12 mo. ago • 99%

You have a very important vote coming up, remember?

45 comments

When asked about imposing age limits in congress, Mitch McConnell was quoted as saying: “………….” 😶

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https://www.statista.com/statistics/1361920/senators-age-share-us/

A third of the Senate is over 70, and another third are between 60 and 69....

Roughly 2/3s of the Senate is past the normal retirement age

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- Technically retirement age is 65 (might have moved to 67). But don't worry, Republicans have proposed moving the retirement agree to 75. That'd really cut down on the senators past retirement age and they don't even have to retire!
  
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  It's got raised to 67 for OASDI already
  
  https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/social-security/articles/the-social-security-retirement-age-increases
  
  But only if you were born after 1960, most of the boomers still get OASDI earlier.
  
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  Isn't that like, longer than our average lifespan?
  
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  I mean, if they can somehow move retirement to 75, they’ll absolutely use that as a justification to kill social security.
  
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Coming soon to ~~theaters~~ the Senate:

Weekend at Mitch's

I hear Dianne Feinstein plays the love interest 🍿

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Back in my day, there were no people over 80. They were all dead!

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- Or were about to be whenever you discovered them
  
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Don't worry, if she can't remember, someone else will tell her how to vote. It's representational representational democracy.

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- Too be fair, she could have been all there mentally and died from something else. My Great-grandma was very sharp, and very aware when she passed at 82.
  
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  She could have been, but she wasnt. Her cognitive decline was well known and documented.
  
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If we do an age limit it should be scientifically defined, something like the statistical average age at which mental decline due to old age has set in. Wording it like that will allow the exact age to be flexible with the times if say longevity increases or a generation is born into such harsh environmental conditions that it lowers the average cognitive ability at a younger age than expected.

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- Then we would work until we were demented. Great.
  
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  Mental decline due to old age presently begins to set in noticeably in the mid to late 60s.
  
  Plus, it's better than the present system where authority and paying jobs are held onto for dear life by zombified boomers out of what can only be assumed as sheer spite for the up and coming.
  
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  I think just having a cutoff works better, otherwise the test will be constantly scrutinized and attacked and neutered by olds trying to break their way into holding onto power forever in spite of the greater good.
  
  For every Bernie, we've got 5 Diannes
  
  Edit: BY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE‽
  
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this is a good point. wtf do those staffers think they're doing -- helping her? carrying out the sacred traditions?

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- Staffers work for the person, not the office.
  
  If your boss retires, you're out of a job. Pretty sure Feinsteins top staffer is Pelosi's niece (maybe daughter?) And I doubt she'd have trouble finding a job, but most have a financial incentive to keep their boss in office for as long as possible.
  
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  Direct incentive yes but it's to the overall detriment to their position in life at this point. Aren't Feinstein and Pelosi in solid blue districts? There's little risk to "losing" the seat.
  
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What fucking timing, rip in piss

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- I swear I had no idea!
  
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This hurt.

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You can't vote for the first 18 years, why not do the same based on the average life expectancy? That would even add a incentive for older politicians to improve medical care for all!

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Nancy?

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- I like to pretend it's McConnell in drag. More fappable.
  
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Oh my... one of the things that made me really uncomfortable on reddit was the open discrimination against the elderly, and now it comes to lemmy, apparently...

Look at the comments. People want even to take the voting rights out from the ederly. Seriously?

You all have to realize that what we need isn't less voting rights, but better POLITICAL EDUCATION! The elder politicians who are in charge and screwing up things aren't doing so because they're older, but because they have bad political agendas and intentions. And yet, people voted on them...

If you're still unsure about that, just look at the Brazilian example. Our current president is 77, but was the only one that had potential to confront the opposing, fascistoid party. He won (by a tiny percent), and is working heavily, against an opposing senate, trying to give us back the rights they tried to take out, and improve our economy, favoring the poorer ones. He's not perfect, no one is, but his age doesn't make him a bad ruler, and that's the point

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