http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/opinion-blog/2014/09/25/a-jeb-bush-2016-presidential-run-suggests-a-drift-toward-aristocracyRound Three for the Bush Dynasty?
Rumors that Jeb Bush will run for president in 2016 suggest a further drift toward aristocracy in America.
By Jean Card Sept. 25, 2014 | 9:00 a.m. EDT + More
Oh, the cockles of many establishment Republican hearts were warmed this week by CNBC’s report that ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush looks very much like he’s running for president. One could almost hear the purring of those anticipating their next Plum Book job.
But stories about Jeb Bush give my insides a very different feeling: One of sinking. One of disappointment.
[SEE: Cartoons about the Republican Party]
It’s not that I think this Bush would make a bad president; I actually think he’d make a very good one.
It’s just that, come on, this is America. And when one family – or a handful of families – appears over and over at the top of the government, things start looking and feeling a lot more like an aristocracy than a representative republic.
No one has said this better than the Bush matriarch herself, former first lady Barbara Bush, who has famously said she doesn’t want Jeb to run for president. In an interview on C-SPAN she said, “I think this is a great American country ... and if we can't find more than two or three families to run for high office, that's silly.”
Silly is a great word for it. And while her syntax was a little awkward, I deeply appreciate the sentiment Bush expressed when she said we are a “great American country.” I believe she was emphasizing the fact that we are different because we don’t believe power should be in the hands of the few. We broke away from England because we wanted a different kind of power structure – one that is based on the people, not on kings and queens.
The very real possibility that we might see a 2016 ballot that says “Clinton” and “Bush” feels, to me, like getting socks for Christmas. Can’t we do better than this? Where’s the variety that makes life fun and that makes our great nation interesting?
Curmudgeonly readers might now say, “Obama gave you variety, his family wasn’t one of the big three – Bush, Clinton, Kennedy – and look where that got us.”
Point taken, curmudgeons. But disappointment in trying something new doesn’t mean you should never try again.
