When did Congress become hereditary?

The fact this "request" from the ailing Senator Ted Kennedy won't raise many eyebrows should, itself, raise a LOT of eyebrows:

Ted Kennedy has made clear to confidants that when his time is up, he wants his Senate seat to stay in the family - with his wife, Vicki.
Multiple sources in Massachusetts with close ties to the liberal lion say his wife of 16 years has long been his choice to continue carrying the family flame in the Senate. Kennedy won the seat in 1962; his brother John held it from 1953 to 1960. By favoring his wife, Kennedy, 76, is bypassing his late brother Robert Kennedy's eldest son, Joe, a former congressman.

Political families are nothing new, generally a result of establishing a "brand name" that voters, usually without thinking, respond to at the polls. But in recent years there's been a trend toward appointments that continue such dynasties. Yet another way in which our own Senate has come to resemble that of late Republican or early Imperial Rome (along with abdicating unhealthy amounts of power to would-be Caesars residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave).

Even more revealing than Ted's request to "keep it in the family" is this little nugget about how the succession process works in Massachusetts:

Under current Massachusetts law, his successor for the rest of his term, which ends in 2012, would be picked by special election. State rules that allowed the governor to pick a temporary replacement were changed in 2004 when John Kerry was the presidential nominee and the Democratic state legislature feared then-GOP Gov. Mitt Romney would appoint a fellow Republican if Kerry won.

Now, that's as it should be: a special election. But note the state didn't go that route because they favor the power of the voters; oh, no, the rules were only changed FOUR YEARS ago, and only because of the threat of a partisan setback.

Little about our system truly represents the will of the people anymore. It's about creating the perception of public ratification of what the ruling class has already preordained will happen. "They" select the candidates, they exclude the dissenters, and they determine what we "get" to vote on.

They also get to pontificate about things like global warming while blocking realistic action to do anything about it. Great work, if you can find it (or have it handed to you as part of a dynastic succession agreement...) Think of it this way: the Kennedys have controlled that Senate seat for 55 years... nearly 1/4 of the entire history of the United States. Time for some new blood. Free Massachusetts!