cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45996578
Democratic members of Congress know they have an age problem—and it’s hurting them.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45996578
Democratic members of Congress know they have an age problem—and it’s hurting them.
At a certain age, people stop working. And at an even more advanced age, people stop driving. It obviously shows that even the sharpest of minds age. So why the hell are people allowed to work until they literally expire. We need age limits for the government. I’m sick of old people so far removed from today’s culture making rules based on Jim Crow era guidelines. Our last two presidents have been barely functional, dementia-riddled puppets AT BEST.
I just want to caution against us developing the stereotype that people’s capabilities slowly fade to zero, at which moment they die. That’s not always how it goes. People can die suddenly at any age, but the odds go up as you get older. You can die at 80 but still be productive when it happens. Your productivity can also go to zero years before you actually expire.
We have an elderly problem in US governance, but let’s not address it with a bunch of stereotypes about the elderly.
I hope I die before I get old.
I don’t mind if I live to 120, but when I get to that stage where I need other people to do more for me than I can do for myself… it’s time to quit before I get farther behind.
Same. I want to enjoy life, not exist for existence’s sake. Two days ago, the household’s cat was clearly dying…barely cognizant, and what there was, is clearly miserable. Euthanasia was sweet release from the barfing, hunger, and exhaustion.
I want the ability to choose when I leave, to do so with peace, and with a plan for everybody involved.
I was confused, because Obama wasn’t dementia riddled…then I remembered Biden existed.
Thats how forgetable his term was.
With the notable exception of Obama, every US President since 1993 has been born in the 1940s. Thats over 3 decades with presidents born at almost the same time (most in the same year).
Yeah, but Clinton took office 30+ years ago. Bush took office 25+ years ago.
I get that they’re old today, but that would be like 20 years from now saying Obama is too old to be president. Which 20 years from now WOULD be true, except that his term was 2009-2017.
Biden and trump? Yeah, I fully get why they’re too old.
And is a little over a month YOUNGER than the dementia riddled fascist currently infesting the office.
Nobody here thinks the dementia riddled fascist should have been president at any age.
And nobody thinks Clinton should be president at this age.
When old guys get that “Mouth Open, Catching Flies Resting Face,” it’s time to stop working, and start fishing.
Yes there’s nothing particularly odd about the first couple of names in this timeline. The point is what comes after them.
Boomers will never let go of power
The arguments against this are that old people pay taxes and should have their fair share of representation in government.
The problem here is that olds are going to nominate olds and the ideals of the young are being completely ignored, so the younger populations are not being fairly represented. The DNC and GOP are both putting their worst and oldest candidates forward.
All offices need an age cap of 65, and the Supreme Court justices need an age cap of 60 and have term limits of no longer than 5 years. Supreme Court justices should be nominated elected by the people to make sure they balance the needs of the people with the wants of the president.
Cap at 65 is arbitrary and extreme… I might have thought that when I was 12, but reality is: experience matters. Still, dementia matters too, but 65 is no guarantee of dementia, yet. https://old.reddit.com/r/DownWithIncumbency/
If young people voted as much as old people vote, this problem would correct itself
It’s as simple as this(if only to me anyways). Experience DOES matter. Let me attempt to explain where I’m coming from, no promise I’ll succeed
Forging relationships and networks with hundreds of people and organizations is incredibly valuable to getting things done. Doing something for a long time generally makes you better at something.
When that something is talking to people and convincing them of things you are trying to accomplish, being known to the levers that you need to push and pull lets you get better results.
I’m personally not opposed to much better cognitive checks before, and also beyond a certain age for all public positions that have real affect on how everyone else will have to live, but there are centenarians with full and complete faculties, not many for sure, but knowledge is power, even if the flesh is weak that knowledge is still very valuable.
If if I’m not wrong, then arbitrarily throwing away close to a century of experience just because of a number, and not competency is crazy to me. I fully admit I don’t know how to responsibly design and implement such a thing though. It could easily be abused/corrupted so that’s a problem to figure out unfortunately. But I do think it’s possible to design such check from people much better than myself. And yes I realize nothing is perfect but that’s okay because life is change and any system needs to be able to adapt to changes of modernity
That being said there are also other things we could do. One thing I’ve always thought would be good is we could revive the concept of an Council of Elders and give it some influence on the processes we employ our leadership. Something like an appeals approval thing or oversight committee with some type of usable lever they can flex when needed. I don’t really know how it would work, just thinking out loud a little here. Kind of like a jury but not too much with power. I’m from North America and First Nations here still have long way to go to before past injustices are reconciled but I think as a nation we should include more of their cultural traditions in the way we govern the country.
I think I’ll stop this stream of consciousness here since most people have probably dipped anyway and I’m running out of steam anyways
The real issue with these candidates is: we’re not electing the person, we’re electing the team they putatively command, the network you refer to - all the people they work with and trust and will continue to use into the future if re-elected. And that’s the twist, the candidate can be a total figurehead, a loose cannon moron even, but who’s behind them is what’s really important.
Reagan demonstrated this in spades: the lead actor of Bedtime for Bonzo? Really? We finally topped that absurdity with 45, but it was still an unprecedented doozie - his job was to read the script (teleprompter) deliver the lines, end of story - the machine behind him was what put “his” policies into motion.
I specifically wasn’t talking about a position that has an 8 year lifespan. This was a discussion about positions that have no limits and the system that rewards seniority over capability.
And yes you are absolutely correct the machine can and does be made to work for the next person who slips into that position. However that event is significantly less useful to new faces than it is to established politicians who are also known quantities that are most likely using those networks as well.
It does matter who the figurehead is, in spite of the popular belief that the individual doesn’t matter. It absolutely matters and that’s kind of what we are taking about. Isn’t it? Someone who is already in the game is going to use those system much better… And when we don’t use them we have instability and incompetence which causes instability and damages things for long periods if not I definately.
Your own example of Reagan and Trump prove my point. It’s not just age that’s the most important factor. It’s competence. Cognition is a big part of competence
Legally. Notice any patterns lately about legal compliance?
Because voters are ill informed, careless, prejudiced, and operate more on name recognition than anything else, after party affiliation - straight ticket votes.
Players like Bernie Sanders should start “partnering up” by the time they reach 60 years of age, clearly making public appearances with a protoge under the age of 40 whose name gets tied to theirs at every possible opportunity - say Bernie’s protoge was Golda Schuster, let the public hear Bernie Sanders & Golda Schuster at every possible opportunity for 20+ years, when Bernie finally steps down, they can vote with confidence that Golda Schuster will carry on Bernie’s legacy faithfully, because that’s what they’ve been told for two+ decades. Thousands will still enter the ballot box, look at the choices and say to themselves “Golda Who?” but it would be a much better transition of power than we have today.
Yes, and I can only hope that our current system is somehow shielding us from the worst of the dementia driven choices that undobutedly are happening in D.C. every day.
Historically “retirement” was not a thing, you just moved to lighter tasks. People only really stopped working when they no longer physically and mentally could.
The thing you say about rich old fossils and cold war relics running the west, is a problem though. Their age isn’t per se the issue, them being out of touch pillars of the status quo and being generally oppressive is.
Trying to sneak in the Nazi propaganda right there at the end huh?
I’m sorry. I genuinely have no idea why it came off as Nazi propaganda. It certainly wasn’t my intention. Could you tell me what I did wrong?
He stepped down because he was not a particularly popular president, and because people are dumb enough to believe the Nazis when they say something.
Okay I see what you’re trying to say, but calling it “Nazi propaganda” is inaccurate and confusing. Just because a Nazi said something doesn’t mean it’s Nazi propaganda. That’s just confusing.
Also, as someone who actually liked what Biden was doing a lot (specifically, his attack on monopolists/billionaires through the FTC and DOJ), I do believe he was senile. I’m not a doctor, but he showed clear signs of what many of us have seen in our own aging family members.
Ofc, Trump is senile too, but also insane, stupid, evil, and a whole bunch of other adjectives. Neither him nor Biden should’ve been running.
But if its propaganda put out by a Nazi propaganda group and parroted mostly by Nazis and Nazi supporters…then it is Nazi propaganda.
“Senile” means " Relating to or having diminished cognitive function, as when memory is impaired, because of old age."
So definitely, sure, any amount of diminished cognitive function is “Senile”
But that’s not what people mean when they say senile. When people say “Biden was senile” they dont mean “Biden was old and his memory isnt quite as good as when he was 30” They are trying to pretend like he has dementia, and he very clearly doesnt.
Uhh, he was senile. Everything in his debate and press conferences indicated as such.
We beat Medicare… lol
Not if you watched with any kind of honesty.
He isnt a great debator, but he wasn’t senile
He dropped out of the re-election bid because he had a “senior moment” in the debate - that’s not full blown senility, but it’s enough to sway plenty of people who are deciding who gets their finger on the launch button for WWIII.
Because he wasnt 100% perfect. This is just the standard double standard. Trump spends the whole time shitting himself on stage, and Biden isnt 100% perfect and now people are crying about him.
The only way people thought Clinton was a problem is if they started thinking he was a problem because they had already started drinking the cool-aid
Totally agree. And those “Let’s go Brandon” morons who were “all about the price of gas” somehow are still giving repeat offender sleeping during meetings shitting himself while incoherently ranting figurehead a pass because it was never about what they were talking about anyway, it’s all about “us vs them” and whatever their delusions are about how “their team” is looking out for them - they lie to themselves almost as often as they lie about their reasons for their decisions. No, it’s not worth debating when the other side is transparently 100% insincere.
He stepped down because he came off badly during his debate with Trump.
He really didnt.
Nobody who saw that debate that wasn’t already guzzling down propaganda thought trump did well
I would vote for a cardboard cutout or actual criminal Democrat over trump, and I saw the debate, and I knew it was doom for the Biden campaign.
My heart was broiling because Trump has never been fit since 2016, but he was the same psychotic lunatic he always is, “they’re eating the cats they’re eating the dogs!” But Biden was noticably confused, losing his place, forgetting what he was saying or what the question was, and returning to stock cliches.
99% of people watching would come out of it thinking “Biden seems older than he was” which is obvious on the face of it but Republicans had been laying the dementia propaganda for months and now they had “evidence”.
yea, the double standard is real.
Hes a bad public speaker and a bad debator.
Right,
The only people who watched that debate and thought that Biden had dementia had already been guzzling the coolaid.
Trump is an actual fascist. Who said he would rule as dictator. Unless the cardboard cutout was also a fascist, there is no double standard here.
Trump never did well, Biden still came off badly. It’s the old double standard - Clinton gets impeached for a blowjob, meanwhile pedo island gets a pass. Democratic candidates have to be super-human smart, educated, informed - but others just have to be “relatable.”
Biden is not a great public speaker, and not a great debator.
But yea, double standard,.