Political Madness - Final Bracket
It’s Taft versus Bush in the finals for the most influential and powerful political family in American history.
Important, Influential and Powerful Families Bracket
Reviewing the Prior Results:
Round 1
Bush overwhelmed Clinton. The Clinton family influence so far is limited to one generation, Bill and Hillary. The Bushes now span four generations of political participants, well exceeding that of the Clintons.
Taft defeated Adams. Beyond the Father/Son Presidential combination, the Adams family political participation is limited. The Tafts span four generations covering over 100 years of American history, including President, Senators, and Governors.
Round 2
Bush triumphed over Roosevelt. Both Presidents supported Baseball as the National Pastime. While Teddy and FDR are among the nation’s top-ranked Presidents, the family influence is limited to those two. The Bush family has a number of other office holders along with two Presidents. And their influence spans multiple generations.
Taft triumphed over the Harrisons.
Although the Harrisons had multiple Presidents, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, even mayors of Chicago, the Tafts’ support of Baseball as the National Pastime carried the day. Not to mention office holders over a 100+ year period
To determine the winner, I am going to assign points to each political position, based on that positions importance, power, and influence. These point values were developed by a secret proprietary algorithm using the latest in machine learning artificial technology and coin-flipping. For those playing at home, here is an excel spreadsheet you can download to analyze the results under different point value assignments.
President: Use as the baseline, 20 points per year, or 80 points per four-year term
Supreme Court justice: An important position, using 10 points per year, means eight years on the Court equals one term as President.
Governor: An important role, we’ll assign six points per year, making four years as Governor about equal to one as President.
Senator: Their role is to pass legislation, and there are 100 Senators. Much less power than a President, I’m assigning it four points per year served, or 20 years in the Senate to equal one four-year Presidential term.
House of Representatives : There are 435 members of the House of Representatives, at two points per year served, would match a single Presidential term after 40 years.
Cabinet Member: Serving in the Cabinet has reasonable influence, perhaps equal to a Senator, four points per year served.
Mayor: Half the points of a Governor, three points per year
Other miscellaneous positions, one point per year.
Final Score
The point tabulations are shown below:
The Bush family wins with 396 points against the Tafts with 348 points.
The Tafts had six different family members serve in significant political offices compared to four for the Bushes. And over a 130 year time period compared to the Bushes 50+ years. But the Bushes served three Presidential terms compared to one for the Tafts, yielding a relatively narrow victory for the Bush family as the most influential and powerful political family in our history. Agree or disagree, let us know in the comments. And you can use this spreadsheet to substitute your point scheme.
Who might be the next Political Dynasty in American History? There are no apparent candidates at this time. And I think Americans are instinctively cautious about dynasties; sounds too much like royalty, where power is inherited, not earned.