If you recognize property rights, then wealth is not a proxy but is in fact one real measure of merit. I think any form of government in some way eventually does 2 things: 1) gives more representation to the wealthy, and 2) tries to keep the "less equal" people happy. You are right - more/less equal is not defined explicitly but more by how the world works - i.e. money. There's no way to change this without abolishing property rights and moving to communism, which is why you get these big communist movements in democratic countries. Not sure what the solution is. Mencius Moldbug wrote some interesting stuff on it, he advocates for 1) recognizing the who holds the real power and 2) explicitly giving those people direct control. This has the effect of enforcing a kind of accountability - e.g. storming the capitol building accomplishes nothing, but storming Bezos' house might. At the same time, it allows for a similar kind of recognition/credit-giving when the wealthy are good actors instead of evil. Some people here advocate for some kind of constitutional monarchy although I haven't seen a detailed post defending it yet.