is. Proponents of meritocracy wouldn't say that America has achieved it.

I agree with the other comments that meritocracy and inheritance are not at odds, especially if the meritocracy component is referring to positions of power & responsibility.

But your point is valid wrt America as it is. Education is a lynchpin of meritocracy. So, America's solution may need to include some reshaping of inheritance as a means to reshape the mechanisms of meritocracy. But the facile leftist take of (more or less) "ban inheritance" would be an overstep and create far more problems than its simplicity solves.