Meritocratic Projection Explains Liberalism

High‑ability people who thrive in low‑constraint, high‑autonomy environments may generalize their personal success as a universal policy prescription — a cognitive projection that makes them prefer fewer social constraints. This hypothesis is empirically testable: compare policy preferences of high‑IQ individuals across contexts where institutional safeguards differ and measure whether personal outcomes mediate political views. — If true, policy debates about liberalizing social rules (e.g., deregulation, decriminalisation, relaxed family norms) need to account for a status‑driven projection bias rather than treating those preferences as universally welfare‑maximizing.