Maintaining A Merit-Based Society

Power structures, wherever they are, establish mechanisms to retain power. The existing power structures that were established in America fought back in ways designed to maintain their hegemonies.In politics, a whole network of measures were put in place to suppress the popular vote. People with means used them to influence how those who were dependent on them, in one way or another would cast their votes. The vote was denied to women so their interests could be ignored. People of color were terrorized into submission. 

Education was always recognized as an avenue likely to lead to economic advancement. This was not always available freely to all. When it became more generally available, quotas, formal and informal, were-established, to limit entry to those considered less desirable by those in positions of power. 

Mentoring tended to be offered more often to those considered to be part of the desirable group. Those In the less desirable group had to be much better than the best to advance. For some, opportunities were totally denied. With time, barriers were breached by some. Even today, being better than the best to advance is the war cry of all those in the less advantaged groups, women, Jews, and Asians, Blacks and Latinos. 

The situation of the Jews in America may be viewed as a particular case. Exclusion fostered in them a drive to enter areas of economic activity that were less-occupied by those in the majority culture. Many began as pedlars, advancing to becoming small shop-keepers. 

This ultimately led to the establishment of department stores and supermarkets, in which Jewish ownership was a dominant feature in the early days of their development.  

Just as Jews entered banking in the days when the Christian church banned money-lending as usury, Jews sought out the less-travelled road in their efforts to survive. Similar developments occurred in the new American entertainment industries, Vaudeville, Broadway, Hollywood and television in America. Remember the Ziegfield Follies! And Jews tended to advance their own co-religionists in these fields. 

The Biblical Jewish ethics of education, life-preservation and Justice led to an emphasis among Jews for studies in scientific research, medicine and the legal profession. This caused the establishment of quotas for the entry of Jewish students in Universities in the early days. They did not prevent the dis-proportionate presence of Jews in these professions.