this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
271 points (100.0% liked)

Politics

10180 readers
109 users here now

In-depth political discussion from around the world; if it's a political happening, you can post it here.


Guidelines for submissions:

These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.


Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Senator Dianne Feinstein appeared confused during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday. When asked to vote on a proposal, Feinstein began giving a lengthy speech instead of simply saying "aye" or "nay" as requested. The committee chair, Senator Patty Murray, had to repeatedly tell Feinstein "just say aye" and remind her that it was time for a vote, not speeches. After some delay, Feinstein finally cast her vote. A spokesperson said Feinstein was preoccupied and did not realize a vote had been called. The incident raises further concerns about Feinstein's ability to serve at age 90, as she has made other recent mistakes and often relies on aides.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ninjan@lemmy.mildgrim.com 23 points 1 year ago (7 children)

No the retired need representation as well. You can't right a wrong with another wrong. There needs to be a system in place for health evaluation and once you fail that without having a viable and reasonable path to improvement then you're ineligible to be reelected. This needs multiple, separate, groups of people involved to reduce the risk of being used as a tool to oust undesirables. I can't design such a system but I trust that people more well versed in how government works in the nitty gritty could design a suitable, acceptable system.

[–] fushuan@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They need representation, they don't need to be the whole representation. In fact, I'd say that 55+ people represent them quite well, since they are aiming to retire in the next decade anyways.

I mean, they can vote, and they are a big sector of the voting base, so even if the politicians are younger, there will be enough of them wanting to please the 67+ sector.

[–] Muffi@programming.dev 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Let's add some babies and teenagers while we're at it. I don't see them represented.

[–] GentlemanLoser@reddthat.com 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have no problem with lowering the voting age to 16.

If they're allowed to work, they should be allowed to vote.

[–] argv_minus_one@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Babies and teenagers are represented by their parents…at least in theory.

[–] HumbertTetere@feddit.de 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Old people can just be considered represented by their adult children then.

[–] argv_minus_one@beehaw.org 6 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it's not a great theory. Plenty of kids have bad/absent/dead parents. Plenty of old people have neglectful/nonexistent children.

[–] GentlemanLoser@reddthat.com 3 points 1 year ago

I agree, I'm quick as anyone to joke about senility but to wholesale cut off our elders from decision making goes against all of social history.

All that knowledge and wisdom is valuable, even if it's just "we tried this and it didn't work"

[–] StringTheory@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Voting is supposed to do all this for us, it is the check/balance.

Problem is that more than half of Americans who should vote, don’t vote.

[–] Sl00k@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

You can easily make this argument towards teenagers as well, but they're obviously illegible. Yet their rights and futures are being stripped away by the elderly.

There should absolutely be a hard cap and Senators should also be forced to use the services they provide (i.e. stop making millions stock trading) post retirement so it's guaranteed to be beneficial.

[–] Smk@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why do we need a law ? Didnt they, the people, vote for this old person or not ? I mean, if you are going to vote for a dry old person to represent you, that's on you, unless there's something I don't understand about the Senate.

[–] shiveyarbles@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Something about old money, when only old people are on the menu there's a systemic problem.