Global geography is almost entirely irrelevant to many people's daily lives - but if you quizzed the same people on the geography of their tri-county area, I'm sure there is an encyclopedia of information in their heads.
Americans are biased toward practicality, always have been and always will be.
You make some interesting points, but I believe that having a point of world reference that geography provides, gives a much richer understanding of current and historical events. This isn't simply beneficial to the "meritocracy" as you put it; it's vital to the masses as well. It's not just this meritocracy that votes, it's the masses too.
We cannot argue for a strong defense, if we don't know where we're defending against. We cannot debate whether or not a trade agreement is beneficial or not, if we don't have a general idea of the countries involved. And, we cannot determine whether or not it's worth sending troops halfway around the world to battle terrorism, if we don't have an idea of where they're going and the conditions they'll be fighting in.
These are just some of the reasons for the "practicality" of general geographic knowledge. The majority of Americans are not using geography to innovate, but they should have an awareness if they want to participate in the political and economic process.