By the people?

Back to the original point daniel was trying to make, before we got sidetracked on slavery...

Our country threw off a monarchy, only to replace it. Take, for example:
- The Bush family, which has had one U.S. Senator, two Governors, one Vice President and two Presidents in just the past 20 years.
- The Kennedy family, which has has 2 state senators, 1 mayor, 1 Lieutenant Governor, 1 governor (In fact, the governator - bet you didn't know he was a part of the Kennedy family, huh?), 3 ambassadors, 2 US senators, 2 US representatives, Attorney General and 1 president... all in the past 150 years.
- The Roosevelt family, which had 2 US presidents 30 years apart
- The Adams family, which served at the 2nd and 6th presidents.


And that just names a few of the families that have controlled or do control our country. Just like in England a few hundred years ago, this type of political control that rests in the hands of a family comes and goes, as they gain or loose favor in their political base. Nobles in England would lose their status based on these attacks, and new individuals who distinguish themselves would gain status and nobility for their family. Our country today works the exact same way. We just use the titles Senator, Representative, Governor, President, First Lady, etc instead of King, Queen, Duke, Baron, etc.

 

I question whether any government, family dynasty or not, really has as much power and influence as we give them credit for. The corporate agenda and political donors seem to hold more sway than any of this "by the people for the people" ideology.