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Wednesday, December 3, 2008 12:00 AM

Nepotistic succession in the political class

A large, and rapidly growing, percentage of high elected officials are part of politically powerful families. What accounts for this anti-democratic dynamic?

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  • Thursday, December 4, 2008 06:57 AM

    Words

    I think aristocracy is the wrong word. We should be using

    kakistocracy n. , pl. -cies . Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.

    Also, the unions in Chicago are not good examples of democracies. Generally they are run by the wimpy sons of the hard-fisted union bosses who founded them. What doesn't change over the generations is that they are not run in order to benefit the union members at all. They're run to benefit the union management.

    Gee, that system sounds familiar...

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