A merit-based promotion ideal proved politically untenable without dilution

Evidence

Moses’ proposal was a codification of idealism. Omitted, at the insistence of Moskowitz and James, was any mention of “higher division,” “lower division” or “university men.” There was to be only one standard for promotion in public life: “open competition,” how hard and well a man worked and how he performed on examinations. Examination results would be posted in public, and report cards would be open to public inspection so that every city employee would know the basis whereon he and his competitors were judged. Seniority would become unimportant; not experience but ability would be crucial. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 319

Categorization

• XREF: Prefigures the book’s central theme that Moses’s idealism would be erased as he gained power — a thesis-stage version of his later pragmatism. — connects to: Merit selection transforms rather than removes politics from judicial selection — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 439; Institutions can be justified without endorsement of their current form; The meritocratic promise of market society disguised its classist foundations. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1571 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Caro implies this pure merit system was an early ideal Moses later abandoned — worth tracking how and why it collapsed.

Broader Connections

• The meritocratic promise of market society disguised its classist foundations. #exemplifies (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1571
• Merit selection transforms rather than removes politics from judicial selection #qualifies (0.78) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 439
• Institutions can be justified without endorsement of their current form #expands (0.72)