It is a great ideal but it can never happen all the time humans are humans. Elitism is an inevitable consequence of evolution.

Grand statement of the day.

I'm 53 and I don't accept that my generation or the two previous ones had it 'easy'.We had it different.

Housing is an issue now and no one can deny that but it is just today's problem, Yesterdays had plenty of their own.

Evolution is directionless, to presents no favour, only random selection and sexual selection. Arguably, evolution doesn't favour the elite in the long term (small breeding populations, reduced access to new beneficial traits, highly dependency on a environmental advantages, minimal elimination of negative traits because of social advantage).

"Rats evolve much faster than humans capacity to render them extinct." High breeding rates, birth rates, higher death rates, dangerous environments tend to hone evolution.

I think we can regulate sufficiently to benefit from meritocracy to the point that nepotism and personal bias is reduced to a minimal influence.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

This is all a bit vague, different people get pleasure and joy from things that others would find generates opposite feelings. I expect terrorists get some pleasure and joy from their activities.

Edited by hedgehog50 (22 Jun 2017 10.42am)

We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. [Orwell]

Society can equalise to a degree and it does so. The problem is that those on the bottom end of the scale always think the system is unfair because they are not at the top.
For piece of mind it is better to be grateful for what you have rather than wasting time fretting on what you have not.

As you have stated, evolution is aimless and random but it's effect on human behaviour is not.
Although elitism might not be ultimately advantageous for the individual, as a gene vehicle, they seek advantage to reproduce. In many humans that is expressed in a desire to have more than you have, to find the best partner and make the best children. That drive cannot be denied by legislation, only controlled. The trouble is that those making the rules are often helping themselves, and their genes, in the process. Their genes are giving themselves the best chance of winning the evolutionary game while the human vehicle enjoys the benefits of a privileged human existence.
Of course being the alpha male does not always guarantee success. The underlings develop strategies to get what they think they deserve and sometimes that pays off. Their genes are deposited and flourish.

The obsession to own a house seemed to come along with Thatcher. Renting was the norm for many in previous decades but during the 60's and 70's people generally became better off and buying a house became a realistic aspiration for the average.
Of course the huge rise in house prices has allowed a whole new generation of landlords who took advantage of inheritance or profits, sometimes buying houses at auction and renting them. For some that has become a full time job.
The trouble now is the amount of disposable income that it costs to live in many properties and the disparity between wages and house prices for getting a mortgage.

With immigration, low housing stock and multi home ownership by previous generations, it is a perfect storm.