The Merits of Meritocracy

[...]in Wooldridge’s account, Jews historically established their own meritocracy of intellectual accomplishment in societies where they were denied access to status by birth. According to him, this change in perspective spawned “the four great revolutions that created the modern world. Wooldridge also quotes Walter Raleigh: “For that infinite wisdom of God, which hath distinguished his angels by degrees, which hath given greater and less light and beauty to heavenly bodies . . . hath also ordained kings, dukes, or leaders of the people, magistrates, judges, and other degrees among men.” Sandel’s other policy prescription is to renew “the dignity of work” by replacing “some or all of the payroll tax with a financial transactions tax—a ‘sin tax,’ in effect, on casino-like speculation that does not help the real economy.”