succession

this morning the globe laments
that there will soon be nary a single
kennedy
in government

while i too lament the ironic possibility
that the victory of a centrist-liberal president
and his
'radical'
moderate-liberal agenda
may turn out to be exactly what the
increasingly insane republicans
[note i do not say conservatives]
need to burrow deeper inside
more americans' empty heads

where was i

oh

i could give two shits about a lack of kennedys

actually i take that back

i'm glad they're gone
for the same reason i'm glad the bushes are
temporarily off the radar
and for the same reason i'm glad clinton wasn't elected

regardless of individual qualifications for or against
it's a sad byproduct of the media-dependent
nature of politics
that names such as theirs become
in effect
royalty
dynasties
the exact sort of thing our founding fathers fled

even if it is more akin to brand names
bush being shorthand for 'compassionate conservative'
kennedy for 'actually compassionate and will spend to prove it'
clinton for something between the two
convenient
but
it is still nothing more than a further way that voters can stop
thinking
about what policies mean
and rely on the news to chew and regurgitate it
directly into their mouth

so while i thank them for their service

i'm glad they're gone