[saltcured]

I don't think "don't be a jerk and you'll be fine" demands an inverse "be a jerk and you won't be fine". It shouldn't matter if other people succeed even "without merit". AFAICT, none of your scenarios of a jerk explain why someone who is not a jerk cannot also get along fine.

If you define your success as relative to others, and if this sort of "undeserved success" bothers you, then I would say you do have a competitive streak. Seeing everything as a zero-sum game is a very competitive outlook.