CDZ Does it bother anyone else

[Auld Phart]

that we have 12 senators over the age of 80 holding office?

List of current United States Senators by age - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

infogalactic.com

23 over the age of 75?

38 over the age of 70?

Obviously, with those numbers, there will never be a bill passed for forced retirement at the age of 70, or 75.

Do you think there should be?

 

[progressive hunter]

that we have 12 senators over the age of 80 holding office?

List of current United States Senators by age - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

infogalactic.com

23 over the age of 75?

38 over the age of 70?

Obviously, with those numbers, there will never be a bill passed for forced retirement at the age of 70, or 75.

Do you think there should be?

I'm more concerned about their mental ability,,,a 50 yr old can be a brain dead moron while the 80 yr old sitting next to them can be a genius in full control of their faculties,,,

 

[Harry Dresden]

yes......

 

[Dayton3]

that we have 12 senators over the age of 80 holding office?

List of current United States Senators by age - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

infogalactic.com

23 over the age of 75?

38 over the age of 70?

Obviously, with those numbers, there will never be a bill passed for forced retirement at the age of 70, or 75.

Do you think there should be?

What would we gain from "forced retirement"?

 

[martybegan]

that we have 12 senators over the age of 80 holding office?

List of current United States Senators by age - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

infogalactic.com

23 over the age of 75?

38 over the age of 70?

Obviously, with those numbers, there will never be a bill passed for forced retirement at the age of 70, or 75.

Do you think there should be?

Honestly these days I have more respect for older people by default than younger ones.

That of course changes once they open their mouths.

 

[Auld Phart]

that we have 12 senators over the age of 80 holding office?

List of current United States Senators by age - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

infogalactic.com

23 over the age of 75?

38 over the age of 70?

Obviously, with those numbers, there will never be a bill passed for forced retirement at the age of 70, or 75.

Do you think there should be?

What would we gain from "forced retirement"?

Fresh blood, new ideas, smaller old boy network maybe?

 

[Harry Dresden]

that we have 12 senators over the age of 80 holding office?

List of current United States Senators by age - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

infogalactic.com

23 over the age of 75?

38 over the age of 70?

Obviously, with those numbers, there will never be a bill passed for forced retirement at the age of 70, or 75.

Do you think there should be?

What would we gain from "forced retirement"?

let them run for local offices were they live.....

 

[DGS49]

Much as I hate to have this applied to those I don't like, I believe in the democratic selection of politicians. That is to say, if the voters of the relevant district want a candidate for a particular office, the will of the voters should be upheld, even if the candidate is old, stupid, or a Democrat (pardon the redundancy).

I find no compelling argument to the contrary. Often partisans of one party point to geezers in another party, saying "we need to have term limits" or "we need to have a mandatory retirement age." But they turn a blind eye to the geezers in their own party. That seems stupid to me.

Also, I am a believer in the general proposition that older people are more likely to be WISE than younger people. And that is a good thing.

 

[TNHarley]

If it bothered enough people, they wouldnt be in office

 

[pknopp]

Why is it that people can't simply quit voting for them? Yes this is a problem but it's also a problem in passing laws that force things that people are perfectly capable of doing themselves.

 

[Darkwind]

that we have 12 senators over the age of 80 holding office?

List of current United States Senators by age - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

infogalactic.com

23 over the age of 75?

38 over the age of 70?

Obviously, with those numbers, there will never be a bill passed for forced retirement at the age of 70, or 75.

Do you think there should be?

I think this perfectly illustrates how elections are weighted to the incumbent, to the point that the elections could be considered 'unfair';.

 

[ABikerSailor]

You know, I could go for term limits for both Senators and Representatives. Give them both the same thing as the military, you can retire after 20 years of service, but are forced out at 30 with retirement benefits. Why do I say this? Because after being in office 20 to 30 years, a person can become locked into their thinking and won't be willing to accept new ideas from the younger crowd. Saw it in the form of CPO's who were unwilling to accept changes to the Navy when they happened, even though some of the changes were good ones. In the military you are eligible to retire at 20, but mandatory retirement (unless you have a critical specialty), is at 30 years of service.

And, considering that the age you can become a Senator or Representative is 35, with 30 years of service, that would put them at mandatory retirement at 65 (if they were elected young), which is a good age to put a representative out to pasture. Most would end up retiring at 70 to 80 years of age.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

 

[ABikerSailor]

that we have 12 senators over the age of 80 holding office?

List of current United States Senators by age - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

infogalactic.com

23 over the age of 75?

38 over the age of 70?

Obviously, with those numbers, there will never be a bill passed for forced retirement at the age of 70, or 75.

Do you think there should be?

I think this perfectly illustrates how elections are weighted to the incumbent, to the point that the elections could be considered 'unfair';.

Agreed. The main reason that the elections are weighted towards the incumbent is because of name recognition, and they have a record to point to. New candidates don't have any of that and need to fight harder to get their name and policies known.

 

[Auld Phart]

If it bothered enough people, they wouldn't be in office

You know better than that.

Strom and Byrd are examples of past their prime senators

 

[ABikerSailor]

If it bothered enough people, they wouldn't be in office

You know better than that.

Strom and Byrd are examples of past their prime senators

And the only reason they kept being reelected was because of name recognition, and the fact that most people are too lazy to check the credentials and policies of a brand new candidate. If we could get people to be enthusiastic about voting and actually review the candidates on the ballot, we'd probably have a better government. Unfortunately, most nowadays don't do that, which is one of the main reasons the incumbents get reelected. Name recognition, and one or two good bills/term are usually enough to get a person reelected. Unless of course, they do something stupid while in office, get caught, and then the people vote them out because they are upset.

 

[dblack]

that we have 12 senators over the age of 80 holding office?

List of current United States Senators by age - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

infogalactic.com

23 over the age of 75?

38 over the age of 70?

Obviously, with those numbers, there will never be a bill passed for forced retirement at the age of 70, or 75.

Do you think there should be?

It doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that we have so many crappy, corrupt senators. Don't much care how old they are.

 

[Auld Phart]

If it bothered enough people, they wouldn't be in office

You know better than that.

Strom and Byrd are examples of past their prime senators

And the only reason they kept being reelected was because of name recognition, and the fact that most people are too lazy to check the credentials and policies of a brand new candidate. If we could get people to be enthusiastic about voting and actually review the candidates on the ballot, we'd probably have a better government. Unfortunately, most nowadays don't do that, which is one of the main reasons the incumbents get reelected. Name recognition, and one or two good bills/term are usually enough to get a person reelected. Unless of course, they do something stupid while in office, get caught, and then the people vote them out because they are upset.

Totally agree.

Not so sure about the 30 and out, like we faced in the military.
If they don't assume office til their mid 50s, that would put them in their mid 80s.

Think they should be playing with the grandkids by that age, personally.

 

[ABikerSailor]

that we have 12 senators over the age of 80 holding office?

List of current United States Senators by age - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

infogalactic.com

23 over the age of 75?

38 over the age of 70?

Obviously, with those numbers, there will never be a bill passed for forced retirement at the age of 70, or 75.

Do you think there should be?

It doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that we have so many crappy, corrupt senators. Don't much care how old they are.

The only reason we have so many crappy and corrupt senators is because they were able to entrench themselves into that job, and instead of doing what the people want, they simply do enough so that they can hold on to the job. Term limits would solve quite a bit of that, because it takes time to figure out how the job works, who can help and who can't, and that needs at least 2 terms to figure out.

 

[ABikerSailor]

If it bothered enough people, they wouldn't be in office

You know better than that.

Strom and Byrd are examples of past their prime senators

And the only reason they kept being reelected was because of name recognition, and the fact that most people are too lazy to check the credentials and policies of a brand new candidate. If we could get people to be enthusiastic about voting and actually review the candidates on the ballot, we'd probably have a better government. Unfortunately, most nowadays don't do that, which is one of the main reasons the incumbents get reelected. Name recognition, and one or two good bills/term are usually enough to get a person reelected. Unless of course, they do something stupid while in office, get caught, and then the people vote them out because they are upset.

Totally agree.

Not so sure about the 30 and out, like we faced in the military.
If they don't assume office til their mid 50s, that would put them in their mid 80s.

Think they should be playing with the grandkids by that age, personally.

Okay, then instead of term limits, we put an age limit on how long a person can serve. And, to tell you the truth, setting it at about 70 or 75 would work pretty well for me. Most people I know who are 75 or younger still have it pretty well together and are healthy. Go much above that, and health and mental issues start to surface in most people. And yeah, one could argue that some people stay healthy and alert way into their 80, but those are the exception, not the rule. Kick them out and send them home at 75 years. If they turn 75 during their term, they could feasibly serve until 81, but that should be it for them.