What’s another way, sans term limits, to inculcate a norm of people retiring at a reasonable time? No one is entitled to a seat until they die (even if they’re very good) and should have plans for succession well before the odds of an actuarial even affecting a vote start to become serious.
Asking in good faith- I don’t have strong feelings on this person launching a primary, and skeptical they’lil succeed- but the case for strong primaries basically all the time is that it keeps reps sharp, and provides a feedback loop to the temp of their constituents. Esp impt in super safe seats
I’m fine with that too! But the argument above is age alone is not a reason to tell someone to step aside or face a challenger so…. wonder if he’d accept retirement age limit?
We’ve had two Dem House members die just this Congress. I’m not convinced that Kat Abu will represent a true threat in a primary. The incumbent should not run again but endorse a chosen successor with good politics but not with a >10% chance a dying from natural causes every year.
I think being 80 years old is on its own strong evidence that a person lacks the vigor to do a job this important day in and day out. There are some 80 year olds who can! And the best way they can demonstrate this is by being on the ground fighting off a primary
The Dems have lost two seats in the House because their holders fucking died in office. Miss me with this “age is just a number” bullshit. Feinstein had her brains melting out of her ears at the end of her term in the Senate.
Wasn't there just a story a few months ago that a GOP House member was found in an assisted living facility having missed months worth of votes? It's a problem everywhere.
We need to stop treating the continued government positions of Democratic incumbents as rewards or recognition for their virtue.
The concerns are:
1: Can they do the job?
2: Are their solutions for the job in line with our desires?
3: Are they physically & mentally fit to continue doing the job?
It is an unfortunate tragedy that many Democratic Congresspeople basically spent their entire careers keeping the torch burning rather than being able to reshape our society towards more equitable and prosperous forms bc we've been stuck in the Reagan Hangover for a generation.
This is a difficult thing for me bc I respect experience & seniority, but it feels like we stumbled into gerontocracy because we didn't have a socially recognized way to honor our elder statespeople except by reelecting them until they die, which also frames any young candidate as a foul usurper.
Good point. I'm 67 but think every Dem candidate going forward should be able and willing to use the words "term" and "limits" in a sentence without fainting.
I believe that elected officials and appointed judges should retire at the age of 70. I don’t care if that applies to a given politician. Because I, unlike you seemingly, actually have values that are not swayed by such an inherently solipsistic rebuttal.
I don't want to seem ungrateful, or lacking in respect for our elder politicians, or even condemning them. Again, it fucking sucks that they spent their careers in Reagan's shadow. I am truly sympathetic to the sort of frustration that would breed. Nor am I ignorant of the value of experience.
But we need to come up with a better way to reward our elder politicians for their service & benefit from their wisdom than keeping them in perpetuity in active Congressional seats. We should not conflate gratitude & honor w/mandating someone hold a seat until they pass on.
1) yes and 2) he should have been working on getting good younger people into lower VT offices for at least the last decade so that there would be a choice of successors ready to take the job
Preferable, but my position here isn't even really specific to this or any other legislator.
It's "the Dems need a way to honor elder politicians that isn't just reelecting them in perpetuity and framing any challenger as a young fry of treachery to knife in the neck."
"any challenger" I don't think that's actually the case, it's just that the Loudest Online Campaigns tend to be ran by challengers who tend to knife Dems in the neck.
It's frequent enough that it's a real problem and significantly splinters the opposition to Republicans because, bluntly, young people want their chance too, and old people after a certain point are denying them the chance to shape their own destiny.
Maybe, but the way they’re going about it undermines party cohesion (the ability for people to work together to get things done). They also target safe Democratic seats and trustworthy Democrats for the sole sin of being old. That doesn’t seem like destiny-shaping so much as entitlement.
I'm sorry, but why are we treating them like royalty who can't be opposed? It's not a lifetime appointment. Really scraping the bottom of the barrel for ways to be mad about it.
I’ve known a lot of people in their 80s. One of them remained spry and fully mentally competent until her mid 90s. The rest developed serious health and/or mental issues by their mid 80s. Maybe this lady will be a lucky one, but chances are she will not. Time to step aside or be primaried.
Every single Dem should be challenged. If nothing else it keeps them engaged and speaking with all of their constituents. A little competition is good for us.
Last (first) I saw on here before I muted him he was still doing the "what do these leftists expect Democrats to do??! They're outnumbered!" shuffle and I honestly felt bad for the guy.
We just lost an election in part because the old guy didn't step down early enough! I can't believe people are now defending the gerontocracy. Replacing Jan Schakowsky with Jan Schakowsky-but-50 years younger is such a win for the party.
Careerist corporate representatives kept in post into their twilight years because they've been deeply embedded and shaped by a constant stream of donations are a significant piece of technology for them.
I know, but I don't think anyone who voted for her realized how bad it was until that scene on the Senate floor with the aides pushing her finger on the button.
yeah man Biden sure kept it together in his wisened old age. She's not in leadership and she'll be 81 and a half by next general election. Let her pass the torch.
Plus, it's not just her age. It's that by staying in the seat so long she's created an insane bottleneck, not to say loss of talent in the 9th, because there's no place for them to go. So they leave politics or take lesser roles.
Idk speaking as an IL constituent. We absolutely need to replace the old guard. There’s too much put on party loyalty and tenure in Illinois. Look at Mike Madigan’s legacy
The Democratic caucus in the House are dropping like flies because they're all 50 million years old. Including one in his 70s who was less than 3 months into his *first* term after replacing Sheila Jackson Lee who also just died.
Is the plan for every Democrat in office to die of old age? We, literally, have examples to hand of why that's bad and how it helps weaken our democracy.
If she's still able to do her job, she will fend off the challenge. But the presumption is that if you're *80 years old *, you should retire from public service.
She just shouldn't run. They way to go is mentor young people so you have potential successors who can take over instead of accumilating as much power as you can until you die
No seriously, explain to me why "the sitting candidate is extremely old, an age where mental acuity drops off heavily and death in office is a SUBSTANTIAL risk" isn't a good reason to challenge. Especially given all the other problems we currently have with too old Dems.
Wrong. No one from their generation in Congress takes the threat seriously or has the energy to take it on. Replace them in their entirety with millenials willing to fight.
Comments
The concerns are:
1: Can they do the job?
2: Are their solutions for the job in line with our desires?
3: Are they physically & mentally fit to continue doing the job?
Nevertheless.
https://bsky.app/profile/mrbtx.bsky.social/post/3ll5dciqdvs26
It's "the Dems need a way to honor elder politicians that isn't just reelecting them in perpetuity and framing any challenger as a young fry of treachery to knife in the neck."
It’s not just Dems. From an Jan 2024 article:
The Dianne Feinstein debacle was as ridiculous as the Strom Thurmond obscenity. Is the U.S. a serious country, or are we just clowning?
If she's still able to do her job, she will fend off the challenge. But the presumption is that if you're *80 years old *, you should retire from public service.