Amy Rice makes a couple of interesting points in her election farewell letter to the editor of the Providence Journal:

We need to address voter apathy and do better in informing people about elections …

… said the woman whose party has dominated state politics for the better part of a century.  Rice claims to be “independent,” but I don’t recall her challenging the Rhode Island establishment.  Perhaps a core reason for apathy is the sense that candidates are all the same and the system is locked up.

I do wonder, however, whether Rice’s closing paragraph was a sly dig at the establishment:

I congratulate and support my Democratic colleague Jim Seveney, and hope he concludes his political career in the seat his father held.

Unfortunately, I suspect she’s sincere, but Rice does point directly to the problem.  How is it that our state could have so many low-level political dynasties?  QED, there must be something in it for them, but why do voters simply accept this as the way things are?