A talmid chacham trumps the leaders of the congregation [a propos of the other thread about talmud study vs. halachah, note that one opinion is that a rabbi who is expert in halachah trumps a pilpul rabbi] and only after that's been exhausted do the common folk get an aliyah. So says the Tur and so paskens the Shulchan Aruch. Why don't we do that anymore? It's not like the president and the other rich folk consistently get an aliyah every shabbat.

I'm probably wrong but maybe it's influence from the chassidim. I remember once hearing that the peasants had no chance at getting aliyos and the chassidim changed that so that peasants have a way to connect with hashem and they don't feel left out.

So they just changed halacha to make the peasants feel better? Reminds me of JOFA.

not that uncommon.