Please, no more dynasties!
Last Friday, a NY Times article titled “Donors Weigh Jilting Christie for Jeb Bush” (5/2/14) reported that more moderate Republicans might be looking toward another Bush in lieu of some radical Tea Party candidate. Admittedly, the GOP has a thorny problem. The Tea Party and its sympathizers even go after GOP rank and file—anything to the left of fascist is anathema to these fruitcakes. But, after our NJ guv Christie’s fledgling campaign couldn’t even leave the nest due to Bridgegate, who else does the GOP have that might appeal to America’s vast political middle? Certainly not Ted Cruz. Mario Rubio might be a good veep candidate, although any Hispanic would be stupid to vote for him, and that GOP budget genius Ryan has shown his black heart all too often.
Of course, “more moderate” is relative: Dubya’s brother is still a Bush, and a member of an ancient dynasty in American political terms. He’s still far to the right, a card-carrying conservative whose progressive ideas are half-baked, half-hearted, and designed only to court Hispanics, Blacks, and women. He, in fact, still would have to court Tea Partiers, right-wingers, born-agains, and long-time bigots in order to be nominated. As Mitt Romney so ineptly demonstrated, to win the GOP nomination you have to move so far to the right that you fall off the eastern edge of the political world.
I’ve had enough dynasties. I don’t think we need more of them. The Bush dynasty is the longest, but there are the Cabots, Lodges, the Dulles boys, and the Rockefellers—all old wealth and card-carrying one-percenters. On the Dem side there are some notables too, the most conspicuous being the Kennedy clan, not exactly Camelot when you consider how Jack became president, Bobbie’s McCarthyesque pursuit of commies, or Ted’s NIMBY approach to the environment—but I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, although their money is old too. More recently, you have that wannabe dynasty, the Clintons. We don’t need Mrs. Clinton either—she should just ride into the sunset with spurs jangling so the sound will entertain her new grandkid—but maybe grandma is thinking daughter Chelsea will establish the dynasty, not her. The GOP has it wannabe dynasties too—just ask Ron Paul whether he wants his son to be pres.
Political dynasties are America’s substitute for royalty, and, after the first family member’s turn in office, they’re just about as useless and oh so parasitic. We suffer the 3D disease here in the States, and that includes Alaska and Hawaii—Dynasties Do Damage. It’s hard to do the accounting for how much damage they do because they seem to last forever. The Bush dynasty wins hands down, of course—Dubya almost bankrupted the country with the Iraq War and did his part to continue the attack on curbs put on banks and Wall Street after the Great Depression so that the 2008-2009 financial collapse occurred. Maybe one of Jeb’s goals will be to add to that tally—Gulf War (Papa Bush) + Iraq War (Dubya) + ? War (Jeb) = one hell of a Bush legacy.
No, after examining both the GOP and Democratic fields, we need some fresh faces. Barack Obama has some faults, but at least his was a fresh face—voters’ weariness from suffering 3D certainly contributed to the rejection of Hillary. Maybe a new face will appear on the Dem side so she can retire and take a rest from all the Benghazi crap—come to think of it, that’s her Bridgegate. She dropped the ball there but has yet to fall on her sword, although the real culprits there are in the CIA.
Both Hillary and Jeb are old faces. I’m tired of them. Every morning when I look in the mirror, I see an old face. Why do I need to see another one? And I’d rather avoid them on TV. I want to see a young face in the White House so I can watch him age, his or her hair turn white, and worry-wrinkles triumph, as they pay penance for wanting to be a politician, which generally translates to making our lives miserable. Sure, I can say that someone has to do it. But I’d rather have an android run by an alien AI from 83 Eridani than have a member of a human dynasty. We have enough contact with dynasties—the two British brats were in the States last week having a great old time at the cost of the British taxpayers, and maybe American ones as well. But the Brits have their dynasty under control—their dynasties aren’t political, just ceremonial. We should be so wise.
And so it goes….
