I would be satisfied with just having political leaders chosen by lottery from the populace, and who choose the best among themselves to be the president or arbitrator.

What we have now is a lower class of deceivers: those most willing to say and do anything as a favor to gain money to advertise (steal time and attention) and get re-elected.

Maybe, over time, skills testing could be tuned toward the best interests of civilization (city-based society), but where would that leave Nature?

As someone who has advanced the causes of 'civilization' (military aircraft and weapons) in the past, and as a farmer and engineer, my experience has been that the 'best and brightest' tend to usually work selfishly toward goals (the more they are systematically educated, the more they do so), and succeed at it. They set up highly complex systems in civilization that only they can understand and benefit from; systems that benefit their favored paradigms, not the best interests of the soil, water, animals and people of the future who will be closest to those things.