Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

Joseph Kennedy III, the grandson of Sen. Robert Kennedy and the grandnephew of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, announced recently that he is a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for the seat in the US Senate now held by another member of that party, Sen. Edward Markey. The nomination will likely be decided by a primary on September 15, 2020. Ed Markey is 73 years old and has been either in the House of Representatives or the Senate continuously since 1977. This makes him the second longest-serving member of Congress from New England. Joseph Kennedy turned 39 on October 4. There is certainly a generational aspect to this challenge, just as in other parts of the country younger Democrats are challenging party elders for other seats. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was born in October of 1989, notoriously won her seat in the House, representing New York's 14th district, by knocking off a party elder, Joe Crowley, at the conclusion of Crowley's tenth term in...

This year, the gentleman delivering the Democratic Party's rebuttal to the President's State of the Union address bore (for most Americans) an unfamiliar face, but a very familiar surname: Joseph Kennedy III. The Family Tree: This Joseph Kennedy is the son of Joseph Kennedy II and Sheila Kennedy, nee Rauch. He is thus the grandson of the late Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General of the United States who was largely responsible for the imprisonment of Teamsters President James Hoffa in 1964. That of course makes him the great-grandson of Joseph Kennedy (I), and the great-nephew of President John Kennedy. The leadership of the Democratic Party needs fresh faces. The old crowd, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (70 years old) and Senator Chuck Schumer (67) needs to make room for new blood. Bernie Sanders isn't properly a Democrat at all but wouldn't improve the demographics if he were. This generation's Joseph Kennedy, though, is just 37. ...