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Why Do Such Ancient People Run America?
- YinglingLight 7y agoArticle fails to focus on the profound power of Talent Stacks (https://personalexcellence.co/blog/talent-stack/ https://personalexcellence.co/blog/talent-stack/). It is the combination of skills that are uniquely powerful. Understand that every successful politician will have a slew of talents that revolve around Persuasion.
- Icathian 7y agoFascinating topic, but in terms of real meat the explanation offered for the phenomenon described is distressingly shallow. Common sense tells us as much and more about why this is happening.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- koheripbal 7y agoEvery young person believes that they themselves will increase in wisdom as they age. ...yet they judge older people with disdain simply because of their age. It's a hypocritical and hubris ridden perspective.
- tomerico 7y agoI think that people believe they’ll become wiser up to a certain point. There is no doubt that there is a large cognitive decline that is happening at very old age.
- jakeinspace 7y agoYou also have to factor in that not only are older generations further into their lives than us (I'm generalizing) younger people, with possible wisdom gained, but they are also of a different generation, raised in a different environment and with different values. That's a bigger issue to me than the fact that they're older. Of course the older generation will always be more conservative in some respects (or at least has been in recent history). Part of that is the effects of becoming older ("wisdom"), part of it is survivorship bias, and part is just that society changes, and young people now are more liberal/left-wing/"woke"/etc on average than somebody who became an adult in the 70s or 80s.
- ChrisMarshallNY 7y agoSpeak for yourself, young person. I was born and raised overseas, and have spent my entire life embedded in many very different cultures. I come from an ivy-league family (I'm the redneck engineer) that has been almost entirely dedicated to some fairly intense public service. Most of them could have become quite wealthy, but chose to do Service, instead. I have written open-source software, for decades, dedicated to helping some of the most downtrodden folks on Earth recover from devastating personal circumstances. It has not made me one single dime. In fact, it has cost me many thousands. And we're all pretty darn liberal. Being mixed up with dozens of different cultures all your life tends to do that. My experience is that many of the younger folks in my industry are incredibly materialistic. I suspect that's par for the course. It didn't start with this generation. Once we get a bit older, we may come to reflect, and discover that so many things that were of great importance when we were younger, don't mean diddly anymore. As for my relationship with technology; I learned to write software that lasts decades. Almost every project I've ever done has been designed as a legacy.
- pikelet 7y agoNo need to take it personally, they never claimed that 100% of older people are that way.
- ChrisMarshallNY 7y agoI take it that you have not had the...lovely...experience of being an older person in the tech industry, then?
- blaser-waffle 7y ago> My experience is that many of the younger folks in my industry are incredibly materialistic. I suspect that's par for the course. It didn't start with this generation. I suspect that is selection bias. IT and programming have been reliable ways to make north-of-median-income for decades now, since the .com boom in the 90s. This ties in with the rise of the Bro Programmer meme for the same reason -- it's where you to to make money. Hell, you're posting this on HN, which is the news site for a startup incubator -- which is ultimately about making founders and investors tons of freakin money. Obviously you're going to see a bias to getting that $$$ here
- mumblemumble 7y agoThe point where the snake eats its own tail is when you have a lot of relatively younger people in charge of deciding which old person is the wisest. It probably doesn't do to think too hard about things like this. You'll just hurt yourself and upset your friends.
- pmiller2 7y agoExcept young people don’t vote in nearly the same numbers as older people: > In 2018, among those age 65 and older, voter turnout was 65 percent for women and 68 percent for men. In contrast, 38 percent of women 18-29 years old voted and 33 percent of men of the same age group voted. [0] —- [0]: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/04/behind-2018-united-states-midterm-election-turnout.html https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/04/behind-2018-u...
- smokey_the_bear 7y agoA lot of voter registration laws are designed to make it hard for young people to vote. They move more frequently or are at college away from their permanent address. I've missed one major election since I turned 18, and it's because I was on internship 5 hours from where I could vote.
- ApolloFortyNine 7y agoYou could have requested an absentee ballot.
- smokey_the_bear 7y agoYes, I didn't say it was impossible to vote. My point was that it is more inconvenient in general for young people to vote than older people, and there are things we could do to increase their participation if we wanted to. We could also hold elections on weekends.
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- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoSome things simply won't matter as you age. Climate change will have zero impact if you are going to die in a decade, which wouldn't be an unreasonable estimate among the current presidential candidates. If you aren't personally impacted, no matter how wise you may be, you can't have the same level of empathy for the problem.
- derision 7y agoThat's implying none of those older people care about the lives of their children and grandchildren which is not the case in my experience
- magduf 7y agoObviously you haven't been hanging around many career politicians or corporate executives. The problem isn't that older people don't care, it's that the older people in charge don't care.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoThey're not dictators or petty royalty -- they didn't get into that role without having people elect them. They don't care because their electorate doesn't care; old white people in the US vote in large numbers.
- jacquesm 7y ago> They're not dictators or petty royalty Some of them would like to be and want to be treated as dictators and royalty.
- jefurii 7y agoMaybe they do in fact care, but from the kinds of decisions they make it certainly does not appear that they do.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoYou can care about other people, but there's nothing like experiencing a problem first-hand. It's a level of selflessness that most people don't ever realize, because it goes against human nature. If a flight loses cabin pressure, you need to put on your own oxygen mask before someone else's. Not that you don't care for other people, but if you don't care for yourself first, you will literally be unable to help others.
- paulie_a 7y agoPersonally I believe there should be an age cap for important positions. 70 years old and you are out. Alzheimer's is becoming an issue with elected officials and will only worsen. We have age minimums. Why not a maximum?
- me_me_me 7y agoThere are 40yrs old people who are not fit to run their own lives and there are 80+yrs old people who are razor sharp. How do you propose we filter out people unfit for office?
- jmpman 7y agoThrough open and free elections where the candidates debate the issues prior to the election? Seems to have worked so far.
- bigmattystyles 7y agoHere's an idea - you let people decide - we could call it 'voting'.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- pmdulaney 7y agoNot a bad idea, but good luck getting a constitutional amendment past the AARP's lobbyists.
- smcphile 7y ago> But old age runs deep in modern presidential politics. Does it really though? Not according to Wikipedia, which puts the median age of a president at 55 years and 3 months, and which describes the distribution of ages as conforming to a bell curve: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_Unit...
- greenyoda 7y agoYou only need to go back to the three presidents before Trump to find three younger presidents in a row: Obama: 47 (age at inauguration) George W. Bush: 54 Bill Clinton: 46 The author of this article has a very short memory.
- pmiller2 7y agoWhat’s the median age of presidents at election since 1968?
- smcphile 7y agoIf we start with Johnson, the average of the ages of Johnson and Nixon, so somewhere between 55 and 56: Clinton 46 years 154 days Obama 47 years 169 days Carter 52 years 111 days Bush Jr 54 years 198 days Johnson 55 years 87 days Nixon 56 years 11 days Ford 61 years 26 days Bush Sr 64 years 222 days Reagan 69 years 349 days Trump 70 years 220 days Edit: formatting of table
- pmiller2 7y ago5 of those presidents were elected twice, and one wasn’t elected at all.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoFor the non-Americans or those just not up on Presidential history: Ford was the one who never got elected. Nixon's VP -- who ran with Nixon and got elected in '72 -- was Sprio Agnew, who later resigned due to corruption allegations. Ford replaced Agnew, and then replaced Nixon when he got nailed by Watergate. Brilliant maneuvering? Or falling bass-ackwards into the Oval Office?
- SpicyLemonZest 7y agoI'm not convinced about the underlying premise that age is an important factor here. If people think Biden or Trump or McConnell or Pelosi are effective leaders, why should it matter what age they are? I suspect that only the most politically engaged people even consider the question.
- Reedx 7y agoLife expectancy and health (mental & physical) matters. Especially in the case of a President. Plus you want them to be able to serve 2 terms, so you need to consider current age + 8 years.
- _marlowe_ 7y agoAge related cognitive decline is a real thing.
- ThinkBeat 7y agoBecause when you are 70 years or older your cognitive abilities are not what they used to be. Would you want a 70 year old person to be trained as a fighter pilot? Would you want him or her as a fireman, trying to carry people out of a fire? A lot of great people are sharp and intelligent far into their old age, and a lot more people are not. But their brain doesnt learn as fast, doesnt adapt as well. I want the person sitting on the nuclear button, who decides our climate policy, that decides about health care, about using our military, to be in their prime. There are reasons for mandatory limits in certain professions, having one for becoming president is a good idea.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoA lot of decision making is made by staffers. They rely on staffers to due the heavy lifting, and then the elected public official goes through the motion of reading statements written by staffers, introducing legislation, etc. Parliamentarians are quite important to Congress' day-to-day functioning. Also, as a public official, your party's platform already outlines what sides of issues you are on.
- linksnapzz 7y agoI don't know. Why does the Atlantic hire the vapidly callow to write for them?
- JohnTHaller 7y agoThe president has his emails printed out to read them. Like the CEO of the fortune 500 that we laughed at back in the late 90s.
- devmunchies 7y agoIf I had the resources the president or a CEO had I would have my assistants print out my emails too and I'm 29 years old, knowing what I know about screen time and mental health. Its healthy to have some separations from technology.
- Simulacra 7y agoAgreed. Less screen time is better and I am more thoughtful reading a physical medium.
- PopeDotNinja 7y agoSounds efficient to me. I hate reading, and it's painful. Audio is great.
- saterHater 7y agoI think that's the exact kind of persona our president has been trying to pull off.
- krapp 7y agoI don't think that's a persona - I think he really is that guy.
- mhalle 7y agoSo does Don Knuth. So does Don Hopkins, the former director of health programs for the Carter Center and spent years leading the effort to eradicate Guinea worm. So devoted to his task, he didn't even give his kids his cell phone number when he traveled to Africa. I can't speak for the current US President, but there are a lot of people who are perfectly capable of reading email, but for whom the task would distract them from more important uses of their time.
- pmdulaney 7y agoMy theory is that people realize that older candidates are more likely to have sensibilities that have not been contaminated by critical theory. For example, whether you're an old school liberal or a conservative like myself, you respect the principle of free speech. A lot of the younger people are adopting viewpoints, on the other hand, which can only be described as insane.
- cjslep 7y agoAre you talking about the philosophical idea of critical theory? Because I find the internet rotten with it, but probably in a way contrary to your ideological viewpoint (which also makes my critique a critical one, and so round we go). For example, your comment critiques a whole ideological category of people and offers no concrete solution towards action to remedy or alter this viewpoint. You fit into critical theory very well, as do I. Unintentionally or not. It's probably at best an unproductive line of thought or at worst virtue signalling, so probably not a valuable discussion to have, really.
- pmdulaney 7y agoI've never thought that a black or a Hispanic should be treated or thought of badly because of his or her race. Nor do I think that my thoughts and experiences should be discounted because I am a white male. Everyone should just be treated as an individual. Is that so controversial or retrograde?
- krapp 7y agoLet me guess... the "younger people" whose "insanity" you're referring to all happen to share a specific political and social alignment, which you yourself do not?
- pmdulaney 7y agoAbsolutely, because critical theory is a phenomenon of the Left. The right has its wackos too, but both the sane Left and the sane Right are quick to distance themselves from them. Critical theory lunacy seems IMHO to get a pass from otherwise sane persons on the Left even if they don't embrace it themselves.
- kleer001 7y agoCoincidence... Nothing to see here folks.
- user_50123890 7y agoBecause they've had 50 years to network and build wealth, compared to 5 years of the average 20-something?
- xyzzyz 7y agoYou don't need wealth to run for the office. Bernie Sanders, while certainly wealthier than average American, doesn't have any more liquid wealth than typical 30-something software engineer, and doesn't seem to be spending any of it on his campaign. What you need to run is people who will vote for you, and that's a real problem for young candidates.
- pmiller2 7y agoBernie Sanders has a job he’s not going to get fired from if he doesn’t show up for months at a time because he’s on the campaign trail.
- topkai22 7y agoI don't have any real problem with older people, even 75+, being in positions of power and responsibility, especially in elected government. However, there is decent evidence that the degree to which late silent generation and early baby boomers have dominated positions of power starting in the late 1980s is a historical quirk. I didn't use to think so, but there was great article a month back on HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22204966 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22204966) that compiled some good data on how power seemed to consistently land on individuals in the late silent generation or early baby boom. I don't think there is any conspiracy, although there may be some degree of self reinforcing bias toward people born around 1947 in society now. There are other precedents though- in the small scale, the US Military Academy (West Point) class of 1915 was known as the "class the stars fell on" because so many members became generals (due to WWII), and post WWII those that were able to serve in the military retained some advantages over those that weren't, either by age or other status.
- beeschlenker 7y agoHere you go: So you are telling us the Dow Jones is down 4,000 this week because of a sickness with a death rate of 2.3%...are you sure it is not something else? Global stock markets have lost $6 trillion in value in six days. It possibly because Soros, Putin, and others are moving money out of the US so that it cannot be taken in lawsuits resulting from their involvement in the story below. Unless of course you believe it is because of COVID19 aka Coronavirus, a sickness with a 2.3% death rate. See below: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/study-72000-covid-19-patients-finds-23-death-rate http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/study-720... Attorney General Barr is not resigning; not before President Trump does. Barr is the same as Mueller,Pelosi,Schiff, & Nadler: feign opposition to cover the true motive of obstruction to keep Trump in power. Supreme Court Justice Alito & FBI Deputy Director Wray also on board. See latest updates "Impeachment" Is A Diversion And Delay - Part II: Blocking of the "impeachment" witnesses was collusion planned before the new year. Listen to an FBI agent's disclosure from January 1, 2O2O here. The President was to resign late summer securing election for DNC. See latest updates. Here is the zip file, which was also made available in the 3Jan2O2O update. The file within is VID_20200101_201948.mp3. Turn up the volume and put on headphones. BB10Mp3Footage31Dec1Jan.zip 122.4mb https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IXOOhQhHybwky8Z5pGdr9ZXhWpIUazmi/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IXOOhQhHybwky8Z5pGdr9ZXhWpI... The dialogue about the impeachment starts near the beginning. Having Biden in the White House is as good as Trump or anyone else in their organization. Obviously Schiff and Nadler pledged their allegiance to the organization by raping boys on the record, with their task being to drag out an impeachment designed to obstruct and delay any real efforts to remove the President, thus keeping Trump in power. The witness blocking was to cause an apparent uproar delaying things with legal actions until late Summer. Soon after, the President would resign, leaving any other candidate with not enough time or support to compete with an opportunistic Biden, who is as good as Trump or any other Illuminati friendly politician in the Presidency. 172 page PDF [last update: March|3|2O2O]: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S7T_kDv48E40eHzus6CTXHxcm0W2qxVc/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S7T_kDv48E40eHzus6CTXHxcm0W... Previously reported: \Wag The Dog: first was feigned impeachment hearings meant to obstruct, now an attack on Iranians in Iraq. Here is what they are trying to distract from & cover up to retain power. $100+ billion in bribes to the highest offices in this country. 815+ deaths from child rapes to prove loyalty! See the latest PDF updates: FBI Director Wray, AG Barr, SoD Shanahan, & SoS Pompeo each raped boys and were paid billions in bribes for a Soros & Koch funded child rape org. So did Trump & his "impeachment" team Nadler,Schiff,Mueller.So did media moguls Redstone,Murdoch,Moonves. What are they trying to set up? Who can arrest them since they are all bribed and in on it ? Their strategy to stay in every office and obstruct until forced to leave no matter what. Feigning impeachment: see page 13O. Hoiohiuhrfe, jknbjkevew, vrmnowenbgewrg. port. \\if;Download the video/audio file, put on headphones and turn up the volume. You will hear these people committing these crimes. Audio was broadcast into my apartment by outdated surveillance equipment illegally embedded within my walls. This very same technology was being used to broadcast me to the internet for five years without my consent. I own this footage. Please use this to prosecute all found within. Note:: I am obliviously speaking throughout the video, and it can be quite loud at times relative to the desired content. The are dozens more links, including these, that can be found in this PDF that was last updated on 3 Mar 2O2O: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S7T_kDv48E40eHzus6CTXHxcm0W2qxVc/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S7T_kDv48E40eHzus6CTXHxcm0W... All members of the "Illuminati"; "....an underground organization of homosexuals and child rapists..." (from pg 26: Barack Obama with Jack Dorsey). President Donald Trump: Demands a $4 billion dollar bribe here at 10:18am 4Jan2019: 3JanCh3_900-1100.avi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Grdr8xF2psKNsuYlEnl9dIRV-77YG0Vr/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Grdr8xF2psKNsuYlEnl9dIRV-77... 3JanCh2_900-1100-avi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LUmVygl_q0XVs8h2cWr8jZl-24fY0vBB/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LUmVygl_q0XVs8h2cWr8jZl-24f... 3JanCh4_1000-1100.mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZpP1pJbJakBgg-y-MWNozTxp3wJojHge/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZpP1pJbJakBgg-y-MWNozTxp3wJ... President Trump rapes and kills twelve boys, including five boys in a "who can rape five boys to death the fastest" game: 14JanCh3_600.mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ufPmglde9Mep0m6xYMJ9c4TWTjj258zB/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ufPmglde9Mep0m6xYMJ9c4TWTjj... 14JanCh2_600-700.mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/136qLJdEn8eCs9tI4QtIxl4opW_Lw_gCF/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/136qLJdEn8eCs9tI4QtIxl4opW_L... Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: Accepting a $3 billion dollar bribe at 10:33 am on the 17 Jan 2019 to ensure Asian boys can get through the border at "Monterrey" undocumented to be raped: 17JanCh3_949-1100.avi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eodHu4o5Cm3xEWhDqipSuTj-M1CZUvmE/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eodHu4o5Cm3xEWhDqipSuTj-M1C... 17JanCh4_1017-1100.avi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y-nWEQbempkVZSz230j9wTyduZNjDmnk/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y-nWEQbempkVZSz230j9wTyduZN... Speaker Nancy Pelosi also "preps" boys with First Lady Melania Trump, defined as in she performs oral sex on the boys’ penis and anus, as a child rapist like Henry Porter would, while trying to remove fecal matter from the boy prior to handing them over to be raped and then subsequently murdered, for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who apparently decides he would rather just have ten billion dollars instead. US Attorney for Western New York James Kennedy rapes these boys instead: 12JanCh3_1533-1638.mp3 Yopujwmcwef, cwhbenclewgve. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AgFkDsbPbI4b5Xd3Wbz2EVNNx25kW2Oz/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AgFkDsbPbI4b5Xd3Wbz2EVNNx25... Attorney General William Barr with FBI Deputy Director Christopher Wray raped and killed boys for billions in bribes in Buffalo, New York on the 17th Jan2019 at 7:50am: 18JanCh4_700mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UIdZkS5ZVksZdHYsnHk2t5losi0N0Bp7/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UIdZkS5ZVksZdHYsnHk2t5losi0... 18JanCh2_700.mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DFK8IAxm5pQVqZv9L518nfgP7_odB2Um/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DFK8IAxm5pQVqZv9L518nfgP7_o... 18JanCh3_725-.mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DG5ej59Ic8RT9UhbyMdwT0BDcKIifGGm/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DG5ej59Ic8RT9UhbyMdwT0BDcKI... Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan each raped and killed boys on 5Jan'19 at 17:39 for billion$ in bribes:. dsavf awdva. r weqvvrvq. 5JanCh2_1721-1818.mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eSlD4otX4KZqWXboQM92Mu-6J02Mjwrg/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eSlD4otX4KZqWXboQM92Mu-6J02... Leaders of the "impeachment" effort Jerrold Nadler, Robert Mueller, and Adam Schiff all rape and kill boys between 11:20pm and 1:10am: 14JanCh4_2300-0000.mp3 Nadler starts at twenty minutes in- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kuvv2Zmbw5Jw7onbRI2hCZ0M8FU66GuU/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kuvv2Zmbw5Jw7onbRI2hCZ0M8FU... 14JanCh2_2304-2359.mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nofp5xF-aXXcCSgQVwj30KlzE9WLr1x1/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nofp5xF-aXXcCSgQVwj30KlzE9W... Mueller at 12:25am, next is Schiff who starts at 12:55-ish: 15JanCh2_000-100.mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EsmHfguwBuo2PbavJ1WYyhiML62tgCkj/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EsmHfguwBuo2PbavJ1WYyhiML62... 15JanCh2_100-200.mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NZnWRnBryalNQu2yJmfJUdS2pA_rGSFH/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NZnWRnBryalNQu2yJmfJUdS2pA_... 15JanCh4_000-100.mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZEDJR6jb6ARpcNnWJTokBUKb2J2OQnwZ/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZEDJR6jb6ARpcNnWJTokBUKb2J2... 15JanCh4_100-200.mp3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/173aYWvWHH4VGht1h_2nM0IMdw746LeCL/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/173aYWvWHH4VGht1h_2nM0IMdw74... Complete Media Protection: Lester Holt, of NBC NightlyNews, apparently a member of the Illuminati since the 1980's, along with ABC Nightly News lead anchor David Muir, stop over to the Porter studio in Buffalo, New York on 14Jan2019 at 5:00 am. They both rape and kill about two dozen boys by 6:00 am. Muir starts around 5:15am, then Holt about 5:38 am. Multi-billionaire Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp and also Fox Corporation, takes his turn after Holt. Video links below: 14JanCh3_500-601.avi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i7NKepeyG_FfdQRrM7KsnFOZOOX3o7UL/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i7NKepeyG_FfdQRrM7KsnFOZOOX... 14JanCh2_530-600.avi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NZzgN5ilI7ToroU5cfqMaL4o2u1RwidV/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NZzgN5ilI7ToroU5cfqMaL4o2u1... Adding to the media protection and reason this is not picked up by the media, CBS and Viacom owner Sumner Redstone and Leslie Moonves rape and kill boys following the President. 14JanCh3_700.avi https://drive.google.com/file/d/10XDw6x3ldnnQiq7oIjpdYVENyXaB4aI0/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/10XDw6x3ldnnQiq7oIjpdYVENyXa... 14JanCh2_700-800.avi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NS_e6AzEZ05wnfljkGMETGU5CWYKfRDp/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NS_e6AzEZ05wnfljkGMETGU5CWY... 172 page PDF [last updated: MAR|3|2O2O]: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S7T_kDv48E40eHzus6CTXHxcm0W2qxVc/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S7T_kDv48E40eHzus6CTXHxcm0W... \\. Please repost in USA! Post gets censored in US Recently more relevant: From page 49, Senator Mitch McConnell: At 1632 Senator Mitch McConnell checks into the Porter camera system inquiring if he can be part of the "eviction" for $10 million dollars. He is informed by group members that there are enough people for the event already and his participation is not necessary. At 1634 McConnell states "I fucked 15 kids, how am I not getting paid by you?" He is dismissed by Donald Reeves with "I think that will be all Mr. McConnell." 13JanCh3_1600-1700.avi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L7bqOpvaEWmLiJpMhJNQDrfsQAHtsX8-/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L7bqOpvaEWmLiJpMhJNQDrfsQAH...
- w3mmpp 7y agoBecause young people are silly most of the time. They are clueless of their ignorance and how fast and radically their own beliefs will change over time. Every 10 years, you look at your own self and you realize how little you knew, how silly and naive you were, and it keeps going. Wisdom is when that cycle stops, either because you settled on a set of beliefs or because you understand that it's all fleeting anyway, either way, nobody should lead before reaching that stage imo.
- _marlowe_ 7y agoIf you are 18-25, there is a HORRIBLE principal-agent problem here. Total misalignment of interests. Owing to the fact that, on average, young people will have more years of exposure to a set of policies, they should have voting power to shape them. One person, one vote leads to this misalignment. Democracy with an inter-generational focus should allocate votes based on duration of policy exposure. I.e. max(1, (Avg US Life Expectancy - age)) votes.
- jbob2000 7y agoYou used to be able to count on your parents to have your best interests in mind. There seems to be a big generation gap between the pre and post internet generations, which is where I think some of this political turmoil is coming from.
- downerending 7y agoParent here: You still can--it's my highest priority. That said, I'm more concerned about what you'd really want in the long term than what you think you want right now.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoI admit the principle-agent problem. But let's give those with the least experience and knowledge the most voting power? That seems like a very unwise solution.
- _marlowe_ 7y agoThen raise the voting age to 25 or something. It's just an illustration.
- jkingsbery 7y agoSo many things factually wrong in this article.... > In January 2021, the three people most likely to be the next president—Biden, Sanders, and the incumbent, Donald Trump—would each be the oldest president to ever give an inaugural address in American history. And until recently, we also had a serious candidate under the age of 40. > If you extrapolate this trend, it might sound like America’s next breakthrough presidential candidate will be some 35-year-old YouTube influencer who just recently learned about the filibuster. I thought the entire point of this article was that if you extrapolate the trend, the candidates would all be in their 90's? Also, some of what goes on in the private industry is transferrable to politics, and many of the names mentioned had substantial careers (some will argue effective careers, some won't) before they entered politics. > In the past 40 years, the average age of Nobel Prize laureates has increased in almost every discipline, My understanding is that the average age for starting a tenure track position has also increased as a result of increased specialization and competition. Wouldn't an increase in age for major career awards follow a similar trajectory? > Power concentrated in the hands of old people who are also rich will predictably lead to policies that benefit the old and the rich, at the expense of the less privileged. How does this follow? Does the author mean to imply that government officials are incapable of separating their own station from that of their constituents? Why would these old rich people favor the "rich" (usually defined as those with a high income) instead of the "old"? > The federal government already guarantees universal health insurance and a universal basic income to seniors, even as Republicans cry socialism when young people request versions of the same policies Maybe this is a useful fiction, but at least on paper we give these benefits to seniors because they paid into social security and medicare during their working years. Young people have not. Whether or not each one is wise, these are two clearly different things. The author just shows his own lack of understanding. > At the end of the Cold War, a common criticism of the U.S.S.R. was that the country was crumbling in part because the Soviet politburo was too old and out of touch to keep up with a changing world. Also, because it was a communist country that centrally planned everything, so couldn't reallocate resources efficiently. > Without encouraging voters or employers to be ageist... Even though this is pretty much entirely what this article is doing
- aylee 7y agoDementia incidence doubles every five years from 65 to 90. Having candidates that will be older than 65 at inauguration just isn’t worth the risk.
- pmiller2 7y agoI think this is the key sentence, and everyone seems to be glossing over it: > Americans 55 and older account for less than one-third of the population, but they own two-thirds of the nation’s wealth—the highest level of wealth concentration on record. Running a national political campaign is a more than full time job for a period of several months. The median American worker can’t just take a few months off work to run for office.
- xyzzyz 7y agoThere are millions of Americans below age 55 with means to support themselves for several months running the campaign. Suggesting that younger people do not run for office because they risk starvation and eviction is just absurd.
- pmiller2 7y agoThe median net worth of people 45-54 is $124k. For ages 35-44, it's $59k. [0] Keep in mind that includes things like home equity. It gets worse when you look at younger age brackets. Not so absurd now, is it? --- [0]: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/whats-your-net-worth-and-how-do-you-compare-to-others-2018-09-24 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/whats-your-net-worth-and-h...
- smcphile 7y agoYou wrote that the median American worker can’t take time off to campaign. That’s correct, they can’t. The point is that lots of people, of all ages, both young and old, who’s net worth is significantly above the median, can afford to take time off to campaign. So, yes, people with a higher net worth are at an advantage when running for president, but this doesn’t really explain a bias against younger presidents, since there are plenty of wealthy younger people, in terms of sheer numbers, just not in terms of percentage of the population. Also, you wrote that people over 55 represent 1/3 of the American population but own 2/3 of the wealth. This can at least partly be explained by the fact that most people’s net worth increases with age and not just linearly. Plus older people often inherit some wealth from parents who die, increasing again their net worth. If the same pattern stays in place for future generations, if they also get wealthier with age, I don’t personally see that as a big problem. Do you? If on the other hand the pattern doesn’t continue, and younger people don’t get wealthier with age, then, yes, I agree that’s a problem.
- sam36 7y agoWhy work towards any goal when you can just live with your parents until you're 40 and then claim disability/welfare because of your complete lack of skills. I've thought for years about why there is never anyone from the younger generation to replace those that are older any more. It started with my complete disdain for modern movies and wondering why/how/who would replace someone like arnold schwarzenegger. There's plenty of other good/unique actors that seem to have no equal as well. And from there the questions just go on and on, from great teachers and leaders to great innovators. There's just no one under 60 years of age that seems to be doing anything nowadays.
- downerending 7y agoBecause generally, older people have more experience than the young, which translates into knowledge about the things that really matter. When your life is falling apart or you have to make a life-altering decision, you ask your parents or your grandparents, not some teenager. If have something that absolutely, positively must be done, you give it to a senior, not a green newbie. That's reality. Ignore it at your peril.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoAge often (but not always) translates into knowledge, and sometimes translates into wisdom. Look at those running for president this year. Biden, Sanders, Warren, and Trump are all old. I'm pretty sure that almost everyone will say that at least one of those candidates does not display wisdom. (Which one may vary, but nobody thinks that they all are wise.)
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- downerending 7y agoI think any of those would do a good-enough job as President. Wisdom is something different, and arguably no wise person would run for office.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoTo paraphrase Bill Clinton: "the best candidates never run" with the implied [for good reason because it's a shitty way to live]
- thecolorblue 7y agoI was skeptical of the article until the very end: > It’s unlikely that young people will notch many policy wins in a government whose median age is over 70. Older people have different concerns, expenses, spend their time differently, and have different problems than younger people. To ignore that younger people are under-represented in the federal government is just as bad as ignoring the under-representation of other groups.
- amriksohata 7y agoNot often age, buy it's the experience and circle that comes with it
- chriscatoya 7y agoI think across the board, Boomers generally haven’t handled the passing of the reins well. This will be a big problem when there are emergency appointments to leadership who haven’t been groomed. At a time when they should be retiring making room for GenXers and Millennials taking up leadership positions, they’re still working. It could be partly due to improved healthcare over the generations. It could also be the work hard, “greed is good” mentality still driving them forward. Either way, there is a disruption to the traditional course of making way for the following generations by taking on roles of mentoring rather than leading, ie emeritus positions.
- dariusj18 7y agoGo to DC and tell me that old people run America. What will surprise you is how young everyone is on Capitol Hill.
- senectus1 7y agoyou cant ask that question without looking at the amount of money they're spending. the answer is : Money.