Pulling the Plug on Political Dynasties

Murkowski's decision to keep running for the Senate seat handed to her by her father is further evidence of the political careerism voters have come to despise.

The United States Senate survived the loss of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster.  Life went on without Lyndon Johnson and Stephen Douglas and Robert Taft.

But the people need Lisa Murkowski.  Not big enough to retire with dignity after her primary loss to Joe Miller, Sen. Murkowski is nearing a decision to mount a write-in bid.

And she’s doing it for YOU Alaskans!

According to the Washington Post, it is Murkowski’s sense of public spiritedness that is driving her write-in candidacy.  If this was “all about Lisa, certainly the easy thing for me to do would be to figure out what my next opportunity would be with my family and just settle in to a nice job.”

As Murkowski attempts to position herself as a unique and indispensable voice, it is worth recalling where she came from.   Her dad was elected to the Senate in 1980, the same year she graduated from Georgetown University.  She was eventually appointed to the unexpired Senate seat of her father, after he was elected governor of Alaska.  No doubt, it was his same commitment to public service that led the elder Murkowski to give his daughter a senate seat.  If this was all about Frank, I would appoint a leading member of the state bar or a successful businessman.  That would be the easy thing to do.  But Alaskans need a Murkowski in this seat.

As is clear from numerous upstart House candidacies, the takedowns of Senators Specter, Bennett, and Murkowski, and the likely collapse of the Crist Senate campaign, central to the Tea Party sensibility is a disgust with the careerism of American politicians.  At the least, there is a tension between our democratic constitutional principles and individuals who inherit congressional seats from relatives and view politics as a career.  The fact that Murkowski was handed this seat by her father, the fact that she thinks she is entitled to it, and the fact that she is confident in this economy that she will find a nice (read:  high paying lobbying) job if she is not sworn in as a senator in January are all evidence of the Washington careerism that the Tea Party has come to despise.

So long as the National Republican Senatorial Committee will be devoting resources toward fighting a Murkowski write-in effort, Senate Republicans can use this opportunity to promote one of many populist measures that the Tea Party would embrace.

Call it the Murkowski Amendment:  Before any spouse, son, or daughter of a current Member of Congress shall be elected or appointed to that Member’s House or Senate seat, six elections shall have intervened in the case of the House seat or two elections in the case of a Senate seat.