THE EVIDENCE IS EVERYWHERE that nepotism is becoming a major issue in American life. If no one in Washington is calling it a major problem, that’s only because to describe it as such would insult virtually the entire leadership of both major parties. We are in the absurd situation where our current president is the son of the president-before-last, the other son of the president-before-last is mentioned as our possible next Republican president, and the pack of possible future Democratic presidents is led by the wife of our last president.

Imagine that some Rip van Winkle had fallen asleep twenty years ago and been told that our Republican governors included a Taft and a Romney, and that among our newer Republican Senators were Chafee, Dole, Sununu, and Murkowski. And, of course, to assemble a full archive of Democratic congressional legacies–the various Pelosis and Kennedys and Udalls and Bentsens–would require a new hard drive for your computer.