Neary: The Cost of Going it Alone

If that is your assertion, then your ideal form of meritocracy simply does not exist anywhere in the real world. Patches are accepted on merits but history of contributors is certainly a factor. A very important one for major patches. People want to know this person will correct bugs found in the code etc.

There may be a misunderstanding of the word "meritocracy" here.

If I may quote Wikipedia on this:
"Meritocracy, in the first, most administrative sense, is a system of government or other administration (such as business administration) wherein appointments are made and responsibilities are assigned to individuals based upon their "merits", namely intelligence, credentials, and education,[1] determined through evaluations or examinations."

And especially with regard to Open Source:
"Technically, the more proficient the developer is in contributing towards the project - developing new features or maintaining existing code - the more they are required or the more the project necessitates their contribution, and thus the more senior their informal position becomes. Those who contribute more code, and have more of an effect on the direction or status of the project, will tend to have more seniority and influence."

So it's the developer's merits, not the individual contribution's that count. This is at least how I've always understood the word.