RE MERITOCRACY BELL CURVE DAVID BROOKS

Where did Brooks get his wild ass idea that we had become a meritocracy in, say, 1980 or so?

I don't know, but I am prepared to speculate....

One of the authors of The Bell Curve, Herrnstein,  had written a book, prior to that one, in which he had claimed that the US had become or was becoming a meritocracy.

BINGO!