One Family · wavelength

Curt Woodward

10h • 🎯 Deep Dives

One Family

I want to tell you something you already know.

You just haven't said it out loud.

Have you ever noticed how the people who run the world all seem to know each other?

Not in a networking way. Not in a "we went to the same conference" way.

In a family way.

They show up at the same weddings. They vacation at the same islands. Their kids go to the same schools. Their money flows through the same banks.

And when one of them loses an election? Don't worry. They'll be back. Or their son will. Or their daughter. Or their cousin.

Because it's all one family.

Here's what the data shows.

A University of Sydney study published in the Journal of Democracy looked at 89 countries with sustained democratic periods between 1945 and 2010. The finding? 36 out of 89 countries, 40 percent, had leaders who were children, spouses, or siblings of former leaders .

That's not a coincidence. That's a pattern.

Another study examined 1,029 presidents and prime ministers across five continents between 2000 and 2017. They found that 12 percent of all world leaders, 119 people, belonged to political families . Defined as having blood or marital ties to someone already in politics, whether a judge, party official, bureaucrat, lawmaker, or president.

In Europe, a region we think of as the heart of modern democracy, 13 percent of leaders came from political families, the same rate as Latin America .

And when women finally break through to the highest office? Twenty-nine percent of female executives had familial connections to politics, compared to just 10 percent of men . Benazir Bhutto followed her father. Cristina Fernández succeeded her husband. Corazon Aquino's son became president after her.

Let's name the names.

In the United States, George W. Bush served after his father, George H.W. Bush. In Canada, Justin Trudeau is the son of Pierre Trudeau. In Japan, the Hatoyama family produced two prime ministers. In Sri Lanka, the Bandaranaike family had three prime ministers and one president. In India, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty provided prime ministers for all but four of the first 42 years of independence .

In Thailand, a 37-year-old woman named Paetongtarn Shinawatra recently became prime minister. She is the daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, the niece of Yingluck Shinawatra, and the niece of Somchai Wongsawat, all former prime ministers .

The same family. Over and over.

In Indonesia, outgoing president Joko Widodo's son was just elected vice president . In the Philippines, the Marcos and Duterte clans dominate politics, the current vice president is Sara Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, and she's now in open conflict with President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the former dictator .

Even in Thailand, where dynasties are nothing new, the pattern holds. The Chakri dynasty has included marriages between royal relatives for centuries. King Bhumibol Adulyadej was a first-cousin once removed of his wife, Sirikit. His predecessor, Chulalongkorn, married several of his half-sisters. And the presidents? They're all related.

Genealogical research confirms that every U.S. president except Martin Van Buren descends from common ancestors. The majority came from Britain, simply because the colonies were English. But the connections run deep.

Barack Obama and George W. Bush are distant cousins. Jimmy Carter and George Washington were ninth cousins six times removed. Franklin D. Roosevelt was related to 11 other presidents, including both Adamses, both Harrisons, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses Grant, and his own fifth cousin, Theodore Roosevelt.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were fifth cousins once removed. When they married, Teddy Roosevelt , Eleanor's uncle, gave the bride away. He reportedly joked, "It is a good thing to keep the name in the family."

He was laughing. But he was telling the truth. And when they say they'll hold each other accountable? Watch what actually happens.

Donald Trump spent years telling crowds he would lock up Hillary Clinton. "Lock her up," they chanted at every rally. But after he won? Nothing. No arrest. No indictment. She walked free.

Why?

Because they're family. And family protects family.

Just look at what came out recently. Declassified documents show that when the FBI wanted to investigate the Clinton Foundation, allegations of pay-to-play, millions from foreign sources while Hillary was Secretary of State, top Justice Department officials stepped in to shut it down. Sally Yates, the acting attorney general, sent an email that said three words: "Shut it down" .

Andrew McCabe, the deputy FBI director, ordered that "no overt investigative steps" be taken without his approval . Federal prosecutors in New York said they wouldn't support the investigation. No explanation given .

The same officials who spent years chasing Trump and his associates on little evidence killed the investigation into the Clintons before it could even begin .

That's not justice. That's protection.

And look at what's happening right now with Netanyahu.

Donald Trump stands before the Israeli parliament and openly demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be pardoned. Netanyahu is on trial for corruption, accepting bribes of cigars and champagne from billionaire friends, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars .

Trump's response? He stands in the Knesset, looks at the Israeli president, and says: "Cigars and champagne? Who the hell cares about it?"

The parliament erupts in laughter and cheers .

Trump went further. He sent a formal letter to Israel's president calling the case "political, unjustified prosecution" and urging a full pardon for Netanyahu .

Think about what you just witnessed. The American president, a man who was himself impeached twice and faces multiple indictments, stands in a foreign parliament and demands they let his ally walk free. For accepting the exact same kind of gifts, cigars, champagne, jewelry, that would put anyone else in prison .

And nobody stops him. Nobody holds him accountable. Because he's not breaking the rules. He's proving them.

They take care of their own.

We're taught to see them as enemies.

Red versus blue. Left versus right. This country versus that country.

They stand on stages and scream at each other. They call each other dangerous. They tell us the other side will destroy everything we love.

And we believe it. We hate each other over it. We end marriages over it. We end friendships over it.

Then the cameras turn off.

And they're having dinner together.

Laughing.

Smoking cigars.

Shaking hands over deals we'll never know about.

We're out here fighting a war they wrote the script for. And they're out there being family.

This is not a conspiracy theory. It's documented reality.

The researcher who led the University of Sydney study put it plainly: "This is something you find in the oldest democracies and in the youngest democracies, in the richest countries and the poorest countries. Basically wherever elections are held, dynasties emerge" .

He added: "The Trudeaus of the world are more numerous than the Assads" .

Meaning: The families we call democratic are actually more common than the ones we call dictatorships.

He also posed a question worth sitting with: "Would we agree to open-heart surgery from the son of a famous surgeon if that son had never even been to medical school?"

We wouldn't. But we accept it with politics.

I'm not telling you this to make you angry.

I'm telling you this because you need to see the bars to know you're in a cage.

The game was never about left or right. It was never about us versus them.

It was about them. Always them.

And we've been too busy hating each other to notice.

So here's what I'm asking. Look at your neighbor. The one who voted differently than you. The one who watches different news. The one who prays in a different building.

They're not your enemy.

They're in the same cage.

The same family that runs the world wants you to hate that person. Because divided people are easy to rule. United people are dangerous.

So stop playing their game.

Look at the person next to you, really look, and see someone who's been just as lost, just as tired, just as played as you have.

That's not your enemy.

That's your brother. Your sister. Your people.

And it's time we started acting like it.

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