INCEST IS BEST? Marginal Revolution links to evidence and commentary on the extent and possible effects of consanguinity (the son marries his father's brother's daughter) on the evolution of nation-states rather than tribal states, Marginal Revolution find it difficult to establish causal connections. Let me complicate things further: any family historian who checks out a Mayflower connection in a serious way is likely to discover several lines of descent from the same Mayflower Compact signer, particularly in the fourth to eighth generations (the generations that were involved in the War of Independence and the Founding of the Republic.)