Washington ( CNN ) -- The whole point of the founding of this country was that government was n't supposed be a family business , but we 've got dynasties nonetheless . The sixth American president , John Quincy Adams , was the son of the second president ( John Adams ) , after all . Now there 's Debbie Dingell , the much younger wife of octogenarian John Dingell , running for the seat he announced last week that he 'll leave after 58 years . That 's a record , by the way . There 's been a Dingell on Capitol Hill every year since 1933 ... since Franklin Roosevelt was president and there was a Depression going on . That 's a much better record than the Kennedys . There were two years -- between 2011 when Rep. Patrick Kennedy resigned , and 2013 when Rep. Joe Kennedy III was sworn in -- without a Kennedy on Capitol Hill or any elected office since 1947 . So add the Dingells , on a smaller scale , to the Bushes and the Clintons . Not a presidential cycle goes by without somebody talking about a Clinton or a Bush running . It 's too much for one dynasty 's matriarch . `` Kennedys , Bushes , Clintons , there are just more families than that , '' Barbara Bush said recently . That has n't stopped her son Jeb , the former Florida governor , from teasing a bid for president and arguing his name would actually hurt him . `` I get the point . It 's something that , if I run , I would have to overcome that . And so will Hillary , by the way . Let 's keep the same standards for everybody , '' he said last week in New York . Jeb Bush might or might not run for president . But the Bush dynasty will live on . Jeb 's son , George P. Bush , is the odds-on favorite to win in his campaign for Texas land commissioner this year . There are a lot of smaller political families in the 50 states . Up on Capitol Hill , take the U.S. Senate , which has 100 members . A full third -- 33 of them -- are the father , son , mother , daughter , husband or wife of at least one other public official , according to a CNN analysis . There are Udalls and Landrieus , Murkowskis and Pryors , Pauls and Roberts . And many more . In the Senate , politics is the family business . Why so many family names in American politics ? In recent years on Capitol Hill we 've seen Pauls , Ron and Rand ; Levins , Sander and Carl ; and Udalls , Tom and Mark . The brand alone wo n't win an election , but it brings instant name recognition . And in this era of big , expensive campaigns , name recognition can be priceless . Some dynasties are harder to maintain than others . The Liz Cheney for Senate campaign did n't last long . And the attempt to reboot the Quayle name foundered when former Vice President Dan Quayle 's son , Ben , lost his House seat after one term . And the Nunns -- former Sen. Sam Nunn 's daughter , Michelle , is a Democrat running in a red state for the U.S. Senate seat in Georgia . So are the Carters -- former President Jimmy Carter 's grandson , Jason , is running for governor there . CNN 's Dennis Ting contributed to this report .
Politics is often a family business -- not exactly what the founding fathers intended . Nonetheless , our country has a long history of political dynasties . The Clinton , Clinton , and Kennedy families are just a few of the political dynasties . The Dingells have been in Kennedys since the Great Depression .