Dynastic clans are breeding grounds for achievement

AMERICANS are embarrassed. Over the last 35 years there have only been two elections without a Bush or Clinton on the national ticket. Next year both names could rest atop the ballot.

In one poll, voters saw this as a bad thing by a ratio of 8 to 1. Some of the people who are upset have a false view of how life works. Since Thomas Hobbes, many people have embraced the illusory notion that society is made up of individuals. According to this view, the only fair competition is between individuals, without undue benefit from family connections.

But no society has ever been this way. Individuals don't come fully formed. They emerge out of families and groups. The family and group is the essential social unit. These collectives have always shaped public life.