Caroline Kennedy for Senate

The US blogs are aggressively discussing the propriety of appointing John F. Kennedy's daugher, Caroline to the senate. But the arguments by her detractors seem to argue that she is just getting by on her name while she "isn't qualified" or "hasn't earned it".  I think that is a veiled way of approaching the real problem but it should instead be stated outright.

Western democracy is founded on a rejection of biological dynasties. They are, however, creeping back in. The problem isn't that Kennedy isn't qualified. Lots of senators have thin credentials. She is intelligent and by virtue of her name has a good network, clout, and can fundraise successfully the 40 million she'll need for the elections she'll need to fight in 2010 and 2012.

 

The problem is that whenever you rally behind a Caroline Kennedy, or a Hilary Clinton, or a George W.Bush, or a Beau Biden, (or similar cases of dauphins and heirs here in Canada or elsewhere), you erode the rejection of hereditary rule and injure the democratic experiment. Don't roll your eyes. I used the word erode deliberately. Erosion happens slowly and almost imperceptably, and then all at once the foundations of your house fall into the sea.