matrimarchy (n.): a government of rulers linked by marriage; e.g. a succession of power descending from a husband to his wife

That’s better. Anyway, much has been made of the fact that an H-Dawg presidency would constitute at least 24 years of rule by the same two families. I know plenty of people who cite this factor as a rationale for supporting Obama (or opposing Clinton, depending on how you look at things). Such a sequence would, admittedly, be unprecedented, but I think a lot of people miss the fact that throughout American history, politics has been a family affair at every level of government.

The examples are so numerous that counting them would be a fool’s errand, so naturally, such a list exists on Wikipedia. Who knows how reliable the Wikipedia research is, but if it’s accurate, there’s some spectacular stuff in here. In some instances, the lineages seem like a joke: for example, Henry Sherman, a 16th century Englishman, spawned lines traced to the present day whose members include William Taft, Herbert Hoover, Aaron Burr, Bushes 41 and 43, John Kerry, and Winston fucking Churchill. This, is merely one big phylum in the larger class, whose members include such disparate figures as John Adams, William Tecumseh Sherman, Susan B. Anthony, and, praise Jebus, Rockwood Hoar.

I only happened to get intrigued by all this because I was looking up John McCain to see if anyone had diagnosed the big-ass goiter on his left side, when I discovered that not only had he filled Barry Goldwater’s Senate seat in 1986, but that his brief stint as the representative from Arizona’s 1st District in the U.S. House was preceded by that of John Jacob Rhodes, Jr. (30 years) and succeeded by that of John Jacob Rhodes, III (6 years). Dynasty is everywhere.

Tags: coinages