America has slipped way down in global social mobility rankings; the "have nots" are no longer able to access the echelons of the "haves". Put more bluntly: the American Dream is dead.
The electoral debate is about how Keynesian we want to be, how much or little we want government to stimulate economic growth and which approach will work best (top down, or starting with the middle class).
But perhaps the debate should be much more radical: how do we bring back a system that allows excellence to emerge, out of every pocket of society and every income bracket, and rewards hard work and merit?
The man who coined the word "meritocracy" in the 1950s, British Labour Party strategist Michael Young, said society needed two things: equal opportunity for all through quality, free education, and a system that would recognize and reward merit through social mobility. This would not only be a just society; it would be an economically competitive society because the most productive of its members would rise to leadership positions and lead well. The best and the brightest would rally businesses, create jobs, train youth, launch new ideas, plant seeds.
But Young warned that a day would come when those Darwinian geniuses at the top who had risen through the ranks to lead, would begin to enjoy their power and want to consolidate it, wall themselves into the citadel they had reached, change the legislation to keep the "haves" in and the "have nots" out. Only the offspring of the elite would have access to superior education and superior jobs. These would compete among themselves for more power and money, leaving the rest farther and farther behind.
Eventually, the rest would revolt. They would hit the streets, throw tomatoes, perhaps bombs. The revolt would be the downfall of all, proof that greed as driving force does not, in the long term, create a functionally efficient society.
What does? Long-term thinking does. Sustainable thinking does. Good governance with checks and balances. A system with leaders who act as guarantors of equal opportunity for all (education, the public library system that Andrew Carnegie founded, the Internet, Big Bird teaching children of all social classes to read). A system with leaders elected to further the COMMON good, not just the good of their constituencies.
An economic system where investors adopt long-term thinking and demand the same from corporate leaders.
The UN Global Compact, and many other public and private organizations, are spearheading projects to bring such thinking mainstream. It is catching on.
Short-term greed won't go away. But perhaps it will become less effective as a driving force. Will we learn this before, or after, the revolt Michael Young predicted?
