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Good point about how elite universities have played a significant role in the nepotism business. I'm not sure to what degree this has changed in recent decades, but the examples of George W. Bush and John McCain are powerful nonetheless.
Given that admissions to those schools (Yale and the Naval Academy) have always been highly competitive, don't you wonder what prospects *weren't* admitted in order to make room for the worse-than-mediocre George and John? Sure, maybe it was just another worthless legacy case, but then again maybe it was someone who would've actually done something with the opportunity. In George's case maybe it was someone who went on to fight and die in Vietnam.
That's the real tragedy of nepotism. For the most part, we live in a zero-sum world where opportunities are not limitless. When they are denied to someone worthy, it simply isn't always the case that an equivalent will arise somewhere else for that person. So the mediocre (or worse) get promoted based on family name and the rest of society suffers for it. Look no further than the Current Occupant.
