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Dianne Feinstein has died
- toomuchtodo 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianne_Feinstein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianne_Feinstein
- Kaibeezy 3y agohttps://archive.ph/OrxR8 https://archive.ph/OrxR8
- alexb_ 3y agoCan someone give a QRD on all of the political ramifications that will come from this? I've heard things about judges being harder to appoint, what else is there?
- eropple 3y agoThe governor of California can turn around an interim appointment pretty quickly if he so chooses; there's some static around a prior promise to appoint a Black woman, which most people viewed as effectively a promise to Representative Barbara Lee. She has since declared candidacy for that Senate seat--as Feinstein was not going to run for re-election--and Newsom (understandably, IMO) doesn't want to hand the keys to a running candidate, out of fairness to the also-quite-reasonable alternate candidates. That said, I wouldn't expect it to prevent a pretty quick replacement if Senate business demands it, so it likely won't be a significant impact from a political or operational perspective.
- justin66 3y ago> doesn't want to hand the keys to a running candidate, out of fairness to the also-quite-reasonable alternate candidates Is that something he has actually said?
- eropple 3y agohttps://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/gavin-newsom-make-interim-appointment-dianne-feinstein-senate-rcna103933 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/gavin-newsom-... > “Yes. Interim appointment. I don’t want to get involved in the primary,” Newsom said. “It would be completely unfair to the Democrats that have worked their tail off. That primary is just a matter of months away. I don’t want to tip the balance of that.”
- justin66 3y agoHoly moly. "I wouldn't want an interim appointment I make to be political" is a silly enough sentiment that it cannot possibly be sincere. He just didn't know what the right move was yet, in terms of how he would benefit.
- eropple 3y agoEh. It's a silly line, but you can read "political" as "not backing any of the current candidates" and it reads fine.
- bandyaboot 3y agoIf I recall correctly, the Republicans can refuse to allow a replacement to be seated on the Judiciary committee…and they certainly will do that if they can.
- eropple 3y agoSenate business can be conducted with the VP as tiebreaker as well, as I understand it? But I could be wrong.
- alistairSH 3y agoI believe committee membership votes are currently subject to a supermajority, so filibuster rules apply. There won't be a new member seated to Judiciary without a Senate rules package. Sen. Manchin (D) likely won't allow that to happen. This means judicial nominations are effectively hamstrung for the time being.
- eropple 3y agoAh, I didn't realize that! Thank you.
- justrealist 3y agoThe Republicans can't block anything unless the democrats agree to allow it. Like yes there are a lot of self-imposed rules in the Senaate, but it's fundamentally on the Democrats that they can't pull together 51 votes to tweak the rules.
- eropple 3y ago(edit: ignore, I misread the vacancies list)
- justrealist 3y agoThat's not true, there are 50 functionally-democrat senators. There were 51 with Feinstein.
- shmatt 3y agoCue Senator Winfrey
- rjsw 3y agoNot my country but Barbara Lee is 77. Newsom could appoint her now and the Democrats look for someone younger for the long term.
- Kaibeezy 3y agoNot sure where to start with that, but her official bio at least provides some context of the roles she has filled - https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/biography https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/biography
- dahfizz 3y ago> Feinstein’s current term isn’t up until 2024, so should her seat become vacant before then, it would be up to Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat, to appoint a temporary replacement. Newsom, like most governors, would have no restrictions on whom he could appoint – other than the constitutional age, citizenship and residency requirements that apply to all senators. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/05/03/how-do-states-fill-vacancies-in-the-u-s-senate-it-depends-on-the-state/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/05/03/how-do-st...
- wait_what 3y ago[flagged]
- networkchad 3y ago> But, you know, [R]'s can't stand having a strong justice system where no one is above the law. Cute quip. Do you apply that sentiment towards the Biden family as well?
- alistairSH 3y agoNewsom can replace her fairly quickly, so it won't have major impact on critical Senate votes. But, her death leaves her committee seats open. Filling those seats will take time and where she was in a leadership position, that needs resolved. Committees often have a 1-vote edge to the majority party, so those committees may be effectively deadlocked until replacements are nominated/approved (this is almost exclusively a Senate task - so can the Democratic leadership in the Senate get new members into committees in a timely manner). Edit - typos
- frob 3y agoFrom everything I could tell, one of the reasons Sen Feinstein was sticking around was that the GOP had indicated it would not allow Senate Democrats to replace her on the Judiciary committee. This would deadlock the committee, effectively stalling all judicial appointments and confirmations. That was in the case of a retirement. This is a death and reappointment. I am unsure if the new Senator would assume Sen Feinstein's previous committee assignments, but all of my instincts around the Senate say no. So we are back in the position of relying on the GOP to allow the new Senator to fully serve and represent the 39 million citizens of California. If you know anything about the modern GOP and their despise for democracy, you know they will never let that happen. Sorry, California, the 39 million of you only get 1.3 senators for the next 15 months. The 576 thousand people of Wyoming will still get their full 2.
- jpadkins 3y ago[flagged]
- slimginz 3y agoLiterally not how things work. The last time states tried to secede a little thing called the Civil War happened and we determined that no, actually you can’t just leave the US whenever you feel like it.
- jpadkins 3y agoThere is nothing in the constitution that says states can't secede. Just because some people in the 1800s went to war over it doesn't mean people in 2100's have to kill each other. Peaceful secession is always an option.
- giarc 3y agoI can't remember where I heard this, but the reason that every state gets 2 senators goes back to the creation of the United States. If they didn't allow equal representation, why would any state join if they immediately started with less than equal rep? For example, why would a small state with a population 10x less than New York for example, join the US and accept 10x less senators. Caveat - I'm not American and have never taken a US history class. This is just something I heard on a podcast.
- bhouston 3y agoShe was mentally unfit to serve for the last couple years. It was a travesty many countries seem to have no mental bar required to serve or even reasonable age limits (Feinstein was 90!) Any decision "she" was made in the last couple years was made by her aids and not her. This is not how democracy is supposed to work. Details: > Four U.S. senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers and the California Democratic member of Congress told The Chronicle in recent interviews that her memory is rapidly deteriorating. They said it appears she can no longer fulfill her job duties without her staff doing much of the work required to represent the nearly 40 million people of California. https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/dianne-feinstein-senate-17079487.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/dianne-feinstei... With our aging population, we need to figure out how to be inclusive of those who can contribute, while identifying those who can not. Hard age limits are likely becoming less desirable as the population ages - retirement at 55 will seem like a joke. But that doesn't mean we should just accept people who are not with it in various positions of power.
- chongli 3y agoBetween her and McConnell and the other gerontocrats in Washington, I’m really baffled. Why do these people grip the reins of power until their knuckles turn white? What is so important about political horse trading that they have to literally haul you out of office on a stretcher?
- bhouston 3y agoEven though I lean left more than right, we should probably also include Biden in that list. That guy is highly managed by his staff.
- cableshaft 3y agoThis is true of pretty much every high profile figure in Washington. They all have staff that manage a lot of the day to day operations. Could be a bit more true of Biden, I don't know, but I doubt it's significantly more than other high profile figures or other presidents.
- SkipperCat 3y agoLet this be a lesson to all. Exit on a high note.
- coldpie 3y agoSee also: Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. She threw her whole legacy into the garbage disposal just so she could cling to power for two more years.
- Larrikin 3y agoThis is a rewrite of history. She was basically trapped in the job when the Senate refused to appoint Obama's pick to fill the vacant seat of Scalia. If she had retired it would have just been two empty seats for Trump to fill quicker. People were actively asking her to stay in the job. Feinstein was a democratic senator in a democratic state with a democratic governor. She was actively being told she was unfit. She should have just retired.
- Pxtl 3y agoThere were people quietly pressuring RBG to retire back in 2013, when the Democrats had a fragile majority in the senate and knew they might not get another chance to keep that seat. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/25/us/politics/rbg-retirement-obama.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/25/us/politics/rbg-retiremen...
- pcl 3y agoThis, in turn is a rewrite of history. There was a call for her to resign well before the end of Obama’s second term. In fact, it was a hot topic leading up to the 2014 midterms, since Obama had the Senate votes at that time to nominate whoever he wanted. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-chemerinsky-ginsburg-should-resign-20140316-story.html https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-chemerinsky-gins...
- brvsft 3y agoYou understand that there were years before 2016, right? In some of them, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in Congress. I still remember the plethora of articles about RBG's supercool workout regimen dating back to the early 2010s because she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2009. The fixation on her health was largely because everyone knew this woman was getting ready to kick the bucket at some point, but she refused to make her exit before the Republicans took control over Congress. Just some examples of what I'm talking about as evidence: * https://www.yahoo.com/shine/healthy-living/ruth-bader-ginsburg-supreme-court-justice-more-push-175000067.html https://www.yahoo.com/shine/healthy-living/ruth-bader-ginsbu... * https://abovethelaw.com/2013/03/meet-the-personal-trainer-to-two-supreme-court-justices/ https://abovethelaw.com/2013/03/meet-the-personal-trainer-to... * https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/personal-trainer-bryant-johnsons-clients-includetwo-supreme-court-justices/2013/03/19/ea884018-86a1-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/personal-trainer-bryant... * https://time.com/4804007/ruth-bader-ginsburgs-workout-book/ https://time.com/4804007/ruth-bader-ginsburgs-workout-book/ (a bit later but you get the idea)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- garba_dlm 3y agoare senators in USA a lifetime position?
- cableshaft 3y agoNo term limits, but they have to be re-elected every 6 years. She kept voting the way the majority of the people in her state wanted to, so she kept getting re-elected (presumably).
- dfxm12 3y agoDon't discount the huge advantage incumbents have, both in campaign contributions [0] and name recognition. 0 - https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/incumbent-advantage?cycle=2022 https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/incumbent-adv...
- cableshaft 3y agoI'm not. But do you think they'd still have that incumbent advantage if they consistently voted against their party's interests (I should also clarify that with "and were honest about it, not lying through their teeth and claiming otherwise"). And even then, they wouldn't keep getting major donor funding if they weren't voting in those people's interests, incumbent or no.
- dfxm12 3y agoYes.
- bombcar 3y agoThere have been a few cases of incumbents changing party (ignoring the "I'm totally independent guys even though I caucus with one party incredibly reliably" ones) to follow their voters. In general "I'll only ever vote X party" is the same as "I don't care who at all".
- kylebenzle 3y ago
- throwme_123 3y agoSo sad to lose such a great stock trader! - https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/as-feinstein-returns-to-congress-reports-of-her-stock-profits-upset-aaron-rodgers-1032328380 https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/as-feinstein... - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_congressional_insider_trading_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_congressional_insider_tra... - https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/14/dianne-feinstein-husband-stock-trades-258693 https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/14/dianne-feinstein-hu... etc.
- matt002 3y ago[flagged]
- brigadier132 3y agoAll these senators that manage to make tens of millions of dollars on their $250k salary should really release personal finance books.
- mc32 3y agoNo kidding! It would be a one-pager tough. Become congressperson. Use insider knowledge to make fortuitous trades, remain immune!
- rqtwteye 3y agoTitle "If I can make millions as senator, so can you!"
- nzrf 3y agoAs someone who is just engineer / architect and has to have all my trades approved and accounts granted access to reporting for not only my self but my partner. it really annoys me that these folks are not under more scrutiny. I don’t even have really any information to what these government officials do. This to me falls under the “rules for thee not me.”
- capableweb 3y ago
- ryanblakeley 3y agoOne of our serious cultural flaws is powerful individuals don't divest their power, and the system doesn't force them too. A prerequisite to becoming rich or attaining political power is a desire to have it. And those people never in their life reduce their scope.
- draw_down 3y ago[dead]
- sigzero 3y agoYeah but, did she resign? Too soon?
- pauldenton 3y agoDon't worry she's still on the voter rolls and will be voting for Joe by mail in 2024
- Slava_Propanei 3y ago[dead]
- flagrant_taco 3y agoI know the easy approach here is for people to want an age limit in Congress, but I've always been more partial to a term limit. I'm sure there are plenty of hypotheses as to why this happens, but whatever the cause elected officials seem to have an extremely easy go of getting re-elected these days. The increasing average age in Congress is just a side effect of that in my opinion.
- seanw444 3y agoAgreed. There may be some older people that are still totally capable. Not everyone's cognitive functions crumble at the same time, to the same degree, or even in the same way. Age limits are a bad solution.
- yardie 3y agoMy problem with term limits is being a politician is a job like any other. You get a performance review every few years. But by the time you get really good at the job you're forced to quit. If there are age minimums for these federal offices there should be age maximums.
- stetrain 3y agoI think being too “good at the job” is part of what people are worried about for politicians. Yes there are skills to be learned to be effective in such a system, but being too entrenched in it can lead to forming relationships that overshadow the relationship with their constituents.
- bombcar 3y agoWhat we've seen is term limits just result in the "party machine" really running the seat, as the warm body is replaced time and time again. Term limits are effective against populists, for whatever that's worth.
- flagrant_taco 3y agoTerm limits definitely come with very real tradeoffs. I'd argue, though, that if the machine is that corrupt it doesn't matter what we do with politicians. What you're describing sounds to me like the politicians are inconsequential puppets and the machine must be limited or removed. I could a tuallg get behind that idea, it wouldn't take much to convince me that term limits don't go after the real problem.
- flagrant_taco 3y agoI know the easy approach here is for people to want an age limit in Congress, but I've always been more partial to a term limit. I'm sure there are plenty of hypotheses as to why this happens, but whatever the cause elected officials seem to have an extremely easy go of getting re-elected these days. The increasing average age in Congress is just a side effect of that in my opinion.
- banannaise 3y agoThe problem with term limits is that they don't apply to lobbyists. Lobbyists basically writing most of the legislation is already a major problem, and it becomes worse when all the representatives are new to the office.
- noirbot 3y agoThis is somewhat the difficulty of balancing the needs of governments. A short term/term limit leads to more inexperienced people doing the job. That's good in some ways - keeping new ideas coming in or keeping people from doing the job far too long. On the other hand, it means some large portion of the legislature is people who are more or less still learning. The process of writing good law that avoids unnecessary downsides, or simply understands the downsides and works to mitigate them isn't something you can just pick up over a weekend, especially when there aren't many people to learn it from. As you say, it's easy to point to the folks who have been in office forever as being an issue, but there's also staff and lobbyists and other unelected roles that are hard to get rid of the influence of. At the end of the day, someone needs to be the expert, either on the vast array of issues that can come up in national government, or in how to actually do something about those issues.
- rdedev 3y agoWouldn't term limits atleast slightly mitigate this issue? Harder to be buddy buddy with the person in power of they keep changing every other term or two. But you are right about the influence of lobbyists. It's very messed up when an unknown unelected person can write parts of a law as is and get away with it
- barrad0s 3y ago"Just say aye". Embarrasing.
- digitalsin 3y ago[flagged]
- thowaway91234 3y ago[dead]
- quux 3y agoOk, I think in light of this she should really consider stepping down.
- thrillgore 3y agoHaving seen Diane bootlick for the telecoms most of my life, good riddance. Yes, you heard me. I am not even going to pause for a condolance or bite my tongue. I'm glad she's gone. She was 100% unfit for the position in the last few years of her life and nothing was done about it. This is a problem with US Politics, they are too fucking old to represent the actual population so they are pulled by SIGs and lobbyists. We are not accurately represented. We need term limits in the Senate. She was part of the problem, and the problem needs to be fixed.
- claytongulick 3y agoI strongly disagree with her politics, and also believe that she should have retired earlier. A mentor of mine used to remind me, "always react with class". I fail at this a lot, but try. I think it would be good for you to try too. And also to remember that she was fairly elected. She was who the people wanted. If you want to be angry, be angry at the people who continued to elect her. Maybe not so much vitrol directed at her on a day of tragedy.
- bombcar 3y agoShe's now literally the only person who cannot be affected by vitriol. Nevertheless attempts to pin the blame on her for things her constituency was obviously happy or oblivious to is misguided. Term limits give more power to the lobbyists and other back-room powers, because they are never term limited, and they quickly learn how to be exceptionally persuasive to newbie representatives. At least a non-limited representative has the chance to learn to resist, thought it's pretty darn rare. Term limits would snuff that out entirely.
- claytongulick 3y ago> She's now literally the only person who cannot be affected by vitriol. You feel like heaping vitrol on a recently deceased person is an acceptable thing to do? My point was about reacting with class. You don't have to live that way, but practicing it makes your life and the lives of those around you better. I agree with your other points though. One of the unintended consequences of term limits is the strengthening of the bureaucracy.
- carimura 3y agoI find it fascinating that the average age of the senate is 64.
- kube-system 3y agoThe median age of a registered voter is >50
- carimura 3y agosure but the senate doesn't just legislate for registered voters. my point is how out of touch congress potentially is based on age (and from other comments, net worth).
- kube-system 3y agoI am suggesting that the voting population partially causes this to happen.
- leftnode 3y ago[flagged]
- shmde 3y ago[flagged]
- tristor 3y agoI know it’s rude to say negative things about a person who has just passed, but I can’t help feeling happy that such an influential Senate seat will finally go to someone that’s not over 70 (hopefully). There should be age limits for public office and it should match whatever we consider the retirement age to be. We have too many dusty old codgers running things and ruining things, clawing at power and money while destroying civilization for their great grandchildren (which is all the worse, because they’ve met them). When I see someone like Feinstein elected repeatedly, it’s blatant evidence of how broken politics is in America. In California, apparently, policy positions, personal character, and corruption don’t matter, you can elect a corpse in a wheelchair if it has a D next to its name, and they did.
- layer8 3y ago> it should match whatever we consider the retirement age to be. That would create wrong incentives for pushing the retirement age upwards though.
- zabzonk 3y agosurely someone that, on balance, did more good than ill? and how many of us can say that?
- nscalf 3y agoIt is nothing shy of disgusting that someone clearly incapable of serving the role of senator dragged her constituents and the country through this till death. Shame on her, her family, and her staff.
- landoftheice 3y ago[dead]
- js2 3y ago> Since 1789, 301 [ed: 302] Senators have died in office. When a sitting Member dies, the Senate and House of Representatives carry out a number of actions based in part on chamber rules, statutes, long-standing practices, and other variables extant at the time of the Senator’s demise. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12393 https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12393
- unethical_ban 3y agoFrom a NYTimes update thread: "Colleagues, critics and an increasingly restive field of aspiring successors have questioned her health and fitness for office — a concern, her supporters noted, that few have raised for male octogenarians in the Senate — but friends said she made her decision on her own timetable." Proof is in the pudding, eh? But more seriously, plenty have criticized McConnell for his public health lapses, and the two of them together kicked off a lot of bipartisan (citizen) grumbling about old politicians. Then of course our main presidential candidates... The kerfuffle about sexism when criticizing Feinstein is hogwash. I don't know her full legacy, and I recall her being a good thorn in the side of Bush when he needed one. Sad it took this event to get a replacement. And Newsom promised to put in a black woman, but also promised not to put in someone actually running for Senate. I wonder if the relevant groups of citizens care about that declaration.
- zingababba 3y ago[flagged]
- throwaway4good 3y agoWhy is it that people like Feinstein or Ruth Bader Ginsburg do not retire? Do they fear to be prosecuted by their successors, Soviet style? No pension in their employment contract? I don't understand the mechanism.
- kemayo 3y agoI think it's mostly ego. You're a powerful and successful person, the kind of type-A personality who can get all the way to the top of a fairly exclusive profession, and you wind up thinking you're irreplaceable. "I could retire... but I don't trust that the person who replaces me will be as good as I am." They're not even entirely wrong in the short term -- the Democrats in particular seem to have been doing a really awful job of nurturing younger leadership candidates over the last decade or so. Possibly because of the geriatrics who run the party feeling (subconsciously?) threatened by the push they'd then face to retire...?
- jmondi 3y agoAlso dollars. Don’t forget about the dollars.
- kemayo 3y agoIt's there, but I suspect it applies more earlier in their careers. Once we're at the "I only have a few years left to live anyway" point, it's probably less of a motivation.
- therealdrag0 3y agoWhat dollars?
- shwaj 3y agoI think with Ginsberg, maybe she wanted to hang on until there was a Democrat President to fill her spot.
- krapp 3y agoWhat are they going to do, subject themselves to the cruel joke that is medicare and social security? Return to the workforce? Greet people at wal-mart? Flip burgers? Why would they give up power and money and privilege to be turned out onto the street like a common dog?
- unmole 3y ago> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- ImHereToVote 3y agoSoviet style gerontocracy is a fairly new phenomena.
- dundarious 3y agoAnd our gerontocracy is actually substantially older than theirs was.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3y agoDo not upvote it then? It is mostly mob rule, just accept that some "normie-gossip" is relevant to many readers here.
- dredmorbius 3y ago<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8339325 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8339325> "Most" implies "some are". Where that line gets drawn is open to debate and discussion, though there are stories which cross the threshold. In Feinstein's case, she was the senator from California, a powerful region unto itself and with high significance to Silicon Valley, entertainment, and other factors with which HN is directly concerned. That much discussion on such news at HN tends not to be highly substantive is ... unfortunate, though that tends to come with the territory of politics. There have been other stories about deaths or transitions of significant political figures: Senators: <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=senator%20has%20died&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...> Congressional representatives are more difficult to search but do turn up: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23878741 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23878741> Presidential elections, not limited to the US: <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=elected%20president&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4752077 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4752077>
- PolygonSheep 3y ago[flagged]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- happytoexplain 3y agoA lot of "burn in hell" and "good riddance to a Jew" in the comments (some of it quite un-downvoted even after hours!) - more than usual, especially for HN. Does anybody feel that they have (or can link) an unbiased summary of why she is particularly more hated than other politicians? I don't know anything about her.
- 2devnull 3y agoShe really was pretty moderate in many ways, especially when it came to defense/ir. I doubt her replacement will be as moderate, but hopefully she will be younger and more cognitively fit. (We have a competency crisis in our highest ranks, perhaps it’s a feature for certain factions, but it’s a big problem. Generational variation in narcissistic behavior doesn’t explain it all. How many of our current leaders would we invest in if they were the ceo of even a small, easy to run and profitable organization.)
- Clubber 3y agoUnfortunately, the population has a tendency of voting for the incumbent. 98% of the time according to Wikipedia. We keep electing the same people and wonder why the middle class keeps shrinking. Vote out the incumbent by default. Yes, the person you like is part of the problem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_stagnation_in_the_United_States#:~:text=In%20total%2C%2098%25%20of%20all,from%20one%20party%20to%20another https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_stagnation_in_th.... Default Bias Fallacy: (also, Normalization of Evil, "Deal with it;" "If it ain't broke, don't fix it;" Acquiescence; "Making one's peace with the situation;" "Get used to it;" "Whatever is, is right;" "It is what it is;" "Let it be, let it be;" "This is the best of all possible worlds [or, the only possible world];" "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't."): The logical fallacy of automatically favoring or accepting a situation simply because it exists right now, and arguing that any other alternative is mad, unthinkable, impossible, or at least would take too much effort, expense, stress or risk to change. The opposite of this fallacy is that of Nihilism ("Tear it all down!"), blindly rejecting what exists in favor of what could be, the adolescent fantasy of romanticizing anarchy, chaos (an ideology sometimes called political "Chaos Theory"), disorder, "permanent revolution," or change for change's sake.
- 2devnull 3y agoMaybe also, or at least tangentially, the Baumol effect.
- mistrial9 3y ago> She really was pretty moderate in many ways this is such spin, zero-content and relativistic nonsense.. Artificial polarity of "left" and "right" plays into the "dumbification" of commentary. Second, this is the news of her death so, although a career politician, best to her family and all involved, first to say.
- seydor 3y agoWhy does someone want to have power over others at 90
- toomuchtodo 3y agoThe desire for power doesn't disappear at a certain age. More importantly, what do you think would encourage someone with power who covets and/or has it to part with it gracefully?
- seydor 3y agoThe justification for that does though afaik she asked to be elected, did not need to part with anything (i mean she did not have property rights to the seat, if i m not mistaken senators do get elected)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- 8f2ab37a-ed6c 3y agoI'm not super close to the issue, but was she even calling the shots at that point anymore?
- input_sh 3y agoLet's just say she had severe memory issues for the past year and a half.
- namelessoracle 3y agoA lot of them can't step down. They have debts that to repay that require them to stay in that position (both financial debts, and political ones), or family members who can only continue doing what they are doing if they stay in that position. Say a small family business that consistently gets works, but only to curry favor with the Senator. They quit, their grandchildren's business takes a dive, so the family begs them to stay on. In Feinstein's case, its pretty clear she was forced to stay on by her party while they made arrangements for her successor, there is a lot of people and factions in California who want her seat in the Democratic party. Also the competency crisis is real, alot of them dont have successors. Often by their own actions in an attempt to consolidate power, but they've left the field barren now thats its time for them to leave.
- zakariya_og 3y ago[dead]
- noobermin 3y agoThere is a very likely possibility that Feinstein was senile, with reports she couldn't remember which votes she was taking and what she was doing, and thus she was goaded (or coerced) into maintaining her position by her aides who loved their positions, pay, and their power. There has been skepticism in some of the media but most of the mainstream media pundit class (nytimes op-ed pages and the like) won't broach such a topic because those aides are one of their own.
- sharadov 3y agoShe absolutely was, someone else was pulling the strings.
- pandemicsoul 3y agoWhile I don't disagree that her staff was making decisions for her, most of the people in Congressional positions are making far less than $100k, and their pay has gone down in recent years, especially in context of inflation. Their pay is all available online: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R44324 https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R44324 So I doubt that's a driving factor for any of them.
- sharadov 3y agoRip Feinstein! You stayed way longer than you should have. We have retirement limits but no limits for our leaders who are presiding over the most important political offices and making critical decisions.
- poulsbohemian 3y agoI don't know how to pull it off, but somehow we've got to figure out a way to correct the system that only awards power after decades in office. About the time that members of Congress should be retiring is when they gain actual committee leadership and seniority, and thus the incentives are for a gerontocracy. It also means that those who understand the system are incentivized to vote for and keep incumbents who otherwise may not be the best candidate choice. I wish RGB and Feinstein (and plenty of others still in power) would have had the courage to step aside gracefully, but the incentives for them to stay are just too perverse and stretch far beyond them as individuals.
- marniewebb 3y agoCalifornia resident here. Female and in what was then called junior high school when Senator Feinstein became Mayor of San Francisco. She was one the people who changed the profile of power. That profile can only change so much at a time and change it to accommodate women was and still is a very big deal. I didn’t always agree with her but I always thought she was committed to public service. And, like any long-serving senator, she changed her mind. Time and growth will do that, especially in a legislative body that should be built on compromise and inclusivity. It’s sad to me that the end her career became dominated by not stepping down. I don’t know much — or anything — about back room politics but can imagine it was a decision calculated and agreed to by more than her or her staff. I read an article a few months ago — I can’t find it now because of today’s news flood for her name — that talked about the way she wrote letters, position papers, instructions for years. She communicated in writing. And that is part of what gave her a high functioning staff and one that could support her in this last term. She had spent a lifetime in public service documenting what she thought. In President Biden’s statement, he wrote that she was often the only woman in the room. Every article is chronicling her firsts. That she was the first woman to represent CA in the senate and that she was tenacious and held on when other people thought she should go quietly seems to me a perfectly logical pairing.