Let's keep it that way

"Liz Cheney ends 75 years of modern political dynasties".

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney’s GOP primary defeat this week did more than just end her family’s dominance in U.S. politics dating back to her father’s role as President Gerald Ford’s chief of staff in 1974.

It also marked the coming end of a long stretch of at least 75 years of somebody from one of America’s modern political dynasties serving in federal elected or appointed office.

No Kennedys, no Bushes, no Clintons, no Cheneys.  

Politically, there is also a concern that dynasties stifle new thinking. Charlie Kirk, who founded the successful Turning Point USA activist organization aimed at young conservatives, said Cheney’s defeat has helped to end a dominant Republican viewpoint that many in the party reject.

“Neo-conservative dynasties have been rejected by voters across the country. Middle-class Americans have repudiated the Republican oligarchy. It is a new day for the Republican Party,” he told us.

And Democratic pollster John Zogby said the end of modern political dynasties suggests that Washington and its elites have lost their influence.

“With Liz Cheney leaving office, it looks like the end of the notion of a ‘D.C. elite.’ I don't see any other family on the horizon. Both a fulfillment of our culture and a revolution away from inside-the-Beltway dominance,” he said.

Well, Hallelujah and Jubilee! That should work to our advantage. The problem is that the attitudes, strategies and, to an alarming extent, the cultural and political notions of the dynasties have become institutionalized, and are quickly metastasizing into the naked will to power. Are the normals up for a long march back through the institutions? Do we even have time for a long march, or will we be compelled to adopt something more, let us say, expeditious? We'll see.