I'd very much argue the idea that Vivek Ramaswamy has anything to say about democratic principles, unleashing free enterprise, restoring government transparency, and building an optimistic vision for America’s future. He's a straight-out fascist whose theories would have aligned perfectly with the Falangists in Franco's Spain. And it is those toxic ideas that bring him directly to "merit" pay.

Whether Trump, Musk, Ramaswamy, or any Republican politician, their arguments begin and end with a belief in eugenics, that people "like themselves" are born superior, and their superiority means they have the right to rule.

That's not a new idea, it has undergirded colonialism, imperialism, and totalitarianism as long as there've been human civilizations.

So "merit" and "good results" (see comment below) are defined as producing upper-class kids who behave like extreme capitalists or lower-class kids who behave with extreme compliance with the desires of the power elite. When we watch this in action - see New York City's elite high school entrance results or the path to gifted programs in almost every school - we see who gets rewarded and whose teachers will get rewarded.

I'll also argue that the standardized tests given in the United States are not only worthless, they are part of that very same concept. They are nothing more than tests of socio-economic status measured using the background knowledge of the white elite. They do not measure creativity, problem-solving, or the kind of humane intelligence Ramaswamy and friends completely lack. I think the Irish Leaving Certs (https://www.examinations.ie/exammaterialarchive/?i=120.100.96.113.99) have many flaws, but if you look at those (and they are all publicly available), you will see at least an attempt at measuring what learners can become.