I remember hearing it also gave more power to lobbyists, since they were the ones with institutional knowledge as legislators would change.
However, age limits still seem appealing.
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c) devolves the actual power and experience to unelected, largely anonymous staffpersons working in the shadows, sort of like an even bigger ALEC.
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Uhuh. Why don’t you look at the laws protecting workers in states run by Democrats compared with laws hurting workers in states run by Republicans and maybe consider that most of the stuff that really matters for workers happens at the state level. Lots of states have been raising the state minimum wage. Guess which states those are?
Also, just what do you expect term limits to fix?
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Term limits is one of those “simple, attractive, and wrong” solutions to issues people have with politics.
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It’s something that people on both sides of the aisle have been harping on for decades, and I just don’t see how it could possibly serve as a mechanism for better governance. It almost seems like a non sequitur. Replace the old assholes with new assholes and everything will be better. If anything, it would only accelerate the polarization that we are already seeing as a result of the weaponization of primaries.
And to the people who say that spending too much time in Washington makes you out of touch with the voters who sent you there, I say this: “Yes, that’s true, and it happens after about one month in office. What are you gonna do?”
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There’s a huge difference between one month and multiple decades. Some of these points conflate with class and age, but there’s, what, 2 single mothers in Congress? Octogenarians haven’t even had firsthand experience with child rearing in decades (excluding Mick Jagger). I think it was good to hear stories about being elected to Congress, but not getting your paycheck for awhile but being expected to buy clothes and a place to stay upfront. Hearing any whining about restrictions around owning stocks is incredibly unappealing–only about half of Americans own stock and advice for most of those who do is to put them in index or other generic funds and don’t touch them. You constantly see ignorance of tech issues even though they have young, well educated staff coaching them.
The price of milk question might be because you’ve lost touch or because your parents were well off and you went to Yale. Both are problems worth bringing up.
Young fresh blood gives us both AOC and Matt Gaetz.
Age and experience gives us both Elizabeth Warren and Lindsey Graham.
I just don’t see any link between age (or time in office) and the overall quality of governance, and all age groups are fully represented among both our best and our worst representatives and senators.
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Like I said, there are other issues that need to be equally addressed. Gaetz’s dad was a career politician. You can call out individual examples, but polarizing or not I do think the younger members better represent their constituents–I’m sure even the newly elected Congressmen agree learning good governance takes time. I’m sure if I started digging into their net worth I’d be more confident in that assessment. I don’t agree that term limits are a good solution. I do think time in office and age are problems we might be able to address.
A huge problem I hate to see is since these politicians are old and plan to live forever is that there isn’t enough of a back bench in leadership. Democrats in 2016, the leading candidate was the same candidate from a few elections prior and the other candidate was even older. After Hillary Clinton lost, she went away and there wasn’t really any other future leadership candidates. Thankfully, there were a bunch that showed up in 2020 even if the oldest of them won out.
Pelosi had long been criticized for knocking back any chance of a successor until very recently. Until Barbara Boxer retired, both California Senators had been there for almost 25 years. The complaint is often that the state would lose leadership roles in the Senate if there’s turnover. Deaths in office cause huge problems. If a Democrat in the Senate dies today, the majority is temporarily or permanently lost. It happened when the ACA was being passed.
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When it comes to understanding and responding to the real-life concerns and struggles of constituents, I think that what we are talking about is not really a matter of age or even personal wealth. I believe that it is quite simply a matter of empathy. And while factors like age and especially personal wealth certainly affect one’s capacity for empathy, I do not believe that they are deciding factors.
The fact that the balance of power can shift with a single heart attack and the hurdles holding the next generation of leaders back are definitely issues, but when push comes to shove, I will happily vote for either a 30 year-old or a 70 year-old as long as they have the qualities that I look for, key among them: empathy.
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Not my side of the pond, so I genuinely don’t know - do 2 term presidents get more done in the 1st or 2nd term? At least within things they control on their own - I understand Obama was working against a R Congress for much of term 2.
Depends on whether their party controls Congress or not. Without a supportive Congress a President is pretty much hamstrung from doing anything significant via legislation. (although they do have tremendous power to f*ck things up throughout the Executive Branch - eg: Trump).
Usually a 2 term President spends his first term focusing on domestic policies and fulfilling campaign promises, etc. and by the later part of their second term either some crisis has occurred that consumes their attention or they pivot and shift priorities over to foreign affairs and global policies (in an effort to cement their legacies).
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