Street roots., November 09, 2012, Page 11, Image 11

Street roots
Nov. 9, 2012
The meritocracy is dead. Long live the meritocracy
BY THOM AS VIN CEN T
prudence and lineage, the meritocracy
celebrates ambition, achievement, brains
and self-betterment. Barack Obama, a
multiracial child of a single mother, graduate
of an elite prep school, Columbia University
and Harvard Law is the ultimate product
and symbol of this system. He is its
crowning glory.”
The notion that we actually live in a
meritocracy might be a bit of a stretch for
some — just consider, for example, the
election of George W. Bush and his
disastrous appointment of Michael Brown as
head of FEMA.
Hayes agrees that while the country
remains in thrall to the idea of meritorious
advancement, more often than not it is more
of an ideal and that in reality: “[O]ur
meritocracy has failed not because it’s too
meritocratic, but because in practice, it isn’t
very meritocratic at all.”
As an author, Hayes displays a bright and
lively mind. Conservatives and progressives
alike will find much fodder in this book for
debate and discussion. The discussion of
meritocracy versus aristocracy is
particularly interesting. Ironically, however,
though “Twilight” contains much wisdom, in
the end, the book suffers from much the
same problem as the author’s initial
observation of the president. Like Obama,
Hayes is nothing short of brilliant at
illuminating the reasons for our country’s
current malaise — our “core sense of
betrayal.” Sadly, however, the author’s sense
of what to do about it is not as clear. “The
challenge, and it is. not a small one, is
directing the frustration, anger, and
alienation we all feel into building a trans-
ideological coalition that can actually
dislodge the power of the post-meritocratic
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
n any nonfiction book, there are two
things I look for right off the bat. One:
Does the author have anything
interesting or provocative to say? And two:
Is he any good at saying it? In “Twilight of
the Elites” the answer to both questions is a
resounding “yes.”
Author Christopher Hayes’ inaugural
effort is so packed with cogent insights and
fresh observations
that it bursts at the
seams: “The key both
to Barack Obama’s
political success and
to his political
setbacks lies in his
abilities to connect to
our core sense of
betrayal and his
inability to deliver us
from it.”
Hayes is an editor
Twilight of the
at large for The
Elites: America
Nation. His articles
After Meritocracy and essays have
by Christopher
appeared in such
publications as The
Hayes
New York Times
Magazine, Time and
The Guardian. In
addition, TV watchers may recognize him
from his stint as the host of “Up w/ Chris
Hayes,” on MSNBC.
In “Twilight,” Hayes focuses on the
current state of the nation, particularly our
recent past. It is not a pretty picture: “But
the core experience of the last decade isn’t
just political dysfunction. It’s something
deeper and more existentially disruptive:
the near total failure of each pillar
institution of our society. The financial crisis
and the grinding, prolonged economic
immiseration [sic] it has precipitated are
just the most recent instances of elite ‘
failure, the latest in an uninterrupted
cascade of corruption and incompetence.”
Hayes’ catalogue of woes is as complete
as it is disquieting: Enron, the Iraq War, the
housing bubble and the ensuing financial
meltdown, even the pedophile scandals in
the Catholic Church. The author lays the
blame for all of these debacles squarely at
the feet of those in power - the elites. And
while Hayes’ definition of that term is much
different from that used by conservative
I
elite. One that m arshals insurrectionist
"Meritocracy" by Art Hazelwood
pundits, the author holds much the same
view of the end results of the elites’ failure:
a pronounced loss of confidence in the very
institutions that Americans once depended
on for support and guidance.
The most controversial point in the book
is Hayes’ assertion that the current crop of
elites in power, the ones who have screwed
things up so mightily, owe their position
largely to America’s almost pathological
belief in a meritocracy — the abstract notion
that advancement should be conditional on
ability and accomplishment. “The
meritocratic elite is more diverse than its
predecessor, as racial minorities and women
have been allowed into its institutions. And
it places a greater value on high levels of
educational attainment, advanced degrees,
and professional schools. Where the
establishment emphasized humility,
sentiment without succumbing to nihilism
and manic, paranoid distrust. One that
avoids the dark seduction of everything-is-
broken-ism. One that leverages the deep
skepticism of elites into a proactive,
constructive vision of a moral, equitable and
connected social order.”
In other words, when it comes to
delivering us from darkness, I’m afraid
Hayes is as much in the dark as the rest of
us.
Reprinted from Real Change News, Seattle,
Wash.
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