One change I'd like to see is in the opposite direction: We (U.S. society) should stop assuming that someone who has wealth is automatically more meritorious th

One change I'd like to see is in the opposite direction: We (U.S. society) should stop assuming that someone who has wealth is automatically more meritorious than someone without. We've taken the concept that "someone who is smart and hard working CAN improve their situation" and flipped it to be "someone in an improved situation MUST be smart and hard working". We should also watch out for what we consider "smart". Someone that is a complete manipulative and exploitative jerk can leverage that to become quite wealthy. They will defend it as "smart", and perhaps it is, but if don't consider that behavior valuable, we should stop pretending the wealthy cases are exceptions. And of course, to agree with some of your points, we shouldn't toss the baby with the bathwater, nor paint with too wide of a brush. That said, the American narrative and American reality are somewhat dramatically out of sync right now, so some adjustment seems prudent. When the U.S., champion of socio-economic mobility, is ranked rather poorly at the same compared to other developed nations, we become delusional hypocrites, not champions.