The American Aristocracy

It's bad enough we let people take root in elective office for decades. But the ever-expanding tradition of keeping congressional seats "in the family" is well out of hand:

After eight years as senator from New York, Hillary Clinton is trading places, moving from Congress to the incoming administration.

On Monday, President-elect Barack Obama announced that he asked his former rival to be his secretary of state.

That means the scramble begins to replace Clinton on Capitol Hill. Among those mentioned to take her seat as New York's junior senator is her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

I realize this is all speculation right now, fanned by the many Friends of Bill still out there. The fact it's plausible speculation just makes my point. America was never intended to have a hereditary ruling class, but we've evolved one anyway--just ask the Kennedys, Bushes, Clintons and Bidens. As I've noted before, had Hillary won the White House this year we'd have ended up with at least 24 consecutive years of the Bush-Clinton dynasty. And we still dream of calling ourselves a Republic??

We've succumbed to "brand name recognition" in selecting our leaders. This means our leaders increasingly come from a class of people who are, like Paris Hilton, largely famous and powerful because they're famous and powerful. As the scions of these American dynasties come into their own, is it any surprise they're out of touch with the needs and priorities of the average American?

No elected office should ever be allowed to pass from one immediate family member to another. I don't care how many "good people" that might disqualify -- in a land of 300 million people, there are plenty of options besides a handful of pseudo-aristocrats. The fact we tolerate this neo-nepotism so often, at every level of our society, just shows a lack of vigilance and commitment to keeping control of our governance.