What would it say about America if two families could hold power for 28 years?

[kentuck]

Would it speak well for democracy? Or would it make America to be some type of shared monarchy? Who knows where it would end? After 28 years? After 52 years? Or longer? Should this cause anyone to be concerned about the direction our country has headed?

[TahitiNut]

1. Out of over 300,000,000 people, we're VERY short of "talent"??

Yeah. Riiight. :eyes:

[magellan]

2. Very short of rich talent

There are plenty of people who'd do a far better job running our government if they didn't have to be wealthy to get there.

[notesdev]

4. Pick at random

Just put 300 million names into a hat and pick one.

Couldn't do worse than we've been doing.

[magellan]

10. That is the sad truth!

Even if we pulled another alcoholic serial murderer; he might at least speak English!

[marylanddem]

3. I knew we were in trouble

When Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr. started doing "good will ambassador" work together.Is there a Bush male they could marry off to Chelsea, secure the throne for future generations?

[ColbertWatcher]

5. I would say Ralph Nader needs a better line. n/t

[Liberal Gramma]

6. That we allow ourselves to be herded like cattle toward

someone else's objective. This dynasty is benefitting somebody--just not you and me.

[loyalsister]

7. All I know is

I'm 38 years old and there is only one election in my memory where a Bush or a Clinton was not considered for the executive branch.
I think it is not healthy for our democracy.

[AlCzervik]

8. it's all about money, no one can run and win unless they have $$$$ and that's abig

concern.

[Richard Steele]

9. "Same as it ever was". nm

[question everything]

11. Is this your only objection to Hillary?

If she is the best candidate, why not?

She, and others, should be judged by her competency to be President, not by her last name.

[Fumesucker]

15. Out of probably 180 million possible candidates..

The wife of a former president just happens to be the best candidate?

The odds against that are .. ummmm.. astronomical..

[question everything]

28. Our history is such that out of 180 million possible candidates

we do not select the best.

I remember a visitor from overseas in the 80s and he asked: of all the possible candidates, you ended up with Reagan?

The reality is that the really good candidate choose to stay out of the race and one reason, I am sure, is that we dissected them, their past, their family and friends to death.

I don't know about you, but I sure would not want anyone to come forward to remind the world on whom I had a crush in 8th grade. Thankfully, those days we did not have camcorder and YouTube and cell phones that record everything.

Yes, the "bitter" comment embarrassed Obama, but I could not help thinking that here is a person in a private fund raising event and someone is secretly recording what he is saying.

We, humans, are creatures of habits and we are drawn to the familiar. And it is not as if Hillary just sat home and "baked cookies." Even before the White House she has established a respectable track record of liberal activism.

Again, there are many reasons for you to object to her but the reason of a dynasty is really disingenuous. How many of us wish that Bobby Kennedy were elected in 1968?

[Bigleaf]

12. No more Dynasty!

[Aloha Spirit]

13. It would say Americans have failed to live up to the promise of their country.

[WA98296]

14. It kinda says to me "Rigged Voting Machines" n/t

[kenny blankenship]

16. Our system despite its old advertising slogans about "democracy" very efficiently concentrates power

And once you've achieved some form of it, it is very difficult to dislodge you.
The whole democracy thing is one those selling points that only episodically comes to the fore. Most of the time the American political system functions as a hoary, mossbacked oligarchy more or less the way that the oligarchs who designed it hoped it would. Now and then there are outbreaks of discontent and you get great burst of change: like democratization under Jackson (who ran against a "legacy" candidate just as Obama is doing now), like the end of "property rights" in human beings under Lincoln, and like the right to work and fair wages under FDR. But mostly what you get is decades of entrenched money deciding exclusively for its own benefit how things will go acting through their paid agents in Congress, with the barest nod given towards consultation with the governed, even when capital is running things into the ground, like right now. That's the American system, and it's no wonder that prominence in political parties is a property that can be transferred from one generation of a family to the next, or from husbands to wives.

That's what it says to me that 2 families could trade the Executive between for them 28 years. It SUCKS, and it's high time for an outsider to kick the door in, like Jackson did or Lincoln. Hopefully if we can keep our wits and manage to make some institutional changes, that door will stay kicked in for good.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

17. After 28 years? ...Bush/Clintons...a shared dictatorship? ...n/t

[Rosemary2205]

18. Which America? There 2 of um you know.

and no, I'm not being snarky.

One America loves the fact 2 families have kept us all at bay.

The other America has been beat down so long they are almost afraid to hope.

[Two Americas]

19. yes

When people say "we" or "America" here, it is never clear which American they are talking about, nor what they mean by "we." Usually they mean the ruling class. "We invaded Iraq" - that betrays an unconscious identification with the ruling class, which more often than not is how activists who claim to be opposed to something or other express things. "America sucks" they will say. Which America? The ruling class again? Or is it "America" as in the working people? Is it the people whom the activists think suck and whom they hate?

It is not possible to know where people stand politically without knowing which America they are talking about, and what they mean when they say "we."

Malcolm X had a good understanding of this. Are we "house Negroes" or "field Negroes?"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=257&topic_id=9839&mesg_id=9971

There are two Americas. Where do we stand? Which America do we support, and which America do we hate?

[leveymg]

20. It would say that the 45th President of the United States will likely be Jeb Bush

Don't the Mayans say that History ends in 2013?

[Wabbajack_]

21. Yeah, that sucks

[DFW]

22. The Japanese Imperial family has been reigning for 2600 years

Take a deep breath.

[Rosemary2205]

25. Fortunately

we fired our monarchy.

[Yossariant]

23. What does it say about America if it elected George Bush TWICE?

What does it say about the opposition if it was unable to defeat him?

[DFW]

27. He took office twice. I'm not so sure he was elected once.

Not legitimately, anyway.

[Snarkturian Clone]

24. Ugh... it's disgusting. Watch, it'll be Hillary, then Jeb Bush,

then George P. Bush, then Chelsea Clinton, then Jenna Bush.

[Echo In Light]

26. ...

[moondust]

29. Democracy, freedom...

Just words. Great for whoop-de-do speeches, though.