According to Osho, meritocracy is realized by replacing age-based suffrage with competence-based tiers. Set educational minima for voters and candidates that rise with office: locally, matriculate voters, graduate candidates, mayors with master’s; at state level, graduate voters, master’s candidates; ministers need first‑class master’s in the relevant field, with doctorates preferred (e.g., LL.D. for attorney general). Governance must be led by subject-trained experts, not career politicians.
Let people vote and lead only when they’re educated for the job, with higher posts needing higher, matching study.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: OSHO, HOW CAN THE IDEA OF MERITOCRACY BE PRACTICALLY REALIZED? ONE thing is absolutely certain: The days of the politicians are over. They have done too well their job of being destructive, violent. They have come to a point where humanity has to decide either to die remaining with the politicians, to commit a global suicide, or to throw out the politicians and save humanity, civilization, culture, life. Nothing is favorable to the politician; and as each day passes his death comes closer. He himself is responsible. He improved the weapons which can bring death to the whole world to such a point that there is no way of going back. Either there will be an ultimate war -- which means death to all and everything -- or a total change in the whole structure of human society. I am calling that change, meritocracy.
My vision is different. It is that the politician can be prevented from ruining the human societies of the world if he is prevented from directly controlling the government and the administration of the state. The elected representatives of the people. of course, should form the parliament, but the parliament or the majority party in parliament will not form the Cabinet or the council of ministers. The majority party should find highly qualified and experienced specialists and experts in different fields of government -- like education, health, finance and the rest -- and form the council of ministers with them. For example, it will be the task of the majority party to find the best educationist for the job of education minister. Similarly it will appoint the best physician as health minister.
Beloved master, in what way do you envisage democracy playing a part in your communes?
The question is a little complex. Democracy is not the highest goal. It is better than dictatorial regimes, it is better than monarchies, but it is not the end of the journey -- because democracy basically means government by the people, of the people, for the people, but the people are retarded. So let us say: government by the retarded, for the retarded, of the retarded. Democracy cannot be the highest possibility man can attain. It is good in comparison to other forms of government that have preceded it, but not something that can succeed it. I call that meritocracy. I want a government by the people of merit. And merit is a very rare quality. As the situation is, all the geniuses of the world are outside governments. It is hilarious: those geniuses are needed in the government because they can give the best world to humanity, but they…
Beloved Osho, on december 25th, you spoke to us on the declaration of human rights. You exposed it as a political device to maintain man in his current state of physical and psychological slavery, and to ensure that he remains ignorant of his true potential for godliness. Would you, tonight, make your own declaration of human rights for the new man?
One arrogant aristocrat could not tolerate it. Before Lincoln started speaking, he said, "Wait a minute. Do you recognize me? You used to come with your father to my house sometimes because your father made shoes for my family. You used to help him." And the whole Senate laughed. This was an effort to humiliate Lincoln. But you cannot humiliate people like Abraham Lincoln. He said, "I am very grateful to you that you reminded me of my dead father at this moment. Because my father was the best shoemaker in the whole country, and I know that I can never be the best president as he was the best shoemaker. He is still ahead of me." What criterion do you use? How do you manage? That's why my idea is that the days of democracy are over. A new kind of system is needed, based on merit. We have…
Osho, would you like to throw some light on politics, according to the three different levels of consciousness?
At the time of Gautam Buddha, perhaps around the whole world, the second level of consciousness came to its highest peak. In China, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Mencius, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu -- these were the people, contemporaries. In India, Gautam Buddha, Mahavira, Makhkhali Ghosal, Ajit Keshkambal, Sanjay Vilethiputta -- they were overpowering, giants. In Greece, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Heraclitus, Pythagoras -- they touched the very peak of intelligence. All over the world, suddenly it was as if a tidal wave of intelligence came. Only idiots remained fighting; all the intelligent people were deep into finding ways how to decide what is right and what is wrong. In India it was a tradition for every philosopher to travel all over India, challenging others. Challenge was not inimical -- you have to understand that. On the second level there is no enmity, both challengers are seekers. It is a friendly phenomenon,…