Decline of the Nobiles
Nobiles ("the known") were the senators whose family-members had climbed the highest rungs of the cursus honorum. How many modern-day nobiles are in the US Senate? After the death of the nobile-st Senator, Ted Kennedy, somebody bothered to publish the results, and the results are good news for New Men like Nixon and Obama: US Senators with family-members in the Senate have never been lower.
Check out THIS graph to see the dramatic fall from the 1st Congress to the 101st.
2 Comments
Recommended Comments