Meritocracy for thee, but not for me

Just now on Fox News, a lady named Lee Farris, representing a group called United for a Fair Economy, said:

We, people who support the estate tax, believe that people should get ahead on their own merit, not based on the wealth of their parents, and that's a core principle on which the American nation was founded, and a belief in a meritocracy, not a belief in people who win the genetic lottery.

Oh, really? America was founded on the "core principle" that half of your life's savings should be taken away by the government when you die? I'd sure like to see where it says that in the Constitution, because I always thought the core principle was that private property is protected, and if you've come by it honestly, then it's yours to do with as you see fit.

I wish the interviewer had asked Ms. Farris if she was against giving any of the money confiscated by government via the death tax to the poor and needy. She should be, since she's committed to the idea that people should get ahead on their own merit, and not, presumably, through handouts.