From meritocracy to plutocracy

One of the differences between President Donald Trump’s second term and his first has been a full-blown attack on the expert class. Vice President JD Vance urges that we trust our common sense over the ideas of “the experts.” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is overruling the views of the medical establishment on issues like vaccines. Attorney General Pam Bondi forces out Justice Department officials who prize professionalism over personal loyalty. Stephen Miller has declared war on nongovernmental organizations. It is part of an American Cultural Revolution, designed to discredit the credentialed elites who, in their view, run America.

It is true that over the past few decades, America has spawned a meritocracy — armed with Ivy League degrees and specific skills and training — that has come to dominate business, government, media and culture. And it is also true that a meritocracy can morph into a group of smug technocrats who lose touch with the society they come from.

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