Posted on 01/03/2024 8:49:20 AM PST by cotton1706
I live in MA, the land of the Kennedys, Cabots, Lodges, Adamses, Saltonstalls, etc. And the lesser known and local names that nobody would recognize. So I know all about aristocratic families and their histories.
They’re not secret cabals, but they are the party leaders, who get behind a big name and flood the zone and next thing you know, everybody gets behind him/her because they want their party to win. It’s nothing new. It’s how it’s done. Because name recognition is free marketing.
I doubt that Hatch’s son all of a sudden said to himself, hey I’d like to be a senator. I bet he was called by somebody or a group of somebodys that said, hey if you run, we’ll get behind you. We can get you elected. And then the signs are printed and flyers and mailers go out and the radio ads are purchased, etc. And I’m quite sure Mitch McConnell was like, oh, old Orrin’s son, let’s get behind him to stop the conservative. He’ll be a nice go along guy.
That’s what I mean by “they arrange things” because I’ve seen it personally for decades and it’s been done for centuries.
But you are correct when you point out that voters keep voting for the name over and over. It’s unfortunate.
That’s pretty much what I have seen too.
My point the problem is primarily the voters.
Not secret cabals of “them”. I don’t care how much the “picks” of the “aristocrats” are advertised and shoved in voters faces. No one walks in and holds the voter’s hand or forces him to vote for them. It’s all on the voter. There have been examples of well financed, picked by the aristocrats’ candidates that have failed. Jeb Bush being a prime example!
Another thing I am not sure the primary system is our friend. It tends to produce thoroughly homogenized “in-the-middle-no-real-principles” candidates. All vetted and shined burnished and packaged like the latest thing in condoms by the of DC (the Beltway) & local PR boys.
This is heresy but I am starting to think the convention system “state-to-national” as counter intuitive as that sounds is actually better!
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