https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/dianne-feinstein-age-vote-confused-b2383160.html
California senator has faced calls to resign early amid concerns about persistent episodes of confusion
No! Don't think about The Turtle! Look everybody! The libs are old and senile too! LOOK! [please don't look at the turtle. Nothing to see here. Nope The Turtle is fine. Look! It's a sleepy old person who is a democrat!!!]
I'd be very supportive of disallowing senior citizens from holding any public office.
Very, very supportive.
65 is generally considered the retirement age, so my proposal that I responded to another comment with is that if you're gonna turn 65 during your hypothetical term, you're not eligible to run. It's time to sail off into the sunset or sit on your porch to yell at the kids to stay off your lawn or whatever the hell. You're no longer representative of the general population and are in no position to be crafting policy for years after your death. You did your service, now step aside and let the next generation have their turn.
65 is also, coincidentally, the age after which the majority of strokes occur in the US. Not to say we don’t have people who aren’t awesome senior citizens (far from it!) but the stakes are so damn high for people who are in government positions, especially when you have 6-year terms or lifetime appointments and your party really, REALLY wants to hold that seat.
It's true, but in Mitch's case it might be that staying literally kills him. He's the minority leader in the Senate, which has got to be stressful, and if the fugue state he entered was caused by a mini-stroke, he needs to be resting and avoiding stress like a literal plague.
She’s already said she won’t run at the next election.
But if she steps down now, the republicans can refuse to let a new democrat sit on the judiciary committee (that she’s on), then the Republicans can just deadlock the vote to appoint any new federal judges (exactly like they did when she was on sick leave).
The US political system is broken, but Feinstein is doing the best thing she can for her party and the people who voted for her.
Appointing a new committee member would require unanimous consent. Generally that’s easy - it’s a procedural step and the party in majority will ultimately get their way, so senators all give consent so they can get back to doing some actual work on the senate floor. But some first-term far-right republicans are withholding unanimous consent now, forcing the senate to decide if they want to waste days debating so they can vote, or just move on to something else.
Eg, Senior military promotions require senate approval, and it’s typically a matter dealt with in a few minutes because the promotions are given unanimous consent. Senator Tuberville is a first-term MAGA Republican and an anti-abortion zealot. For months now, he has been blocking military promotions, demanding that the pentagon reverse their decision to allow service members to travel out-of-state if they require reproductive healthcare. Even if the other 99 senators approve of the promotions, to take a vote they would need to table it, go to committee, debate it, avoid a filibuster, and ultimately vote on it. So a task that should take minutes can instead turn up the senate for days or weeks, preventing the senate from getting anything else done in that time.
I'm confused that she's AT the meeting.
The pharmacy near the Capitol fills prescriptions for dementia medication, and those pills are going to our representatives. If you're taking dementia medication and are an elected official, sorry, but it's time for you to go. We'll get you a watch. If you can't even remember who you are, you shouldn't be crafting our laws.
Feinstein was in her 30s when California colleges (UC and CSU) officially stopped having free in-state tuition.
We have to stop being "represented" by people with very little in common with the general populace.
Apart from being old and having dementia, she's never had real job.
Yeah, her and let-me-pause-for-a-stroke McKlowenl do not represent people who actually work for a living.
Tell that to the largest voting group that actually votes. 65+ old people aren't voting for anyone other than the oldest we have to offer and the actual larger voting group that unfortunately doesn't vote as much would rather surf IG and TikTok than give two shits about any election.
Well old people will typically lean heavy to Team Red, but other than that, you hit the nail on the head. The TikTok generation can't be bothered to lift a finger to help themselves but they will endlessly complain online that no one cares about them!
Nah, this has been an ongoing issue with her for months if not years. She is often confused when press is actually able to talk with her.
Geriatric mutant ninja turtle just happened to have a much more obvious and blatant episode live on national TV.
AGE limits. Fuck Biden, fuck Trump, fuck Feinstein, fuck the turtle. There should be NO 80 year olds in office period.
It might sound horribly ageist, but I’m inclined to agree. Representing the interests of millions upon millions of people is an incredibly taxing and demanding job, which nobody in their 80s should still be doing; especially not without some sort of fitness test.
Term limits are absolutely needed, along with age limits on how old you can be while in office. Using 65 as an example, if you'll turn 65 while in office, too bad, you're intelligible to run.
Term limits have been put in place in several cities and states too I believe, and they've resulted in more corruption and lower quality governance. It's the worst possible outcome.
Think about the type of person who could afford to run for Congress for a few terms. They're probably retired and/or wealthy. This just entrenches them in power even more. And it seems there is a skillset that politicians pick up over their tenure.
Not just term limits, but age limits, too. This country shouldn't be run by octogenarians who can't even recognize their own face half the time.
And they don't even know shit about what they're voting. Like the guy who said the internet was a bunch of tubes.
I have no problem if people elect a NEW senator that's 80 years old. But after two terms your service is done. Thank you, but you gotta go.
Eh. I don't want policy crafted by somebody who's gonna die in the next few years. Age limits as well please.
Call me ageist, I don’t give a fuck, these people aren’t at the top of their game, hell they aren’t even at 50% of what the top of their game used to be. Furthermore, like you said, it’s absolute bullshit that people can make laws that they won’t see the effects of.
Cut off rep age at something like 60 if not 50. The younger generations should be the ones deciding the future, it’s THEIR future after all.
Mandatory retirement ages, too. If pilots cannot work past 65, then neither should the president, Congress, or judges.
I'd double check term limits. We could just as easily create a chain of debauchery as we lose all experienced politicians that might be able to help. There would only be more incentives to line your own pockets when you only got 4 years. I hate seeing the extremely elderly pretend its 1978 too but I don't think term limits are the answer. I think we need more transparency on politicians, what they represent, their past actions (especially at local levels those people are nearly invisible), and most importantly we need to slit Lobbying's throat and drain all the blood just to be sure.
Everyone assumes term limits would be something super low like 4 or 8 years. In reality, it’d probably be something like 32 years, which is 8 terms. Still long enough to get a good career, but it ensures that someone entering the senate in their 30 or 40’s will be retiring at a reasonable age. Because the current problem is that everyone should’ve retired twenty or thirty years ago.
Athens used single term sortition as their political methodology during the height of their empire. Anyone who wanted a government position could apply if they passed a test about their field of interest, and the winner was essentially drawn from a hat. After a single term they were dismissed and could never hold the position again.
You're overthinking this. Do you really think out of a country of 300 million plus we're likely to be limited to a few hundred competent politicians? Highly unlikely. We just need to educate people, like they did.
Oh wow I never thought about this. I’m all for term limits but first time I’ve seen this argument.
Perhaps an age limit and physical exam test limit is better?
Airline pilots have a hard age limit. I would think you would want the people running the country to be at least as sharp as a pilot.
You're all for term limits but this is the first time you've seen this argument?
Sounds like you have absolutely no familiarity with the issue and haven't looked into it or thought about it nearly enough to have a strong opinion.
Well, we’re I’m from originally, we have term limits for politicians of all levels so I have never thought about it.
Thanks for calling me out though.
That's how you'll end up with a list of doctors who get a nice pay raise (whether on or off the books) to rubber-stamp candidates through the exam requirement. Honest physicians who are willing to disqualify will have to be mindful of possible retribution as well.
Then it should be an objective test. Familiarity with current events, geography, physics, calculus, micro and macro economics. Final exam of 101 courses would be sufficient. 80% or higher and you get to take office, otherwise the next highest voted politician gets a shot at it.
A board of representatives from the 10 largest public colleges gets to write, administer and grade the test.
If the test is mainly looking for signs of dementia or other mental declines, the test takers themselves could write the test and all vote on it before taking it.
Here’s my solution:
Get rid of the senate. It is the US aristocracy, anti democratic, and serves no useful purpose.
Require the house to have more votes (or a supermajority, whichever is less) to repeal a law than were needed to pass it. Edit: this reduces the effect of instability that removing the Senate would produce, while allowing the House to respond quickly to injustice.
Require the House to pass a budget once per term. If they (and the president) can’t pass a budget, the session ends, and they all (including the president) go up for re-election.
I’d say congress should pick the president, but that would tip my hand that I think Parliament is a better system of government.
She’s already said she won’t run at the next election. But if she steps down now, the republicans can refuse to let a new democrat sit on the judiciary committee, then the Republicans can just deadlock the vote to appoint any new federal judges (exactly like they did when she was on sick leave).
Does no one know when it's time to leave the party and go home? I'd rather have a bunch of young to middle aged folks try and work things out, than the McDonalds coffee crew we currently have in the major political parties.
These ghouls have nothing else. They're richer than God and their kids have cushy jobs. They won the game of life, all they can do now is cling to the power they've accumulated in a desperate attempt to stay relevant to a world that will be just fine without them.
They should all be Logans Run'd, starting with the Turtle.
At a meeting today, Feinstein and McConnell agreed Trump's handling of classified documents might lead to him being impeached, but that bringing charges that leads to an impeachment trial is the duty of the house.
This lead to an argument with both their handlers that they were 100% correct in this assertion, and that they could not remove Trump from his current position as president without first a house vote.
Their handlers sighed and reluctantly agreed, and wheeled them away for bingo.
First McConnell and now Feinstein, maybe it's time to implement term limits? These two should have retired long ago. (Feinstein before SOPA) Enjoy your golden years....
She needs to go! Makes no sense keeping her around when she’s not helping with anything.
Sen Dianne Feinstein appears confused at meeting
Well, that could be any meeting in the past 20+ years.
JFC. I'm 62, but 90 year old dottards who've never worked a day in their life can't represent me
We need age limits. But we won't get them because the reps are all farting dust and slurping at the gravy trough.
In other news, the sky is blue and the pope is Catholic.
At least it's a bipartisan issue now...? Yay?
When members of Congress, and sides don't matter, refuse to retire and keep having issues that prevent them from doing their jobs correctly, I believe it's news and I guess others journalists think it is too.
It's really not, but it's probably good that we get reminders that we need a more functional system in place to get rid of these folks once they are incapacitated.
It's not news worthy that someone running the country is incapacitated? What is news worthy of that isn't?