In the late 1800 s, America had its Gilded Age, with the creation of large new industries by the era s robber barons accompanied by massive inequality and corruption. The subsequent Progressive Era was followed by a temporary return to plutocracy in the 1920 s.

Who would not wish to live in a meritocracy? It is certainly preferable to a plutocracy, in which wealth determines status, or a gerontocracy, in which age leads one to the top, or even an aristocracy, in which what counts are inherited titles and properties.

Nonetheless, the upcoming election will undoubtedly bring a change in government. The question is whether new faces and a different balance of parties will lead to more stable and effective governance, or to a continuation of the current government s misrule what the Indian academic Pratap Bhanu Mehta has called a plutocracy of the most insidious kind.