Meh, I know I'm in the minority here, but I'd rather it was based on merit and policy positions.
I DGAF about someone's age as long as they are still fit and they have the right policies. Assuming someone like AOC stays in until she's 84 and shows no sign of moving to the right and no sign of slowing down?
Going forward, I think we will very likely have even OLDER politicos than we do now, assuming breakthroughs on slowing down aging, even age reversal. Of course, that assumes that Bronzo the Clown and fElon and Brainwormz don't completely break our system of innovation and healthcare. But if it doesn't happen here, it will happen in other countries...so I don't think the ageism we see right now will itself age all that well...
I'd rather we judge on mental capacity and not on physical age (so that in theory wisdom is not lost), but there is something to be said for giving someone else a chance to drive the car.
No, we need a physical age limit. Aside from needing to get new people in so that we can pass on institutional knowledge before their staffers are voting for them while they hang out in a nursing home.
The fact that we live in a gerontocracy is part of the reason we're in so much shit in general. Why should the 83 yo senator from Bumblefuckia give a fuck about climate change, they'll be dead way before it's a problem. Why do they care about proper financial regulations when it might impact their ability to insider trade and pass off their unearned wealth to their kids.
Yeah, it's not just mental capacity, her decisions right now no longer will affect her. We should have a younger people whose these policies will also impact.
“I’ve got some news: I’ve decided to run against Nancy Pelosi to represent San Francisco in Congress. I know some of you might be surprised that Speaker Emeritus Pelosi is running again, but she is—for her 21st term!” Chakrabarti’s post read.
I fucking hate boomers in political office. They refuse to let go of the reins. They want to hold on until death. Selfish.
I saw a video last year asking people in the UK about USA politics and someone commented how old our leaders are.
Meh, it's not the age thing for me. And I don't care if someone works until they choose to retire, as long as the people want them. I think ageism and the appeal to some magical term limits thing is rather useless.
I hate just how disconnected her comment was about the insider trading. It's infuriating. Republicans do it, too, but she somehow became the face of this.
I don't know that her or others like her are doing anything to bring up the next set of leaders, though. I also don't really see her fighting for progress. The age thing, the number of terms - entirely secondary and honestly, it's just red herring in my view. All one has to do is look at Bernie.
It's absolutely an age issue. When was the last time you met someone over the age of 60 who was both good with computers and technology in general and also has never worked in the tech industry? Id also love to see the number of government elected officials who have ever suffered any sort of real poverty and compare their ages to their peers. I guarantee that spreadsheet alone tells a novel.
I want to see an enforced retirement age, a maximum age for first time election, and a strict term limit for all positions of government. I would also love to see all elected and appointed officials stripped of the right to financial privacy and a sort of jury system of a quarterly ethics board made up of citizens chosen at random to make review decisions on official government actions.
It's time citizens had more control over our government. They are employed by our tax dollars after all.
I think the age thing is a problem, if for no other reason than that very old politicians won't have to live as long in the world that they create. Sure, for politicians of good faith, that wouldn't matter much; but many of the ones currently in office would absolutely trade our future for their own temporary enrichment, knowing that they won't be here when the chickens come home to roost.
I don't have much hope in the voters. Last time a great challenger came along, Shahid Buttar in 2020, they still elected the geriatric choice. The DNC and Dem voters are the fucking worst. I mean, as long as you pretend the racist, fascist, ignorant, magats on the other side of the aisle don't exist.
You would think that the Democrat's consistent record of utter failure would count for something, but I think it has the opposite effect. The worse things get, the more insecure people feel. Insecurity makes voters risk-averse. Republicans capitalize on that with calls for a return to an American that never really existed. Democrats capitalize on it by making Democratic voters scared of new leadership.
I try to explain it with AIDS as an example. AIDS is a horrible disease, but it doesn't kill you. It just sets you up to die from another opportunistic infection like pneumonia. The fascists are pneumonia, and the neoliberals are AIDS. It's the fascism that kills you, but it's the neoliberalism that was the underlying cause that should have been dealt with.
This dude fucking sucked. Like I'm glad pelosi got challenged, but he wasn't the guy. I'm much more excited about Chakrabarti. Though that is mostly association with AoC and tabula rasa projection.
I was happy to see anyone challenging Pelosi. I agree Chakrabarti is a much better choice. Not my district, but I'll cross my fingers that the voters do the right thing.
I know that is true about incumbents, but I just don't understand why. All a voter has to do is look at their voting record. We don't need to listen to a fucking thing an incumbent says. Just look at the voting record. But voters can't even be fucked to do that.
Oh they acknowledge that Republicans are fascist bigots all the time, they just keep trying to work with them. Always trying to compromise with them instead of voting against them.
Term and age limits will be needed if the Constitution is improved, alongside ditching first-past-the-post voting. A great deal of America's rot comes from the stagnation caused by career politicians who simply exist to occupy a seat.
Sure, we might lose 'wise' leaders, but it has become pretty damn clear that archaic politicians are the plugged toilets of Democracy. All they do is cause a mess if not promptly handled. The Geronocrats must go.
I have no issue with politicians up to age 65, if we want to capture the breadth of their experience. After 65 though, they're out. Cognitive decline is a sharp dropoff, and we want politicians who are a going concern for the decisions they make.
The fact that this would've put Bernie out of a job years ago is a hard no for me. Campaign finance reform so we don't have a bunch of corporate stooges in power, and getting rid of FPTP make more sense to me. Better alternative candidates will have a chance, as well as life-ling civil servants who are proven and lovee by their communities
A neat person like Bernie doesn't have to be a politician to do good works. He can help mentor grass root organizations. While it would be a shame to lose a good guy from direct politics, it is far easier for evil politicians to stick around if we don't force them out. A good guy is apt to step down from power when they think it is right, but an evil one? They won't leave until carried out in a coffin.
SF is incredibly liberal, I could absolutely see Nancy losing and finally being forced to retire. Just gotta get people out to vote during the Primary.
Pelosi was elected when she was 41-42. Saikat Chakrabarti is 39, so only a couple years younger than when Pelosi was put into Congress. This is the perfect time for her to be forced to retire.
It really isn't. Local politics in SF has long been a struggle between property developers and tech bros versus community-based groups. Pelosi, like Feinstein and Newsom, are from the corporate faction. And San Francisco has, over the past few decades, been changing into a theme park for trustafarians and high-tech drones, as artists, musicians and other interesting people have been priced out.
All these fucking useless Democratic leaders are so selfish. You've failed and failed over and over again, miserably, yet you still insist on trying to lead? Do the right thing. Step down. Quit. It's truly disgusting how they've strangled their party and country with their incompetence.
Much like the appeasers that enabled Hitler, history is going to look back on Pelosi, Schumer, Kamala, Biden, Obama, Clinton, Jefferies, and other democrats who stood by and let all this happen on their watch without so much as a wimper.
Pelosi, Schumer, Kamala, Biden, Obama, Clinton, Jefferies, and other democrats who stood by and let all this happen on their watch without so much as a wimper.
Back when Pelosi was pushing the Affordable Care Act she came on KQED and railroaded the host, basically just ignored all the questions to deliver the party line. I was bruh this is your home base and acted like it was hostile territory.
Pelosi has been a huge fundraiser and leader for the Democrats, but might as well live on planet Mars when it comes to understanding working class people, even in the Bay Area.
We need a leadership vacuum in the Democratic Party to even hope of changing anything significantly.
Pelosi has been a huge fundraiser and leader for the Democrats
One reason why Cori Bush and Jamal Bowman got the old heave-ho. Pelosi has been instrumental in bankrolling Congressfolk like Henry Cuellar and Richie Torries while undermining candidates like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. Her leadership has largely lead to the current moment in Democratic Party Politics, with a handful of insiders growing obscenely rich while the rank-and-file voters are told to suck eggs every time their favorite legislation fails.
We need a leadership vacuum in the Democratic Party to even hope of changing anything significantly.
The real leadership of the democratic party is within the donor class. Women like Nancy get to hold the gavel, but its the Gettys and the Buffets and the Thiels who ultimately hold the power.
cared before, a great deal for nancy, after two losses to the orange fascist, this last one i'm pretty sure does our democracy in for good, lady did her service, and in the end failed to keep the republic safe. she holds a seat in california, so i'd trust to have another fair election for state and federal reps there at least, pretty sure everywhere else won't though.