You've missed it completely. While there's value in individual merit, recognition and reward of accomplishment, it's terribly flawed to try to run a nation on s

You've missed it completely. While there's value in individual merit, recognition and reward of accomplishment, it's terribly flawed to try to run a nation on such a principle because it's merely a variation on aristocracy. In a meritocracy there is no voting, there is no democracy, and there is not even really representation. The people in power decide the metric by which their replacements are chosen.