Krauthammer: Camelot is Not a State
by Matt at Dec 23rd, 2008
Right idea, wrong argument. The problem with Caroline Kennedy’s presumption to Hillary Clinton’s soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat is not lack of qualification or experience. The Senate houses lots of inexperienced rookies — wealthy businessmen, sports stars, even the occasional actor.
The problem is Kennedy’s sense of entitlement. Given her rather modest achievements, she is trading entirely on pedigree.
I hate to be a good government scold, but wasn’t the American experiment a rather firm renunciation of government by pedigree?
Yes, the Founders were not democrats. They believed in aristocracy. But their idea was government by natural — not inherited — aristocracy, an aristocracy of “virtue and talents,” as Jefferson put it.
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No lords or ladies here. If Princess Caroline wants a seat in the Senate, let her do it by election. There’s one in 2010. To do it now by appointment on the basis of bloodline is an offense to the most minimal republicanism. Every state in the union is entitled to representation in the Senate. Camelot is not a state.
Perhaps Paterson should just let the seat remain vacant. It has been vacant for nearly two years anyway. By not appointing anyone, he avoids alienating upstate since he’d have likely picked a downstater anyway… he avoids the criticism he’d get by appointing Caroline Kennedy… I think politically, leaving the seat vacant my be the lesser of many evils.