Massachusetts has given us too many political Kennedys to count. New York boast its Cuomos and several western states share bragging rights about their Udalls. Chicago has tossed off Daleys and Stevensons. New Hampshire (Sununus), Indiana (Bayhs), Tennessee (Gores), Georgia (Talmadges), Alaska (Murkowskis), Michigan (Dingells), and California (Browns) have all validated the power of family politics in recent decades. The Wikipedia list of political families includes hundreds of families that have specialized in elective politics over our republic’s history. There are the Adamses, the Harrisons, the Roosevelts, the Byrds, the Pryors, the Humphreys, and the Longs, just to get started. There are also the many instances of “widow’s succession,” in which a husband’s seat is passed off to his spouse upon his death.

Just as monarchs love to marry their princes and princesses off, politicians love to merge political lines by marrying their offspring to one another. The Clintons did just that in 2010, when Chelsea Clinton paired with Marc Mezvinsky, the son of not one but two former members of Congress. Likewise, the Tafts married into the Chafees, an Aldrich married into the Rockefellers to produce Nelson, and the Rockefellers married into the Percys. Time’s Chris Wilson reported in October 2013 that 37 sitting members of Congress had a relative among past legislators. In America, it seems, politicians are not made but bred.

Capitalists frequently lend the name of a successful product to a new product to win new markets. For example, Jell-O beget Jell-O Pudding and Armor All beget Armor All Wheel Protectant. (What is Jeb Bush but a more sugary version of George H.W. Bush?) Businessmen who name their firms after themselves frequently add “and Sons” to the title as the new generation appears do so in hopes of extending the goodwill they’ve amassed to the work that will be done by their children. Such a founder wants to encourage you to believe that his clan did business with your clan in the past, is doing it today, and will continue to do so tomorrow.