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.
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!!!]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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....
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.