The recent announcement of RFK’s 2024 presidential campaign has gotten me thinking about the idea of dynasties in American politics. Dynasty names such as the Kennedys, Clintons and Bushs have propelled individuals with no real merit through our political system on nepotism alone. This is not necessarily a commentary on RFK as a candidate or even an individual as I admittedly don’t know much about him, but I find it interesting that due to name recognition alone he has been able to blow past Marianne Williamson in the polls with basically zero effort. As of this writing, according to the recent poll from Emerson College RFK holds 21% compared to president Biden’s 71%, with Williamson behind at 8%. The point is not that RFK is behind Biden by a seemingly insurmountable 49%, but that he has nearly tripled the level of support for Williamson, someone with no name recognition but who has launched a more traditional, grassroots campaign. It seems that RFK’s family legacy has enable him to bypass entirely the money primary. The money primary is a term that refers to the unofficial first real hurdle of launching a presidential campaign. It essentially means before anybody can be considered a “real” candidate they have to amass a certain amount of funds and capital. This in turn essentially disqualifies anyone who isn’t able to raise this money, or fund it themselves if they are independently wealthy, which is another conversation that can be had entirely. In RFK’s case, that K has enabled his campaign to shape up to at the very least be a thorn in the side for the Biden team. I don’t believe he will win, but without his name he most likely wouldn’t be polling in the double digits like he consistently has been. America needs no more dynasty politicians.