202409291631
Status: #idea
Tags: #aristocracy #politics #meritocracy
# A hybrid aristocratic and meritocratic system is optimal for national stewardship
The aristocratic system affords individuals and families status based on their family history. The meritocratic system affords individuals status solely based on their own achievements and competency.
The downsides of a purely aristocratic system are that incompetent & complacent family lines will continue to hold power without deserving it. The upside is that generation after generation of aristocratic children will be born and raised with the explicit goal of leading. Expectations are placed on them from birth, and so they receive explicit (through tutors) and implicit (through apprenticeships) training to lead in politics and business.
The downsides of a purely meritocratic system are that:
1. Familial connections are not transferred from one generation to the next (which can make it difficult to excel in pushing through difficult legislation in politics, where a broad base of connections is necessary)
2. There are few children brought up to be leaders in the way that aristocratic children were, since leadership is not *guaranteed*. It is something anyone can choose to not pursue, so the sense of responsibility and stewardship is not there.
3. [[Mass democracy is incompatible with meritocracy]]
The upside is that the best & most competent individuals in a society find their ways into positions of power and authority.
A meritocratic-aristocratic system that allows families to enter (and drop out) of the aristocracy based on their competence combines the upsides of each system while eliminating their downsides. For example, an aristocracy that is not purely based on family name, but instead maintains minimums of estate size would see newly-successful families rise into its ranks, while families who do not steward their estates or do not have children to replace them would gradually fall out of its ranks.
These great families could then be counted on to form part of our government (similar to the UK's House of Lords).
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