A thought regarding Divinely Glorious Elites:
While this value is currently terrible due to furthering social stratification, it has an untapped/not-yet-used potential for the opposite.
1)King's weaknesses could no longer be as pronounced.
If a ruler is terrible at math, and his decisions clearly unfeasible economically, DGE would make him employ an accounting prodigy, correcting his mistakes.
If a ruler decides to destroy an ecosystem with a foolish but epic infrastructure plan, a sufficiently educated assistant will influence him to stop.
A military inept leader would no longer rely on his skills, but rather on the significant competence of his generals.
This decreases the importance of king, since regardless of his personal excellence/diving calling/etc., he's still one man.
In this context, DL is not merely a cash grab by greedy elites- it's a sign of decentralization of ruling, which could possibly be a good thing, if handled correctly.
2)Exemplary members of lower classes now have a cultural imperative to defy their inherited social position.
If a lowly smithy shows clear talent, others will make sure he'll make most of it, thus rising in rank faster.
If a simple soldier shows a talent in leading others, there'll be less resistance to some young upstart taking charge of others.
Current rise in importance of the patricians comes mostly from their birthright- connections, fortunes and positions of their families.
If we manage to bridge this gap and support other groups, more geniuses and prodigies from poor families will mary into royal ones, diluting their wealth, bringing a true equality.
3)This value may eventually make democracy feasible.
Since everyone is striving to be the best, they might no longer wish to be one-sidedly ordered by their 'betters'.
Patricians are already gaining power. Assuming we can bind them more strongly under general law, as well as make them (again, gradually and
eventually) listen to general public, this could become pretty much a modern democracy.
Of course there's a ton of problems between this utopia and what we have now.
Lack of academies especially pose a problem- if we won't spread this value to wider masses, elites will continue to be the only ones benefiting from it.
A push for mass education would be a fantastic result of this struggle- not only do we get everyone bettering themselves, we get a truly intellectual society.
Though, again- right now it's a very pretty dream. But it doesn't mean I don't want to believe it.
