Politicians and the Problems of Age
American Thinker,
by
Noel S. Williams
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
3/11/2023 7:03:26 AM
Increased age heightens the risk of developing dementia. Dementia heightens the risk of slips, trips, and falls, resulting in physical incapacitation. Stumbling, bumbling seniors who are physically and mentally incapacitated should probably not serve -- serve -- as elected leaders.
A centerpiece of Nikki Haley’s rationale for her candidacy for president is that we need a new generation of leadership. Some agree with her call for mental competency tests for politicians over age 75. Some disagree, including, naturally, the American Association of Retired People. The AARP asserts that it should be unacceptable to discriminate based on age.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
bpl40 3/11/2023 8:24:49 AM (No. 1422454)
More than showing up and voting, individuals in position of authority and influence need to have a sharp active brain, keen perceptive mind able to analyze and take risks,, strong fortitude, resolute nature. Just think of Winston Churchill at age 66 in 1940.
12 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Birddog 3/11/2023 8:48:58 AM (No. 1422469)
I find the "No show" table most interesting...with a 50/50 split in the senate, why are 8 of the top ten "absent" senators Repubs? Sen Rounds(SD) was the most truant...his wife died of cancer in 2021, was that the reason for him not attending?
With Sanders and Fienstein often out...a full compliment of Repubs elected to BE THERE would have given us defacto control instead of Dems, and Kamlalala unable to cast deciding votes.
If you are unable/unwilling to DO the job you were elected to? You need to step aside...particularly if a senator from a state with a repub Governor(Rounds is a former Governor)
9 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 3/11/2023 8:55:10 AM (No. 1422477)
If everyone in Congress and the Whitehouse had to take a competency test, more than a few octogenarians would flunk. We have quite a few dim bulbs, and not all of them are Democrats.
8 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
msjena 3/11/2023 9:07:00 AM (No. 1422487)
The problem with this column is that some people are fully competent, mentally and physically, well into their 80s. Our most incompetent Senator right now is 53 (Fetterman). OK, maybe he's tied with Feinstein but she's on her way out. The Constitution doesn't put upper age limits on those who serve, leaving it to the electoral process. What we really need are more voters who are not brain dead.
14 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Strike3 3/11/2023 9:09:45 AM (No. 1422489)
Nikki's primary reason for bringing up the age argument is to sow doubt about Donald Trump. Sorry, honey, but he is much sharper than you and will make his third term ten times better than anything you can come up with. Joe Biden's age is fair game but it only magnifies the incompetence he has always possessed. We tried that younger generation thing with John F. Kennedy and it wasn't all it's claimed to be.
9 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Cindiana 3/11/2023 9:10:24 AM (No. 1422490)
Who's going to design, administer, and evaluate these tests? How will those who "fail" be dealt with? An elected official can be removed from office based on failing a test??? This would be a Constitutional nightmare. Someone who fails could remain in office and celebrate their 100th birthday while legal challenges glacially wind their way through the courts.
This sounds like a sane requirement, but it's got no teeth. And it's certainly not the "rationale" for a presidential run. Dementia is one thing, but what we need is a way to get rid of the marxists, regardless of their age. Plenty of old marxists could pass mental competency tests and navigate stairs without falling.
7 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
RubiconDan 3/11/2023 9:22:19 AM (No. 1422505)
Power, Fame, Money. The big three lures that attract people to politics. The absolute darkness of politics keeps them forever in office instead of moving on to a very soft luxurious retirement. Serving the public is not what politicians do, what they do is anything that will maintain their position, keep them in power, provide prestige, and allow them to accumulate money by hook or by crook. How do politicians in D. C. become millionaires after election to the Senate, or House? Sweetheart deals, affinity, speaking engagements, gifts, and under the table cash/gifts would be my guess but I am positive there are many other ways to buy a politician.
4 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
padiva 3/11/2023 9:27:14 AM (No. 1422510)
Do they know the Pledge of Alligiance?
3 people like this.
I suggest we give all politicians an IQ test instead. I doubt many of them would score 100.
5 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 3/11/2023 1:19:38 PM (No. 1422681)
I don’t know how you fix this problem. A few years ago I would have said vote them out the Dems are now able to fix elections in certain key states. Plus, half of our current citizens are barely cognizant as it is. I am almost 81 and have noted what the author says about failing abilities. My balance is in the crapper and my stamina is greatly diminished. My brain still seems ok (thank you, Lord) with the occasional inability to remember names of individuals that I have known for years. I still drive but very carefully and will not get out on a rainy night. We are finite individuals after all. I guess I should appreciate the fact that I am still here and moving around.
2 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
bamboozle 3/11/2023 2:02:33 PM (No. 1422695)
Mostly rooted in the mortal sin of pride
0 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 3/11/2023 2:24:07 PM (No. 1422706)
We like to watch old movies, and watched "Holiday" with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn recently. The wealthy father appears, without thinking too much on it, to be perhaps 65 or 70 years old. And at one point the actor says "Being a mature man of 58 years....." and both my wife and I, in our early 70s just laughed out loud....boy things have changed. I don't think we look as old as the actor did.
So....maybe 70 is the new 55, but still, it is an unusual person over 70 who is still active. OTOH, my wife and I just walked a bit under two miles yesterday for exercise, in 38 degree weather. And last summer, I biked just under 1000 miles over the summer two or three days a week, just for exercise. And my wife goes to the gym several times a week.
Only a few percent of people over 70 are still active, but most stopped doing anything physical a decade or more earlier and are on a steady downhill slide. Even the more active people...might drop dead any given day after about 70 or so. Trump seems to be a particularly high energy person, although I'm not sure I'd call him "in good shape", he seems to be about 30 or more pounds overweight.
But McConnell has seemed like a very old man for decades, and physically worn out. How much of what these old folks say and do is really their ideas versus staff ideas?
Biden is certainly brainless, always was, and Feinstein seems to be pretty well senile, too. How many more are just doddering fools occasionally saying someone else's words in public?
0 people like this.
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