Meritocracy depends of equality and you can't conceptually have equality with wildly differing starting points. The transition from feudalism to capitalism wou

Meritocracy depends of equality and you can't conceptually have equality with wildly differing starting points. The transition from feudalism to capitalism would require land reform for equality and meritocracy to have some measure of credibility and meaning but capitalist states seem to have 'forgotten' the crucial step of equalization and moved straight to talking about conceptual 'equality' and 'meritocracy' as if they are operational. This is disingenuous. 'Capital'ism by definition favours capital and the only group that had it in the transition from feudalism were the feudal class who had monopolized all resources and used it to accumulate more wealth and power. Humans have fought for land and resources for millenia and the equitable distribution of this most basic fundamental resource is the prerequisite for an equitable society. It can't be ignored in any discussion about equality and meritocracy and to do so is so deeply flawed and untenable it requires some level of self interest or simplemindedness to accept. But a population who fail to have empathy for their fellow citizens and are disingenuous about equality and meritocracy every time they talk about it is perhaps a bigger problem.