On "Meritocracy"

This is an editorial from The Walrus by John MacFarlane. On the surface it seems like a complaint against the anti-intellectual bias in politics and, more generally, the acceptance (or celebration) of ignorance as authenticity. But it isn't. After I read it I checked MacFarlane's age to see if this was a sophisticated piece of conservative propaganda or something else. It turns out MacFarlane is old enough to see all the claims he makes in his piece as legitimate and, in some way, received wisdom the younger generations have somehow missed.

The core of the complaint is this:
   "When did out society turn against its best and brightest? When did we abandon the idea that among us there are people more qualified - by virtue of natural gifts, education, or experience - to lead? When did one man's opinion become as good as that of the next, no matter how unintelligent or uninformed? When did "meritocracy" become a dirty word?"

This seems like an apt complaint about the politics of the US and, to a certain extent, Canada. The politics that makes it law that intelligent design be taught alongside evolution in some states. That Representatives can stand on the floor of the House and claim using wind power as an energy source will "slow the wind" and damage the environment. Later in the article he singles out Rob Ford, mayor of Toronto, for special criticism as man "who wears his ignorance as a badge of honour". Mr. MacFarlane dreams of a better world, one in which our elected officials are elected because they are the most qualified to do the job. A world where those who achieve are respected by those who do not. He claims the reason we "feel like" we are living in the midst of a class war is the elites are perceived to be pursuing personal gain regardless of the costs or benefits for society - as if the accuracy of that "perception" was somehow irrelevant.

Mr. MacFarlane is evidently an educated man. He is an editor for a magazine aimed squarely at the educated middle-class - who have little patience for men like Rob Ford and probably feel they aren't being respected as much as they ought for their "natural gifts, education, or experience". What MacFarlane is either missing or (cynically) ignoring is the readers of his magazine, society's best and brightest, have no influence politically or economically and never have. He is misremembering if he believes there was a time when they did. Sure, they might play some small role at the local level but national politics has always been the domain of those elites "perceived to be working only for themselves".

MacFarlane's test for a kind of rational society is his grandfather, who respected those who had achieved more than he had. I have to assume this was sometime between 1910 and 1950. I also assume when he was thinking of those who had achieved more than his grandfather the scale of those achievements remained modest. His grandfather, a tool and die maker (same as my father) would certainly respect a judge or a professor. My father, around the same age as MacFarlane, certainly respects judges and professors for precisely the reasons MacFarlane uses to argue they deserve respect - their education and experience.

The idea people choose to elect ignorant candidates because of the combined effects of the narcissism of the 60s and the avarice of the 80s is absurd. People elect terrible candidates because the political process is so deeply flawed it might be beyond salvage. No amount of chastising voters is going to fix it. The fix is already in but it won't repair anything.

The idea that we "feel" like we are living in a class war is absurd in a very special way. We "feel" like it because we are living in a class war - the ultra-rich against everyone else. And we are losing badly. The idea society can be separated into two groups - the elites who deserve our respect and the aggrieved who are messing everything up for the rest of us by refusing to respect them - is too simplistic to bother ridiculing.

In the particular case of Rob Ford, there is a correlation between membership in the Ford Nation and income levels. Poorer people are much more likely to be members. Ford is a disaster as a mayor and an asshole (possibly a drug addict, probably a wife beater, and probably and alcoholic). But when the members of the Ford Nation hear the attacks against him, they tend to ignore them or not have their opinions changed. And why should they? They have been lied to by everyone in power about everything else -why should this be different? These are the victims of serial fuckings. Work hard and you'll prosper - lie. We are going to reduce taxes - lie. Your money is safe with us - lie. Home prices never go down - lie. You'll have money to support yourself when you retire - lie. Your kids will have a better life than you will - lie.

The way to get rid of Ford is to get rid of the Ford Nation. When the number of people who have been fucked over and lied to their whole lives by "the elites" who deserve their respect no longer constitutes a sufficiently large percentage of the population to win an election - that's when Ford and his odious ilk will disappear. MacFarlane ends his piece with the conclusion the Ford Nation deserves an apology but not for the serial fuckings - because the educated elite of this city (and by extension country) have not persuaded them to behave with sufficient deference.

I'm falling into the same trap as MacFarlane when I confuse or combine MacFarlane's elites (educated and experienced people who remain human) with the actual elites (the members of JP Morgan ordered to pay nearly $1B in fines relating to the 2007 crash for example). MacFarlane's elites haven't done anything to the members of the Ford Nation, at least nothing deserving an apology. MacFarlane's elites and the Ford Nation are one and the same in the eyes of the actual elites. So the crucial mistake MacFarlane makes is thinking he is somehow significantly different from the Ford Nation in his ability to influence society, politics, the economy. He has the same influence they do. The difference is the Ford Nation vote according to their station and MacFarlane votes according to his illusions.