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The average age of the 118th Congress is 58 years old. The average age of the Senate is 64 years. Source: https://fiscalnote.com/blog/how-old-118th-congress ht

The average age of the 118th Congress is 58 years old. The average age of the Senate is 64 years. Source: https://fiscalnote.com/blog/how-old-118th-congress https://fiscalnote.com/blog/how-old-118th-congress For most people with Alzheimer's — those who have the late-onset variety — symptoms first appear in their mid-60s or later. Source: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-are-signs-alzheimers-disease#:~:text=For%20most%20people%20with%20Alzheimer's,30s%2C%20although%20this%20is%20rare https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-are-signs-alzheimers-dis.... So, yeah. Of course there are individuals in Congress on Alzheimers drugs. Edit: Oh, and Mitch has frozen up for a second time: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-66663389 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-66663389. There really should be a baseline health test that people in public office must pass.

hammock 3y ago
One quarter of Congress is over age 70, the highest portion ever. Chart: https://twitter.com/thisisinsider/status/1569785511388262400 https://twitter.com/thisisinsider/status/1569785511388262400
- esotericimpl 3y ago
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Vicinity9635 3y ago
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lepus 3y ago
The idea of a health test keeps getting tossed out a lot as a solution, but it has the issue of all qualification tests for office -- the loss of perceived legitimacy of representatives if it was seen as a biased tool that's open to manipulation at worst, or functionally useless by being too narrow at best. I can't think of another trait besides maximum age to use that would be seen as fair, and good luck getting any constitutional amendment done in our political climate right now.
munificent 3y ago
> There really should be a baseline health test that people in public office must pass. It's called an election. The problem is that people either don't bother to show up and vote, or vote for candidates purely by party affiliation or campaign marketing dollars.
- the_snooze 3y ago
  >The problem is that people either don't bother to show up and vote, or vote for candidates purely by party affiliation or campaign marketing dollars. The first part leads directly to the second. Primary elections are low-turnout affairs, but the extremes of each party are far likelier to participate in them than moderates. We get bad choices in general elections because we abdicate nomination power to nutsos by not voting in primaries.
- oliwarner 3y ago
  > The problem is that... People only get one choice, so view it as a binary choice on party lines. Give people a transferrable vote and you'll see parties putting more than one candidate forward with different focuses. Voter's might actually stand a chance of getting what they want rather than voting against something they don't like.

hammock 3y ago

One quarter of Congress is over age 70, the highest portion ever. Chart: https://twitter.com/thisisinsider/status/1569785511388262400 https://twitter.com/thisisinsider/status/1569785511388262400

esotericimpl 3y ago
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Vicinity9635 3y ago

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lepus 3y ago

The idea of a health test keeps getting tossed out a lot as a solution, but it has the issue of all qualification tests for office -- the loss of perceived legitimacy of representatives if it was seen as a biased tool that's open to manipulation at worst, or functionally useless by being too narrow at best. I can't think of another trait besides maximum age to use that would be seen as fair, and good luck getting any constitutional amendment done in our political climate right now.

munificent 3y ago

> There really should be a baseline health test that people in public office must pass. It's called an election. The problem is that people either don't bother to show up and vote, or vote for candidates purely by party affiliation or campaign marketing dollars.

the_snooze 3y ago
>The problem is that people either don't bother to show up and vote, or vote for candidates purely by party affiliation or campaign marketing dollars. The first part leads directly to the second. Primary elections are low-turnout affairs, but the extremes of each party are far likelier to participate in them than moderates. We get bad choices in general elections because we abdicate nomination power to nutsos by not voting in primaries.
oliwarner 3y ago
> The problem is that... People only get one choice, so view it as a binary choice on party lines. Give people a transferrable vote and you'll see parties putting more than one candidate forward with different focuses. Voter's might actually stand a chance of getting what they want rather than voting against something they don't like.