I suppose it’s better that this is a result of celebrity rather than tribalism, but it’s still rotten.
[quote=“Salon: Nepotistic succession in the political class”]Bill Clinton yesterday was forced to deny speculation that he would be appointed to replace his wife in the U.S. Senate. Leading candidates for that seat still include John F. Kennedy’s daughter (Caroline), Robert Kennedy’s son (RFK, Jr.), and Mario Cuomo’s son (Andrew). In Illinois, a leading contender to replace Barack Obama in the Senate is Jesse Jackson’s son (Jesse, Jr.). In Delaware, it was widely speculated that Joe Biden would be replaced by his son, Beau, and after Beau took his name out of the running because he’s now serving in Iraq, the naming of the actual replacement – lone-time (Joe) Biden aide Ted Kaufmann – “upset local Democrats who believe the move was a ham-handed attempt to engineer the election of Biden’s son, Beau, to the Senate in 2010.”
Meanwhile, in Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, who was appointed by her father to take his seat in the U.S. Senate when he became Governor, yesterday warned Sarah Palin not to challenge her in a 2010 primary, a by-product of tension between those two as a result of Palin’s defeat of Lisa’s dad for Governor. In Florida, Mel Martinez’s announcement that he won’t seek re-election in 2010 immediately led to reports that the current President’s brother, Jeb, might run for that seat. And all of that’s just from the last couple of weeks.
The Senate alone – to say nothing of the House – is literally filled with people whose fathers or other close relatives previously held their seat or similar high office (those links identify at least 15 current U.S. Senators – 15 – with immediate family members who previously occupied high elected office). And, of course, the current President on his way out was the son of a former President and grandson of a former U.S. Senator.
Isn’t this all a bit much? It’s true that our political/media class in general is intensely incestuous and nepotistic. Virtually the entire neoconservative “intelligentsia” (using that term as loosely as it can possibly be used) is one big paean to nepotistic succession – the Kristols, the Kagans, the Podhoretzes, Lucinanne Goldberg and her boy. [/quote]
In Hollywood too. Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, Angelina Jolie, Charlie Sheen, etc.
If kids grow up in that environment, not only will they have a leg up, they will have been exposed to the lifestyle and the inside information that will help them be successful. Kind of an internship. It’s an old tradition. The son of the village blacksmith grows up and takes the family business. The son of the village innkeeper grows up and takes over the family business. It’s kind of natural. The unseen hand.
Jesse Jackson, Jr will never get O’s Senate seat in Illinois. I don’t know why they keep reporting it. It’s about as dead as Ray Charles, and he can see that. :s
If true, great. But politics and Hollywood, more than any other industries, trade on name recognition. Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges? Ok. If you could hold a ‘blind’ screen test, they’d come out on top. But Angelina Jolie, Charlie Sheen? Come on… They’re arguments against nepotism if every there were one. George Bush Sr? Not my cup of tea, but fine. George Bush II?
I think your argument about Jolie and Sheen boils down to personal taste. While I could care less about either one, both are decent actors unlike Miley Cyrus, daughter of country singer and actor Billy Ray Cyrus or Josh Brolin. But anyway, :offtopic:
Snigger. Jolie is an awful actress, perfectly suited to wearing skin-tight outfits in B-grade crap. Nothing to do with personal taste. She just cain’t act!
Well I for one prefer movies with excellent scripts, direction and acting, without ANY known actors, over mediocre Hollywood stuff with big stars. The only reason I’ll pay attention to the presence of a star is when that star is known to go for particularly good scripts.
Generally, nepotism sucks. Shrub was a disaster, and I will be voting AGAINST Chelsea too.
Just getting into any business, there’s a lot of knowledge that is not easily accessible. You can’t go to school and pick it up. When you take over the family business, you will get the benefit of the experiences of your parents. Your ‘Life Experience’ thesis from grad school won’t count for much. Chelsea is a smart girl. There are a lot of smart girls. But Chelsea has had access to information and events from a unique point of view. I wouldn’t be hesitant to vote for her. Probably wouldn’t vote for Jenna.
[quote=“ac_dropout”]In sports as well…Kobe Bryant, Yao Ming.
Almost like a life is determined at birth…[/quote]
Let’s say you want to be a basketball coach. How can you unless you’ve been doing it all your life? You might know the Xs and the Os, but there is so much that you won’t know. If your dad is Michael Jordan, what are you going to do when you grow up? Accounting?
Sorry dumb Brit question but are your Senators not elected? Can anyone just take a seat and then gift it on to someone else? Does America not bomb other countries into the ground for doing this?
Assuming they are elected then what is the problem?
[quote=“Edgar Allen”]Sorry dumb Brit question but are your Senators not elected? Can anyone just take a seat and then gift it on to someone else? Does America not bomb other countries into the ground for doing this?
Assuming they are elected then what is the problem?[/quote]
They are elected however it gets tricky when they take a different position in the government that isn’t elected. Rather than having another election (which is costly) the governor of the state usually gets to appoint someone as a replacement. You can’t gift choose who is going to get the seat directly, but you could use your influence with others to determine who will take your newly vacant seat.
[quote=“Dr. McCoy”]If your dad is Michael Jordan, what are you going to do when you grow up? Accounting?[/quote]Be a good idea. A better idea than basketball. There’s money and businesses to be taken care of, for sure. Having the talent to play, that’s a craps shoot.
Now, if the boy grew up practicing the game with his dad, 4 or 5 hours a day, he might develop that talent and win a spot on a team. That’s something else entirely.
My old man’s a lumber grader. How much do I know about grading lumber from him? A bit. Plus a bit from working in the mill. Enough to hang a multi-million dollar order on my know-how? No way.
The problem, even though there are elections, is people sometimes inherit vacated seats – and incumbents win a disproportionate number of seats, few of which are really competitive – other times inherit party machines, and too often coast on celebrity thanks to popular disengagement/ disinterest. It’s not as bad as say the Gandhis in the Congress Party, or hereditary seats in the House of Lords, but it’s not an open field, and nothing like a meritocracy. It also creates the conditions for a quasi-familial republic, rather than a state-based republic or democracy, and given that corruption is more likely to arise than an ethic of service, a hereditary political class is not in the national interest.
There’s many people who have the talent, but it’s never discovered. There are people who could be good actors but they never apply themselves or they never get the chance.
In a wider sense, this is part of the justification for programs like affirmative action and headstart. Some people don’t have any way to break out of the place where they were born into. If your father was the backup dishwasher at Denny’s then you might aspire to be a backup cook if you work your way up. Other kids on the block are sons and daughters of crack dealers and pimps, it’s hard to buy into all the American Dream hype.
There’s many people who have the talent, but it’s never discovered. There are people who could be good actors but they never apply themselves or they never get the chance.
In a wider sense, this is part of the justification for programs like affirmative action and headstart. Some people don’t have any way to break out of the place where they were born into. If your father was the backup dishwasher at Denny’s then you might aspire to be a backup cook if you work your way up. Other kids on the block are sons and daughters of crack dealers and pimps, it’s hard to buy into all the American Dream hype.[/quote]
Whoa now big fella.
Both my great grandfathers were labourers, one a Navvie building roads died when the Greenwich foot tunnel collapsed (he went back to save his men) and the other worked on tall ships and fell from the rigging
My Grandfather on my mothers side ran moonshine and lumberjacked in Canada most of his life, whilst my father’s dad was a civil servant
Dad went into Banking and retired as European head of a major listed company
You may not get out in one generation but people move up and down all the time. So far my career has gone great, my sister does OK and my brother is a loser who professes to being working class. Its mostly about attitude and values no?
[quote=“Edgar Allen”][quote=“Dr. McCoy”]There’s many people who have the talent, but it’s never discovered. There are people who could be good actors but they never apply themselves or they never get the chance.
In a wider sense, this is part of the justification for programs like affirmative action and headstart. Some people don’t have any way to break out of the place where they were born into. If your father was the backup dishwasher at Denny’s then you might aspire to be a backup cook if you work your way up. Other kids on the block are sons and daughters of crack dealers and pimps, it’s hard to buy into all the American Dream hype.[/quote]
Whoa now big fella.
Both my great grandfathers were labourers, one a Navvie building roads died when the Greenwich foot tunnel collapsed (he went back to save his men) and the other worked on tall ships and fell from the rigging
My Grandfather on my mothers side ran moonshine and lumberjacked in Canada most of his life, whilst my father’s dad was a civil servant
Dad went into Banking and retired as European head of a major listed company
You may not get out in one generation but people move up and down all the time. So far my career has gone great, my sister does OK and my brother is a loser who professes to being working class. Its mostly about attitude and values no?[/quote]
Good for you and your sister.
It’s mostly about attitude and values? In a perfect world.
My philosophy has been to vote against whoever was in office, but this time I was really hoping for Obama because I wanted some Clinton people back in charge. Simply because I wanted to be reassured that there were people in government who were knowledgeable about the task they were supposed to do. It seems that compentence has been sorely lacking for the last 8 years.
So yes, nepotism is not good, but it’s not always bad. Fresh faces are good but so is experience and competence. You can pull yourself out of the gutter with hard work and clean living, but I’d like to see more opportunity.
YAWN – the media has to say something so they toss out the recognizable names. How many of those in Jaboney’s original list have actually got any of these seats?
Wasn’t the whole Democratic primary supposed to be a triumph of change over despotism? Wasn’t the entire general election a renunciation of the prior despot?
If Obama hadn’t managed to pull out a victory in the Democratic primary this year, Hillary Clinton almost certainly would have been taking the oath of office next January.
That would have been at least twenty-four years (1989-2013) with four consecutive presidents coming from just two families (Bushes and Clintons). I’m not aware of any other country in the world with such a record.
To put it in perspective, had such a development happened, an American would have to be at least thirty years old in 2012 to even remember a president not named Bush or Clinton, and he would have to be in his late forties to have been an adult with some president other than a Bush or Clinton in the White House.
And we would still have Jeb Bush to look forward to.
It would be one thing if the Bushes were at least mildly competent in governing, but the family has no talent for it.
But anyway, :offtopic: