All in the family: In 2026, a surge of politicians' kids are running for office

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/family-2026-surge-politicians-kids-are-running-office-rcna244442

200 points · 42 comments · view on lemmy.world

42 Comments

supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz · 114 pts · 250d (7 replies)

If there is anything I am sure about it is that the children of politicians are largely useless.

Statistically it is a far superior choice to literally pick a random person off the street.

hypna@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 250d (6 replies)
youngGoku@lemmy.world · -8 pts · 250d (5 replies)

This would not work in USA haha. We'd inevitability have method heads getting elected yo office at some point.

I love the idea though. Maybe we could implement it at some point with some minimum qualifications or something.

Bonifratz@piefed.zip · 9 pts · 249d (1 reply)

If you have a large enough parliamentary body whose members are chosen randomly, then having a couple of nutjobs on it, also maybe one or two murderers or rapists, would not take away from the entire body being able to function and make sensible decisions.

I'd argue the current Western democratic systems based on elections lead to a stark overrepresentation of criminals and assholes in government.

ctrl_alt_esc@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 249d

The electoral system we currently have is not democratic. Sortition/aleatoric is the only real form of democracy.

Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 250d

George Bush Jr was a coke head so close enough

Schmoo@slrpnk.net · 6 pts · 249d

You kidding? Lots of politicians now are on way more than just meth. Sortition with a recall vote and the ability for those selected to recuse themselves would be a much more representative sample than the politicians we have now.

sauerkrautsaul@lemmus.org · 4 pts · 250d

I mean the states isnt the only place that has folks who are out in the wilderness. in dublin par examplé, if you go north of the river that divides the city in half on the main street you will encounter a herion user in under 30 seconds

fedupwithbureaucracy@lemmy.world · 50 pts · 250d

Angus King III? Oh, the person whose father voted to kill tens of millions of people by voting to take away their healthcare? Automatic NOPE!

Jumbie@lemmy.zip · 47 pts · 250d (2 replies)

Politics was never supposed to be a nepotist endeavor.

gdog05@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 250d (1 reply)

John Quincy Adams agrees.

phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 11 pts · 250d

So does G W Bush.

altphoto@lemmy.today · 26 pts · 250d

I propose we don't vote for legacy politicians. Go live in the world your parents chose for all of us.

pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 24 pts · 250d (2 replies)

This is why you need mail in voting. You get a pamphlet of their views and time to really look at the candidates.

velindora@lemmy.cafe · 21 pts · 250d (1 reply)

Mail in, ranked, no electoral college, no districts.

First_Thunder@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 250d

If you’re going to have 2 chambers of parliament, you may as well have one be elected via districts (with ranked choice) and the other be proportional representation

melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 24 pts · 249d

Politics and Hollywood. The nepo tradition being kept alive. We need change, not the entrenched establishment of old people telling their young people how to game the system.

Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 250d (1 reply)

Oh boy, our own House of Lords!

Drusas@fedia.io · 7 pts · 250d

It still blows my mind that that exists in the modern era.

DrFistington@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 250d

It will be easy to vote against them if the names are recognizable

orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 20 pts · 250d (1 reply)

American politics has always had a "legacy" problem, among other things.

Fredselfish@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 250d

Why Sanders didn't endorse his brother when he ran for office. Sanders hates nepotism. Fucking Hollywood is full of it. We don't need it in our politics.

Typhoon@lemmy.ca · 18 pts · 250d (1 reply)

They want us to literally vote in monarchy?

RagingRobot@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 250d

We already have been.

VampirePenguin@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 249d (4 replies)

Let's just "jury duty" all of our government. Shit couldn't be worse.

Turret3857@infosec.pub · 3 pts · 248d (3 replies)
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prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 248d (2 replies)

Have you met average Americans? Fuck that.

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 248d

Filter by GPA first then.

VampirePenguin@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 248d

As long as we're dreaming, we can dream about an education system that turns out functional adults.

einlander@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 250d

People are trying to make family dynasties.

MehBlah@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 249d

They know a good grift when they see it.

pinheadednightmare@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 250d

Fuck that mess, we need new blood. Same family, same bullshit

pyrinix@kbin.melroy.org · 5 pts · 250d (10 replies)
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Maeve@kbin.earth · 5 pts · 250d (7 replies)

Bill Clinton was a horrible president, balanced the budget on the backs of the working poor and more "tough on crime" neoliberal cut taxes for the rich and corpos, sold us NAFTA by telling us our manufacured goods would cost less and Mexican standards of living would improve and both were lies. And he threw a vulnerable barely out of college aged kid under the bus for one of many dalliances.

theneverfox@pawb.social · 5 pts · 249d (6 replies)

You've barely even scratched the surface.

He also destroyed the social safety net, he cut the regulations that caused the 2008 crash and let billionaires buy up the press...

He really just cut all the straps holding our county together. I'm still learning new ways on how he opened us up to the problems we're now facing

Maeve@kbin.earth · 3 pts · 249d (4 replies)

Oh I know! When I said he balanced the budget on the backs of the working poor, cutting social safety net is exactly what I meant and then some. And let's not pretend Obama was better. He was better on idpol but once again, he was socially ledt and economically right. Corporations and ultrawealthy got tax cuts at the expense of the poor.

We can do better, and politicians can do better; but they won't until we make them do it.

theneverfox@pawb.social · 2 pts · 249d (3 replies)

Agreed. It was uniparty bullshit. The neolibs and neocons are basically the same, plus or minus a couple superficial issues

We can't go back to that bullshit. We have the political momentum, we have to vote in progressives

Maeve@kbin.earth · 2 pts · 249d (2 replies)

Define conservative please.

theneverfox@pawb.social · 2 pts · 249d (1 reply)

Lmao wtf, I use swipe typing. I don't know how the fuck progressive turned into conservative

No, I meant progressive. I can define that if you like, but I see where the confusion is lol

Maeve@kbin.earth · 2 pts · 248d

Lol! Thanks so much, I was thoroughly confused.

Sharkticon@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 248d

Bill "Reagan Lite" Clinton really.

phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 250d (1 reply)

we’ll shoot him down too

Easy there, cowboy.

pyrinix@kbin.melroy.org · 1 pts · 250d
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EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com · 1 pts · 250d

Say what, say what?

GraniteM@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 248d

We need a constitutional amendment forbidding members of one's immediate family from running for office above a certain level. Spouses, children, and siblings are all right out. Exactly where the cutoff is is open to discussion, but presidents and members of congress should be forbidden from trading on their family name for elected office.