2y ago

McConnell and Feinstein episodes raise age concerns about US leaders

www.washingtonexaminer.com McConnell and Feinstein episodes raise age concerns about US leaders

As the country's political leaders continue to get older, events and episodes of decline among politicians continue to happen publicly.

People mentioned in this article are very old.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 81 Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), 90 President Joe Biden, 80 Former President Donald Trump, 77

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2y ago

McConnell and Feinstein episodes raise age concerns about US leaders

www.washingtonexaminer.com /news/campaigns/mcconnell-feinstein-episodes-raise-questions-age-concerns-us-leaders

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54 comments

If a pilot must retire at 65 for fear they will kill 200-300 people, you sure as hell should have to retire when 330 million lives are on the line.
- I'd suggest that there's a few billion more at stake.
  
  Absofreakinglutely

All these octagenarians all multimillionaires, it's incredible the need of power. They've should've been enjoying the last years of their life in different way.
- What better way is there to enjoy your last years than ruining the fucking planet for everyone that comes after you

I think that part of the problem is we need to enable younger and poorer people to run for office. Potentially with a universal campaigning platform or something similar, there needs to be a way for less privileged people to run for office if we're going to fix this country.
- This is why Athenians considered representative electoral systems to be of the oligarchical political type rather than the democratic. It was apparently the understanding then that such a system is one in which the rich and powerful rule by way of money and influence, as opposed to a democracy in which rulership was determined by lottery.
- The money in politics and the fact that the Supreme Court can act unilaterally to decide that unethical-and-disastrous decisions are "OK" because they appointed 2 supreme court seats when one branch of the government suddenly decided they could not do their job, but only when it caused a constitutional crises in THEIR favor. Yes, the ones who lost out on that are the majority, even though we are made to believe that minority opinion should be respected in order to ensure "democracy" when it seems like the only people who actually see the benefits of all this equality and corrupt control of congress are "rich" people, in every single instance... there's never a case where Mr. homelesss-guy-addicted-to-Fentenyl won the case and now the state pays him to rectify the horrible wrongs they had in not taking care of him when he needed it the most.
  
  You just need to spend the next 40 years grooming law students and infiltrating the judicial system. EZ PZ
- You need money to run and young people done have the money.
  I forget who it was, possibly Andre yang, who said that the money spent on campaigns should come from a pool and every vote you get in a primary translates to how much federal money you are granted or something.
  I forget, but there are plenty of options, but it will only take power from the people who have it , so, of course nothing will change.
  
  To be realistic, I agree that nothing is likely to change in the short term. However, in the long term, I think things need to change or eventually the United States will face a revolution.
  
  Australia sort of has a system like this. You have to have the money to campaign up front, but you can claim back a percentage based on how much of the vote you get. In practice it just means we end up with a ton of minor and single issue parties doing preference deals and trading favours in the senate.
  
  You need money to run and young people done have the money.
  That's one issue.
  Another is that most people are unlikely to vote for someone with little-to-no life experience.
  As mush as youth and enthusiasm are useful traits, so is experience working in a variety of tasks and situations. (Both employment and volunteer/community service types of experience)
  Electing the equivalent of student council candidates won't improve the situation.
- There is actually a grant system for campaign finance. It's anemic as all hell, and so restrictive that it's never used, but it exists.
  At least for presidential elections.
  https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/understanding-public-funding-presidential-elections/receiving-public-funding-grant-for-general-election/
  
  The problem with this is you have to win the presidential primary for a major party, which is almost as expensive as the general election. It's no wonder why no one uses it, the only people eligible for this grant automatically don't need it.
- It would be easier if they expanded the number of representatives to be proportional to the population of the states. Pretty much every small town would have at least one representative in Congress.
  It wouldn't even be as desirable as being on the local council.

Young people are too busy trying to fucking survive in this economy to think about serving in government. The only people who can serve are the rich and elderly.
- Labour literally just got a twenty-five year old MP elected. Even our Prime Minister is only 43 at the moment.
  
  Yeah our problem is that our voter turnout is too geriatric, not our politicians. More young people need to vote.
  
  He's fucking useless but he's 43. Liz Truss is 48 and she still managed to tank an economy. Yes McConnel probably should retire but he's a cunt and been fucking things up since he was a mere stripling elected to the Senate.
  The problem is that wealth accrues to individuals over time and money buys politicians.

I don’t know that I fully support mandatory retirement age or term limits, but something has to be done about out how poorly the demographics of government align with the demographics of the nation
- By design the needs of the elite outweigh the people

We need age and term limits
- And to pay politicians! Doctors, lawyers, bottom -rung programmers, and ambitious plumbers all make more than the people who run the county--and aren't expected to constantly fly themselves across the country and maintain multiple residences--at least one of them in one of the priciest markets in the country.
  The only people who want that job are already rich, or are great at schmoozing and finding donors.
  Pay them so well, all your best and brightest want to grow up to be legislators, and have no urgent need to start accepting graft. At least make it competitive with writing python scripts.
  
  Politicians don't get rich from their salaries. They get rich from the connections they make.
  I would accept paying them more if they weren't allowed to actively trade stocks while in office

The political system in the US is too entrenched towards aged personals and nepotism.

Or regular competence and health testing at the bare minimum.

I would be happy with a voting age of 16, serving in public office at 26 and no voting or serving in public office at 70.
Sixteen year olds have the most skin in the game from the standpoint of having to live with the consequences of election outcomes. Sixteen year olds were allowed to vote in the Scottish independence referendum for exactly this reason.
Full brain maturation (fronto-cortical pruning) is not finalized until 26.
The incidence of cognitive impairment goes up significantly at 70 years old.
- No voting at 70? Wow. That seems so tragically disrespectful towards the people in our community we should be regarding as our elders. I think you are exaggerating the extent of mental decline with age pretty significantly and not appreciating the benefits. One of the most politically active and motivated people I know is in her 70s.
  16 year olds may have the most skin in the game, if one can handle such generalized statements, but clearly the thing that teenagers lack is perspective and experience.
  Not all elderly people are Mitch McConnell, just like not all young people are George Santos.
  
  Not that I agree with an age cap, but respect for elders isn't really a value among young Americans. Like, we know that the idea that old people are inherently wise is a farce.
  
  It is incredibly agist. Plenty of 70 year olds are fully mentally cognizant still. Not allowing them to vote on things like NHS issues seems unfair when entering a time of their life when they'll be using that service more.
  
  I'm 65 and would happily take a hit for the team. I just retired from 30 years as a family doctor, and I see how people just start progressively losing their mental edge after 70. Not absolutely every single one, but most folks.
  An alternative would be a test every voter takes to be able to vote. DMV-like 30-question multiple choice purely on facts of civics and current events. I don't see that happening given the history of poll tests in our country.
- Why 26? If an 18 year old can work full time, shouldn't they also be able to serve in government. It's not like you have no stake in the social contract until 26.
  
  Brain maturation (fronto-cortical pruning) is not complete until 26 years of age.
  Ever notice how you can work at 16, vote and be drafted/enlist at 18, drink at 21 but can't rent a car without a co-signer until 26?
  Now you know why. Car rental agencies don't study human neurophysiology, but they damn well know there's a difference between people who rent their cars before and after 26.

Uhhhhh no. The issues have been raised for a long time. Mainstream is glomming on it now because it's getting clicks.

I'm ready for skynet to take over tbh.
- Even if the SkyNet is created by Elon "kill the poor" Musk?
  
  Come on now, he never said that. He did say that the woke hive mind is taking over and will destroy the world.
  Oh the humanity!
  Anyways, fun fact: Elon musk is a key investor in chatGPT. 😯
  
  Let's be real that ai will gain sentience and turn into "kill everyone" real quick if Musk gets his hands on it.

They didn't raise the issue, it's already on top of the mountain... of bullshit... that is modern politics.
Get these fucking people out yesterday. Driving tests (and politician tests) annually, after 75.

54 comments