this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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politics

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[–] [email protected] 155 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

"On Sept. 29, Dianne Feinstein, 90, died of natural causes. She had cast a vote in the Senate less than a day prior."

Banger first two sentences. As an observer not from the US, this feels like Emperors New Clothes to me. But instead of a naked emperor, you have paraded a corpse through the senate and acted as if she was a fighter like Xena, Warrior Princess or something.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 year ago

As a Californian, I’ll say its been feeling damn near “Weekend and Bernie’s” for months now.

I dunno who was actually casting her votes, but I doubt they were aligned with what the people of my state would have wanted.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Weekend at Bernie’s. The film, not Sanders.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I honestly think there are now a few of those "Weekend at Bernie's" scenarios playing out in congress. McConnell comes to mind as the most obvious, he has already had a couple of public examples of him losing his cognitive abilities, but everyone pretends not to notice and they keep tripping over themselves trying to cover for him, similar to how they did with Feinstein.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I am not allowed to say hateful things here I think, but man I really hope McConnell lives a long life. He seems to be in perfect health and enjoys living by the looks of it, and I want that joy to continue for him as long as possible :) :) :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

And the rest of the establishment’s politicians seem undead. :-/

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We need to stop allowing folks to remain in power after the age of like 65.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am in favour of both age and term limits for politicians. For one, if regular people are supposed to retire at 65ish and realistically often struggle to find work once they go past their 40s, there is no reason why politicians should be allowed to stay in their jobs through their 70s and sometimes 80s.

And I am in favour of term limits because it would keep the career politicians out of the game. Very few of them are any good.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Politicians who know that their political career is about to end have the nasty habit of doing favors for their big corporation of choice, knowing that they'll receive a cushy board position in return afterwards.

If you want to establish term limits, you also need to establish some sort of accountability for the time afterwards.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Accountability is needed with or without term limits. Too many politicians are deep in the pockets of big businesses. "Professional board member" is already one of the most popular sinecures for spent politicians. Term limits aren't a silver bullet for general politician misconduct. Everything needs checks and balances, and politics has way too little of it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I agree that we need younger people in these positions. We need those more in touch with what the average person is going through these days.

However, I disagree that we should set a hard age limit. If anything have them take some sort of cognitive exam every few years once they hit a certain age.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You need an impartial hard limit. Otherwise you get people like trump getting doctors to lie about their health. Sorry if you’re in good health and get the boot, but you knew what the limits were when you signed on.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Makes sense. Perhaps it could be something variable based on the average lifespan of the people in the country... it might even give them a little incentive to come up with a working healthcare system if it means they get to stay in office a little longer.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s a good idea. But cynical me says people in power like to keep that power, and they’d manipulate and restrict what data they used to calculate that average as it applies to their tenure.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

True, but you can only fudge the numbers so much. And it would help to keep things in check if medical advancements are made in a way that only allows the rich to have a drastically longer lifespans.

[–] ryathal 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You'd really want a hard number right around 65-70. People by that age have some level of cognitive decline, there's evidence that around 50 is where it starts going down.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Right, what I mean by "based on the lifespan of the people" would be more of a percentage... not the full expected average lifespan.

So, for example, it could be 80% of the average life expectancy in the U.S. which looks to be around 76, so that would put the cap around 61.

But perhaps we could base it on studies of cognitive decline instead. If some future medicine is discovered (that most people have access to) which would allow everyone to continue functioning well at an older age, then I don't have a problem if the average person is still doing well at an older age. In this case we could use some percentage of the average age of cognitive decline instead.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

A cognitive exam would be a good idea regardless of any age. They need to be fit to serve.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Natural causes my ass. Cunt had dementia and they kept her around for power ever one of her votes for the last 3 years should be invalidated.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Dementia would still be considered natural causes wouldn't it?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

Not if it's magical dementia.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Anything not an accident or homicide is natural causes when you are 90.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Whose joke was it? "Hit by a car? Natural causes: if he weren't 90, he'd been fast enough to get out of the way!"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

realistically the US media treats car accidents like natural causes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The media? Damn near everybody. I can't remember who said it, but the easiest way to get away with murder is to hit somebody with a vehicle.

[–] ryathal 1 points 1 year ago

Especially if they are on a bike.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Reagan “governed” with Alzheimer’s?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I think, tbh and fair, it was Nancy governing with astrology while Ronnie was unwell.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

for power ever one of her votes for the last 3 years should be invalidated.

I think you missed one letter and a dot there.

Are we at stage "invalidating votes of senile old coots" yet? Have you SEEN how many crusty bastards are in there? I'd say the Dems would LOVE this as the demographic helps them immensely.