By MICHAEL DAVIDOW, InDepthNH.org
New Hampshire has been making the news again recently. For a criminal defense attorney, that’s unwise. I like my work to proceed without fuss. So it goes for politics too. If the national press is paying attention, something’s probably wrong.
One storyline goes that we are fostering a pair of new political dynasties: the Shaheen and Sununu families are both running members for public office this year. John Sununu’s brother was recently our governor and his father was also our governor before working for George H.W. Bush. Meanwhile on the blue side, Stefany Shaheen’s mother has likewise served as both governor and senator.
Nobody accuses these clans of charisma. With classic yankee understatement, they claim competence instead (pity the younger Shaheen, though, forced for popularity’s sake to run against the status quo; she and her mom must have interesting chats). And if our state’s proclivity for backing known names seems old-fashioned, it’s always in fashion to promote winners. Besides, we inherit nearly everything from our families. We inherit our class, our access to advancement, our natural strengths, our financial health. There is nothing more American than following in your parents’ footsteps and trying to do anything different is both factually difficult and demographically rare. Yet still.
Voting for someone because they grew up with politics is not like handing the family firm to the oldest natural heir. Politics, after all, is everywhere. Every organization suffers from it and every organization rewards those who master it. You don’t need to live with a professional from birth to learn the value of an easy smile, a firm handshake, and a subtle backstab. You just need to pay attention.
Moreover, what passes for gold in one generation can look like dross to the next, so copying how mater or pater acted is not necessarily helpful in politics. The skills that allowed our elders to prosper in the world of television and newspapers may not avail us in the world of AI.
The benefits flow one-way, in other words. While the candidate gets a boost from inheriting a list of supporters, the electorate gets precious little in return. Take the Kennedy dynasty for the most obvious example. John is one of our favorite presidents; we laud his energy, his charm, his youth. Yet in spite of that youth, he was also one of our most qualified chief executives. His grandfather had been an expert ward heeler. His own father had been a Wall Street titan before entering the diplomatic corps. He himself had been a Navy officer who had fought in a consequential war. Then he had served as both representative and senator. He was therefore personally familiar with retail politics, big business, the State Department, the military, and both houses of Congress before he entered the White House.
His younger brother Robert shared some of that background but not all of it. His baby brother Teddy shared even less. His children and his nephews shared even less than that. The most recent members of his family are little more than celebrities. Voting for a Kennedy today is an exercise in nostalgia.
Dynasties need to renew themselves, not with political work, but with the work of their era and their country. Otherwise they become irrelevant. At best they offer more of the same: a proven point of view, a lack of needing to hustle. At worst they offer more of the same: a proven point of view, a lack of needing to hustle…
None of this is a reason to vote against Sununu or Shaheen. It simply isn’t a reason to vote for them, either, and their advancement should give us pause. We should make sure that we have not fallen for branding, nor for magical thinking in lieu of effort, flaws in the political approach of both hard wings these days and the dour middle too. “He’s a Sununu and she’s a Shaheen” reminds me of how Ivory Soap floats. If either succeed, I hope they earn the trust they have inherited. They had better float.
After all, New Hampshire is small enough as it is. The circle that enjoys power is tight, our leaders know each other too well, and you need only look at the other storyline currently involving us, the scandal engulfing our Supreme Court, to see what happens when people grow too comfortable with authority: arrogance, favoritism, toadyism, personal abuse.
In passing, I must also note that Shaheen’s primary win was particularly ugly. She and her main opponent insulted each other over whose campaign received more Jewish money. Sadly, that horror show took very little flak. Our candidates were joining our nation’s newest game by tossing around that casual slur.
Davidow writes Radio Free New Hampshire for InDepthNH.org. He is also the author of Gate City, Split Thirty, and The Rocketdyne Commission, three novels about politics and advertising which, taken together, form The Henry Bell Project, The Book of Order, and The Hunter of Talyashevka, Chanukah Land can be found here. And his latest novel Interdiction can be found here.