I come to another reason why the American political structure is not doing very well, namely hereditary political office. Here I am referring not to candidates winning because their daddy was President, but hereditary through adoption:
From Taegan Goddard's http://www.politicalwire.com: "Despite Rep. NAME DELETED's sudden retirement announcement a few days ago, HIS PARTY'S MEMBERS have already found a replacement. According to CQ Politics, NAME, whose surprise retirement announcement rocked the HIS STATE political world this week, is endorsing ANOTHER NAME, a longtime aide, to succeed him in HIS District."
I deleted the names and party, because they do not matter here. More below the fold
Of course, incumbents can die, become ill, have sudden drastic change of family circumstances,... However, timing resignations and designating a 'trusted aide' to replace you effectively gives you a form of government in which legislators are appointed by the person they are succeeding. In the more drastic form of this process, the aide knows in advance, and is ready to roll with nominating papers, while anyone else first must find out about the vacancy, then want to run, and then try to assemble a campaign team in order to run.
One mgith propose that as a general rule there is no reason to supose that an aide will be a competent Congressman, state legislator, or sheriff. (For animal control foficer, there is some promise.)
Mind you, I do not see what to do about this, other than encourage habitual primary challenges to incumbents.