the downside of "meritocracy"...................

Between 1960 and 2005, the share of men with university degrees who married women with university degrees nearly doubled for 25 percent to 48 percent.  As Bell observed, parents of  high status in a meritocracy will use their advantages to improve their children's prospects, and in this way, "after one generation a meritocracy simply becomes an enclaved class." 

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Those who harbor a sense of natural superiority tend to support strong governmental action in line with their personal values and an overconfidence in their own competence, according to research by Slavisa Tasic of the University of Kiev on decision making in government.  But the history of unaccountable rule by "experts," or those claiming intellectual superiority, is less than encouraging for liberal democracy.

-Joel Kotkin, The Coming of NEO Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class