Xinhua News: On February 4th, Washington post website published an article entitled "Family Power". The article said that throughout American history, family political dynasties are not uncommon, such as Adams family, Roosevelt family, Kennedy family and so on. Today, 10% of members of Congress have a close relative in the House of Representatives or the Senate. Political dynasties, like slander and political favors, are unique products of America. The article is summarized as follows.
John adams (left), the second president of the United States, and john quincy adams, the sixth president, have a father-son relationship.
William henry harrison (left), the ninth president of the United States, and Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president, are grandparents.
Theodore roosevelt (left), the 26th President of the United States, and franklin delano roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, are uncles and nephews.
The American people won their freedom from the autocratic monarch through violent revolution, but soon succumbed to the view that some families were destined to be in the leading position-as long as we could choose them.
Bush. Clinton. Bush. Clinton? Although it is unusual for two families to occupy the Oval Office in turn for many years in American history, political dynasties are as unique as slander and political favors.
Political families have a long history.
Most precocious children can probably list several famous families in American history: Adams family, Roosevelt family and Kennedy family. However, when it comes to the story that politicians are in a favorable position because of their families, these household names are only the beginning.
Although we may try to condemn the idea of inherited advantages in the era of "American Idol", hamilton fish II, hamilton fish III and hamilton fish IV were all elected to Congress for a reason-and one of the reasons is their ancestor hamilton fish I, who served as a US Congressman, a New York Governor and a US Senator.
Political genes? You might think so when you think of the Frelinghuysen family from New Jersey. Six members of the family entered the Congress (including four senators and two representatives), including the current representative Rodney Frelinghuysen. This is endurance.
So, in the case that another family dynasty may be coming soon-because not only Hillary Clinton is the wife of the former president, but Mitt Romney is also the son of the former governor and presidential candidate of Michigan-we looked through high school textbooks and called several wise historians to ask them such a question: What happened?
According to Pedro Dahl Bo, a professor of economics at Brown University, in the first US Congress established in 1789, fully 45% of the members had relatives working in Congress. He said: "Although the population of the United States was relatively small at that time, it could not explain why so many members of Congress had relatives working in Congress." Today, 200 years later, 10% of members of Congress have a close relative in the House of Representatives or the Senate. Moreover, this phenomenon transcends party boundaries.
Evidence abound: Gore family, murkowski family, Rockefeller family, Baker family, Dole family, Bono family and Meeks family. Nancy pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives-the first woman to hold this post-is the daughter of Thomas Dalessandro Jr., a former congressman.
Dahl Bo said: "Some families are good at politics. Maybe it’s a family trait. Holding power increases the possibility of future generations taking power. Being in Congress opens the door for relatives to enter Congress. Power brings power. "
Stephen Hess, a historian of the Brookings Institution, was first famous for writing the book "American Political Dynasty" in 1966. At the beginning of the book, the fact was put forward: by then, 700 families had produced two or more congressmen, that is to say, 17% of the members of the US Senate and House of Representatives came from these families.
Hess said: "Who was the most competent at first?". With the passage of time, it has gradually become a family problem. " He said that the first leaders of the United States were all selected from the "essence of the country", as long as these elites were white men who believed in Christianity among the bourgeoisie.
Theory of "small resource pool"
We can also consider this phenomenon through the theory of "small resource pool". In the early days of the founding of the United States, I always saw the same surname repeatedly, because there were fewer outstanding people to choose from. Historian Edward Lenehan said: "The scope of aristocratic families is very small-the choice is very small-in a newly established country, when most people are still trying to fill their stomachs, only this small group of educated people have time and leisure to engage in politics. You can’t let a group of inferior people manage affairs. "
Jack Lacaway, a historian at Stanford University, said that there was also a sense of vigilance in balancing the influence of family status. He said: "The founding fathers unanimously stated that government positions should not be passed down from generation to generation in the hands of one family."
Lacaway cited the cold attitude of the Founding Fathers towards the Cincinnati Association as an example. Cincinnati Association is the earliest hereditary association in the United States (the organization’s headquarters is currently located in Dupont roundabout). It was founded in 1783 by the former generals of the Continental Army and was named after Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, the dictator of ancient Rome. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin both expressed dissatisfaction with this organization, because its membership is passed down from father to son, and there are no soldiers among its members. Lacaway said: "This is a military elite organization based on the principle of heredity, and since the beginning of the revolution, there has been a strong prejudice against the view that political power should be passed down from generation to generation."
As far as politics is concerned, David Kennedy, a historian at Stanford University who has nothing to do with the Kennedy family, said that the Founding Fathers "agreed and understood this. They expect’ natural aristocrats’ or what they call’ the family of the earliest immigrant descendants in Virginia’ to take up competent positions. At that time, people would not criticize what was wrong with this. "
One of the earliest and most famous political families is the Adams family, although David mccullough, the author of john adams, does not agree to use the word "dynasty" in his beloved Adams family.
Why? Mccullough said, because they are not a "real" dynasty. Although john adams’s son, john quincy adams, did become the sixth president of the United States (and john quincy adams’s son, charles francis adams, also became a member of Congress and served as the US ambassador to Britain), mccullough thought that this word was somewhat inappropriate.
"The children and grandchildren of the Adams family have been educated to serve public utilities since childhood. John adams never ignored the call of responsibility, although it was detrimental to his economic income and threatened his life and marriage. "
Mccullough asked, "Is this a fine tradition of a family? Instill the children with the concept of serving public utilities. " However, if his son did not succeed his father in the White House, would it be more beneficial to the United States? Mccullough doesn’t think so. He said, "john quincy adams is a great man. He is not an important president. He is not the greatest president. But he is not an incompetent president. "
Mccullough on the other end of the phone raised his voice. "He is the only president who returned to the House of Representatives after retiring from the presidency, which is unprecedented. He struggled with slavery day after day in the House of Representatives, not to mention that he was old and exhausted. He fell down at work forever. "
Family values tend to be out of date.
Kennedy said that when john quincy adams became the sixth president of the United States in 1825, the concept of great family shouldering great obligations was somewhat outdated, and it encountered the rise of andrew jackson in the 1820s and the more tolerant "Jackson Democracy", which gave people from humble origins legal rights.
David Kennedy said: "A politician can be a hillbilly from a remote and backward area who walked out of a legendary cabin. In fact, the cabin has become synonymous with humble origins. " He pointed out that nowadays, candidates from humble origins may speak out the truth. Senator john edwards once said "I am the son of a worker" more than once. Similarly, Barack Obama told an inspiring story about his rise from adversity. Kennedy said, "You can be a member of the Roosevelt family", a rich boy, or a noble family, "but you must be a defender of civil rights".
As Hess said, the political dynasty in the United States has always been unstable. Many of the founding fathers’ families retired from the stage after playing the role. George Washington has no biological children. His stepson Jackie died of typhus. Similarly, the Jefferson family, Madison family and Lincoln family’s tradition of engaging in politics did not last for many generations.
Hess said, "It’s not that these families stayed too long. Perhaps a member of the Kennedy family stayed a little too long, but on the whole, they all retired gracefully. If we can look at history through a long enough lens, people will find that the fact is that either they lose interest in us or we lose interest in them, and then they fade out of sight. "
Is this good for us? Hess said: "In the long run, they treat us well, and we treat them well." That’s about it. Presidents from these recognized dynasties can be found on any list of the top ten presidents listed by historians. Who wants to exclude theodore roosevelt or franklin delano roosevelt or john adams? John F. Kennedy awakened a generation of young activists, while william howard taft’s government was famous for its anti-trust law and postal savings system.
However, it is undeniable that there are also many backbenchers (ordinary members of the lower house of the British Parliament-this note), and the country can get by without them. President william henry harrison and his grandson Benjamin Harrison are not bad? Today, the Taft family member who has attracted the attention of the national public is Bob Taft, the former governor of Ohio who just left office last year-when he left office, his public support rate was as low as 7% and he was convicted of four misdemeanors.
In a country with a population of 300 million, the theory of "small resource pool" is no longer applicable, so there are always some factors that make these families still active in politics. You can raise money through relationships. This is an explanation. Political skills learned from my father? Management consciousness-or power desire? The electoral college is more inclined to the noble family?
In the future, people will make a real historical evaluation of the existing and seeking members of the two political dynasties, Bush and Clinton. At the same time, the twin daughters of Chelsea Clinton and Bush will also be eligible to compete for the White House. (Editor: Liu Ruichang)
Editor: Wang Yuxi