Remnants from the 2000 election hang in the air like volcanic ash smothering and blinding the voter, including doubts about the reliability of the Supreme Court’s decision on the Florida recount and the fairness of the Electoral College.
President Bush usually ends up bearing the brunt of these arguments. But one insult in particular seems to land on the shoulders of the Texan, if all else fails.
“George Bush is dumb and his father got him into Yale.” Professors, students, critics and friends have all made these statements.
Is the 2004 election really coming down to nepotism, the belief that one has benefit over qualified persons because he or she is family?
Are not most of us more than willing to embrace nepotism if given the chance? How many of those calling Bush dumb work or go to school somewhere because of familial connections?
Some of our favorite American families thrive on this concept: The Kennedys (once you hit the Connecticut border, it’s Kennedy country); the Foremans (the grill could get all the Georges into Ivy League schools); the Clintons (the country’s favorite New Democrats) and the Corleones (I know they’re fictional, but is it a coincidence that one of our favorite trilogies is full of nepotism?).
Adam Bellow, author of In Praise of Nepotism, says that this word should not have negative connotation. Bellow points to something he calls “new nepotism”: the belief that familial organizations are good for America.Bellow sees children who have grown up in the family business enjoying and excelling in the same occupations of their parents.
The antithesis of this concept could be picked for many real life American families, but to keep a partial reading audience, I will use Fredo Corleone.
Fredo, the older brother of Don and Mike Corleone, is given jobs because he is family. Family is everything to them. Fredo is a screw-up. Moe Green complained of his over-enjoyment of cocktail waitresses in Las Vegas. (No one could get a drink.) When his father was being gunned down by hit men, Fredo dropped the gun.
George W. is not a “Fredo.”
Bush graduated from Yale. Much later in life, he became governor of Texas and, on his own reputation, he managed to win in 2000 against Vice President Al Gore, who came from a popular administration.
If new nepotism is a good foundation of American society, wealth without guardrails is not.
Radley Balko, fellow at the Cato Institute and a libertarian thinker, came up with the “No Guardrails Theory,” which basically says that societies’ elites can afford to live promiscuously, but the lower classes cannot afford to.
Indeed there are many wealthy families who abuse the guardrails.
Take, for instance, Paris Hilton, the heiress to the Hilton fortune. She has dabbled in pornography and drugs and has chosen to live the farm life on television in a way only Paris Hilton could.
“Dubya” and the Bush family live within the guardrails.
Jeb Bush’s daughter was caught on drug charges and convicted and the president’s daughters drank under age, but does all this belong in Balko’s web of belief?
George H.W. Bush was an unpopular president when he left office. His broken promise on ‘no new taxes’ sank him eventually. The elder Bush’s legacy has definitely not won his son any votes. The legacy of his father has made it harder for Dubya if anything.
George W. plainly is not a no-guardrails brat. He has compromised on the education, Medicare and spending bills, to name a few.
Bush takes heat for his familial connections, much like James Baker. But Baker, in a recent trip to the Middle East, managed to get many nations that Iraq owed during the Baathist regime to forgive debt so the new Iraqi government can hastily take shape.
Prosperous American families with guardrails make society better. The values they spread trickle down to the local family. Embracing a Bush legacy should be a power point for conservatives in 2004.

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