Larry Kersten once said, “Nepotism — We promote Family Values here almost as often as we promote family members.”
Well, when voters voted for President Donald Trump, they most likely did not know they were also voting Ivanka Trump into office. They also did not know that their tax dollars were going to pay for the extra Secret Service detail need for his children’s business trips and vacations.
In America, we have anti-nepotism laws that restrict those in government positions from profiting from the American public. Ivanka managed to get around these laws by agreeing to not receive a paycheck from the government.
Before I get to my main argument, I want to play devil’s advocate. Why is nepotism that bad? I mean couldn’t the “legacy” advantage you get in the college admissions process be considered nepotism? Isn’t that uncle who has connections in the company you want to work for being a nepotist when he hires you? You can’t control the family you were born into, so why not take advantage of the perks?
If it isn’t clear these examples show exactly why nepotism is a huge problem in America, consider that nepotism creates a determined line of power. It also creates a qualification for power that someone not in the “family” can never reach.
In 1967, a law was created to make it illegal for high ranking officials to appoint their relatives to government positions. But as stated above, this law can only be enforced if the person is given an actual paid government position.
Nepotism creates dynasties and oligarchies. These institutions give power to the few not the people. And they are inherently undemocratic.
For us history and politics nerds, we were all probably fine with John F. Kennedy making Robert Kennedy his attorney general. So what makes this case with Ivanka different? The big difference is that while Robert Kennedy was qualified, Ivanka is certainly not. She does not deserve security clearance. Since she is now privy to top secret information, she is now a liability. She is not qualified to receive this information.
So where do we go from here? Well, we can hope for an ethics investigation, but that takes a while. By then, something could happen. I think all we can do is hope that nothing will go wrong. However, there is a lesson we can learn from this. Americans need to learn from Trump’s nepotism. In college, we learn the lesson: “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” But this lesson is flawed. Having family connections is comforting and can get you some pretty cool stuff like top secret information or a career-advancing internship. But the problem with nepotism and passive acceptance of it is laziness. If you are guaranteed something, why would you work for it?
I am not saying that you shouldn’t follow in your family’s footsteps. But you should be qualified regardless of your connections. People who changed the world were remembered for the work they did. Your work defines you, not your last name.
