Meritocracy is just another word for ableism.
You think power should be based on ability? No, *responsibility* should be based on ability. Power should be based on whether you are affected by the outcome. In other words, power should be based on need.
What is the purpose of power? What is its use? To ensure that what you want or need becomes a reality.
Some people, when in power, will use it to ensure that others get what they want or need, because that is what the person in power wants. Others will use it towards selfish ends. But whether selfish or altruistic, the person in power weilds it according to their own desires.
If your goal is truly to be altruistic, then you should give the power you hold to those in need. Use your power to empower others. Because only the person in need truly understands their need and what will assuage it.
The value of human beings does not come from their abilities. The value of their abilities comes from human beings.
@hosford42 Value is measured not just because you exist, which has some value, but what you bring to the table, as a species what you can do for the group besides what you do for yourself. Btw I like the idea of co-ops, as far as ownership vs today’s corporations. 👍
@Huntn00 Glad you like the coops idea, even if we disagree on other points!
@Huntn00 That's confusing different things for each other, IMO. The value of an ability comes from the value of the work you can accomplish with it. The value of the work you accomplish comes from the need it meets. The value of meeting a need comes from the very fact that it is needed by a person. Everything that has value is either intrinsically so (people) or its value is derived from other things (abilities, work, meeting needs). But the value of the work you do doesn't make *you* any more valuable. It just means you're doing the right thing. Value flows out from us, not into us. Any other way of looking at it can be used to assign greater value to those with abilities than those without, which is tantamount to ableism. It might be implicit and accidental, but that's still what it is.