Is America's political 'nobility' undemocratic?

While politics can be a family trade like sports or cattle ranching, this vocation often involves weighty decisions of war and peace.

Although she spent part of her childhood in the White House, Caroline Kennedy has never held any elective office, unlike Chris Dodd and Bob Casey, Jr. who had previously served when they won their Senate seats.

Critic decries 'rampant nepotism'
“The rampant nepotism in politics tells the American public that they don't live in a democracy, they live in an aristocracy where only those inside Washington's gated community are allowed to have power,” said syndicated columnist and author David Sirota.

“The Caroline Kennedy buzz is only the latest — if most overt — example of this. Here is a person with no government experience whatsoever, a person whose major claim to fame is her last name,” Sirota said. “And she's in a state teeming with possible candidates who exhibit a wealth of experience and political talent, from longtime members of Congress to community organizers to grassroots nonprofit leaders. And yet, she is apparently a major contender for a U.S. Senate seat based on her last name alone.”

But Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Sen. Robert Kennedy and cousin of Caroline Kennedy, contended in an interview with MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell on Tuesday that Caroline was qualified to serve in the Senate.

“She’s raised over $70 million for New York state public schools; she’s written a book on the Bill of Rights and privacy issues…She’s a mother and a woman and we live in a country where one of out of every five girls is sexually assaulted by the time she’s 21…We need Caroline’s voice in the Senate and she’ll serve us well.”

Kerry Kennedy also argued that her cousin “hasn’t sought money, she hasn’t sought fame, she hasn’t sought power. And I think that (she) will be a fresh and new voice in the Senate.”

The perils of celebrity appointees
If the idea of an American political nobility seems undemocratic, so can the appointment of senators.

Most states allow governors to fill Senate vacancies, with only Oregon and Wisconsin requiring a special election to fill them.

"Celebrity" appointments for these seats have sometimes gone awry.

In August of 1964, Pierre Salinger, President Kennedy’s former press spokesman, was appointed by California Gov. Pat Brown to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Clair Engle.

Salinger carried some of the Kennedy charisma by his association with JFK. But when Salinger ran for a full term in November of that year, he lost — to a fellow celebrity, Hollywood “hoofer” and singer George Murphy. Murphy painted Salinger, who’d been living in Virginia, as a carpetbagger.

The debate over Caroline Kennedy “goes to a deeper societal issue, the obsession with celebrity,” said Sirota. “We are a country whose founders warned us against the creation of royalty — royalty really being the mixture of infinite political power and celebrity. But in this, the American Idol age, politicians are our newest celebrities.”

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