Pennsylvania’s still-recovering stroke victim and senator-elect, whose parents provided him with his main source of income for a considerable amount of his adult life, is the blueprint for America’s future politicians. Why bother proving your merit as a statesman when the system in which you’re entrenched is calibrated to ensure your success?
The American exercise in meritocratic self-governance and democratic republicanism is rapidly dying, and in its place, the old-world practice of political patronage is making its return. Yes, kingmakers and financiers have long been present in our political process. But in the era of “fortified” elections — in which
