I'm not sure meritocracy is a good thing. I'd much rather have mercy as the foundational theory of democratic social organization because it's just too easy fo

I'm not sure meritocracy is a good thing. I'd much rather have mercy as the foundational theory of democratic social organization because it's just too easy for people to make what should not be unrecoverable mistakes. I don't doubt that you worked very hard to get where you are today. I too grew up lower middle class and worked hard to get where I am today, but I also made many, many mistakes along the way. Good luck combined with privilege mitigated what could have been significant detriments to my future career (including access to funding for school, interactions with law enforcement, etc.) Should we, as a society, ignore individual potential in favor of past performance, as implied by the term "meritocracy"? I think that's a rather blinkered view, preferring something much more egalitarian based on my own life experience.