>>>>>History will be kind to GW.
>>>>You think so? Why? What is his legacy?
>>>He is a real American, loved by all humanity and has done so much to insure that there will be peace and democracy in the world. His actions as president of the United States will be the model by which all future presidents will attempt to emulate.
>>
>>ROFL
>>
>>>I still think that GWB will declare himself emperor or some such title, and remain in office. After all, the War on terror is not yet won!
>>
>>ROFL again!
>
>While I am not ulcer-similar worried about it, the trend to patricianism/nepotism in american presidents is something making me quesy. I have not researched how close the ties between presidents were in the first 150 years, but since the sixties there was the Kennedy clan with many branches in power, there is the Bush clan holding very high offices and now even Hillary is tried.
>
>While there *may* be some argument about "training for leadership" in families, in case of Hillary it makes no sense at all (She learned it, whenever hubby had time to talk to her and no other pressing things too attend after taking care of interns ?). To reduce it to a marketing/brand recognition effect only is probably not covering all the issues, but to have such an "explanation" sometimes voiced is somehow more derogatory of Joe Voter than recent election results - base a nomination on the hunch that voters autonomous nervous system overrules any issues/debating just on the warm feeling of recognition.
>
>Rome named itself a republic ousting a foreign king and establishing a ruling system based on division and separation of power. First the aristrocacy had to include the plebs and after the punic wars destroyed their worthy opponent they slided into Caesarism within hundred years. Pure coincidence that before Gaius Julius entered the scene a war had to be waged on the "piratae" ? Today you have a war on terror (and against IP "piracy"<bg>). I expect modern communication and travel opportunities to accelerate similar changes - how many dog years before the ways to elect the leader of the nation will change drastically ? Or is china the worthy opponent, and if so, in which role ?
>
>regards
>
>thomas

Oddly, after the planes hit the WTC I thought of Carthage.