My dad is a politician, get me in there! 2014 election roundup part III

Here is a brief look at family ties.

This post completes our anecdotal roundup of the German local elections of 2014 that ran concurrent with the EU election.

Where parts of the media call the nationally known high profile politician sons, daughters, and nephews of current or former leaders a "political dynasty", what do you call the same phenomenon on a local level?

All over Germany, you will find small or medium size businesses proud of their family tradition. A third generation construction company, a roofing company just recently transferred to the fifth generation offspring of the founder, butchers since 1870, and so on.

We can see the same family tradition in local politics without doing much research.

Just by reading the local paper, here is an instant list:
In a nearby town, two children of active politicians ran for office. Another town over, the acting mayor won another term for the office once held by his father.
I can rattle off a bunch more names if you want, said a local friend. Our town council has a couple of them, too.

Business owners can say "We will continue to provide the same service and do the same kind of work you know and expect from us".

We have not been able to find the same statement made by offspring of politicians despite the fact that they generally belong to the same political party as mom or dad and support the same ideas.

It is even conceivable a kid would flunk an otherwise safe election if he or she went before the voters with "I will continue to provide the same service and do the same kind of work you know and expect from us".

On the one hand, there is the often professed and frequently justified distrust in an "all in the family" government.

On the other hand, the relative ease of following in well known footsteps as long as you do not shout it from the rooftops seems to be widely accepted.

At present, the Germans do it in a fairly low key manner as compared to the American family brand politics we are all familiar with. As to qualifying the effects as good or bad, as beneficial or nefarious, we do not have an answer to it.

We do find both versions equally boring, though.