3 ms·

This is why we need term limits everywhere. People are living longer. Without term limits on every position democracy won't survive.

coldpie 1mo ago
There are pros & cons to term limits, but I think an age limit would be an easy win. It gets you most of the same benefits with a lot less resistance. Anyone who will be over 65 when entering a position should be ineligible to be elected or appointed to that position. Judges with lifetime appointments should be forced to retire on their 65th birthday. It's a clean, easy to understand & enforce rule, and provides plenty of time for people to make a succession plan before their brains turn to mush.
- budman1 1mo ago
  72 ?
  - coldpie 1mo ago
    Huh?
    - AnimalMuppet 1mo ago
      I suspect that they were proposing 72 as the age limit, rather than 65. And I could see it. Airline pilots are age limited at 65 (IIUC), but judges do not make split-second unappealable decisions that can kill hundreds. They could go a bit longer than 65. OTOH, I think after seeing Biden, Trump, and McConnell, it's pretty clear that it should be some distance below 80.
      - coldpie 1mo ago
        Every year you increase it increases the odds of getting another Feinstein, McConnel, Trump, or Biden. 65 is the standard target retirement age. I don't see any real benefit to deviating from that.
        deleted 1mo ago
        [deleted]
        budman1 1mo ago
        So, let's make it 25. Social Security says retirement age is 67. 65 leaves a lot of good years unavailable for service in politics. I am sure a reasonable line could be drawn. And it it less than 80...
undersuit 1mo ago
We need election reform but I'm against term or age limits. Encourage younger voters and politicians. Remove the current age limits as we're obviously not using them. Make state positions something a young person can live on, right now they have to keep their job and hope the boss is ok with them campaigning for months to just do a short legislative session. Change campaign laws, Citizens United has shoved so much money into the system, we campaign for months, reducing the effectiveness of elected incumbents and winnowing out the candidates who can't fund raise the entire time. Uncap the House, they passed legislation in the 1920's to limit their number to 435. Meanwhile they are now granted staff based on the population of their state. We now have more legislative staff than we would have Representatives if we kept to the original 30,000:1 that George Washington did the first presidential veto to keep.
- jmward01 1mo ago
  I think age is a bad marker to go off of as well. Different people age in different ways. My point about term limits is limiting total power a person can wield in their lifetime. As a thought experiment, consider if people could live to 300. Do you think any of the entrenched politicians would give up power after 100 years? 200? Would McConnell or Pelosi give up their positions? I can guarantee you that we would still have politicians leaving only because they died after well over 200 years in office. Democracy demands a diversity of voices. Term limits are a cheap way of getting new ones in regularly. Limits can be reasonable to ensure there is experience, but they need to be there or else we will devolve into entrenched power as the only power.
  - wat10000 1mo ago
    What we really need is better voters. Term limits are a hack trying to work around the voters wanting to elect the same person over and over again. No, I have no idea how you fix that.
    - jmward01 1mo ago
      A 'hack' that works has a different name, it is called a solution. You will never get 'better voters'. Wishing and wanting for something isn't a plan. How do we get better voters? What is the system that encourages democracy to work? Allowing power to entrench will lead to entrenched power. Show me a system that doesn't involve hoping people suddenly become 'better voters' without term limits and I will jump on board. My plan is to push for actions that encourage diversity in our democratic processes like limiting money, term limits, removing gerrymandering, etc. These are actionable things that encourage the true core of a democracy, diversity of voice.

coldpie 1mo ago

There are pros & cons to term limits, but I think an age limit would be an easy win. It gets you most of the same benefits with a lot less resistance. Anyone who will be over 65 when entering a position should be ineligible to be elected or appointed to that position. Judges with lifetime appointments should be forced to retire on their 65th birthday. It's a clean, easy to understand & enforce rule, and provides plenty of time for people to make a succession plan before their brains turn to mush.

budman1 1mo ago
72 ?
- coldpie 1mo ago
  Huh?
  - AnimalMuppet 1mo ago
    I suspect that they were proposing 72 as the age limit, rather than 65. And I could see it. Airline pilots are age limited at 65 (IIUC), but judges do not make split-second unappealable decisions that can kill hundreds. They could go a bit longer than 65. OTOH, I think after seeing Biden, Trump, and McConnell, it's pretty clear that it should be some distance below 80.
    - coldpie 1mo ago
      Every year you increase it increases the odds of getting another Feinstein, McConnel, Trump, or Biden. 65 is the standard target retirement age. I don't see any real benefit to deviating from that.
      - deleted 1mo ago
        [deleted]
      - budman1 1mo ago
        So, let's make it 25. Social Security says retirement age is 67. 65 leaves a lot of good years unavailable for service in politics. I am sure a reasonable line could be drawn. And it it less than 80...

undersuit 1mo ago

We need election reform but I'm against term or age limits. Encourage younger voters and politicians. Remove the current age limits as we're obviously not using them. Make state positions something a young person can live on, right now they have to keep their job and hope the boss is ok with them campaigning for months to just do a short legislative session. Change campaign laws, Citizens United has shoved so much money into the system, we campaign for months, reducing the effectiveness of elected incumbents and winnowing out the candidates who can't fund raise the entire time. Uncap the House, they passed legislation in the 1920's to limit their number to 435. Meanwhile they are now granted staff based on the population of their state. We now have more legislative staff than we would have Representatives if we kept to the original 30,000:1 that George Washington did the first presidential veto to keep.

jmward01 1mo ago
I think age is a bad marker to go off of as well. Different people age in different ways. My point about term limits is limiting total power a person can wield in their lifetime. As a thought experiment, consider if people could live to 300. Do you think any of the entrenched politicians would give up power after 100 years? 200? Would McConnell or Pelosi give up their positions? I can guarantee you that we would still have politicians leaving only because they died after well over 200 years in office. Democracy demands a diversity of voices. Term limits are a cheap way of getting new ones in regularly. Limits can be reasonable to ensure there is experience, but they need to be there or else we will devolve into entrenched power as the only power.
- wat10000 1mo ago
  What we really need is better voters. Term limits are a hack trying to work around the voters wanting to elect the same person over and over again. No, I have no idea how you fix that.
  - jmward01 1mo ago
    A 'hack' that works has a different name, it is called a solution. You will never get 'better voters'. Wishing and wanting for something isn't a plan. How do we get better voters? What is the system that encourages democracy to work? Allowing power to entrench will lead to entrenched power. Show me a system that doesn't involve hoping people suddenly become 'better voters' without term limits and I will jump on board. My plan is to push for actions that encourage diversity in our democratic processes like limiting money, term limits, removing gerrymandering, etc. These are actionable things that encourage the true core of a democracy, diversity of voice.