I think term limits are definitely reasonable, regardless of age. We don’t need one person in a specific government role indefinitely.
Age limits, I’m kind of inclined to agree that would be hard to pin down. Frankly 73 is a bit young in my experience to be as far gone as John Kennedy seemed to be. Certainly it drops off and drops off suddenly at some point for people, but you do have people into their 90s with their cognition intact. Bernie Sanders is in his 80s and he seems mentally still there.
I’ve just never seen a very compelling case for term limits. I don’t think they’ll fix anything and in my anecdotal experience, the most prominent supporters tend to be rightwing cranks, so it makes me all the more suspect of the idea.
It’s one of those things that might sound really good to say, especially when someone has just had it up to here with the outcomes of legalized bribery and a corrupt government in the hands of incompetents and radicalized right wingers.
And yeah, when it comes to things like healthspan, I am not a fan at all of trying to apply some upper bound on age, especially when we may be poised on a revolution in things related to aging. Our government is already famously slow in catching up to other developments, this would be yet another where we are ushering people out of job long before it makes sense…
the most prominent supporters tend to be rightwing cranks,
Right now, the most ardent term limit hopes are against Trump. I also see people here all the time clamoring for Congressional term limits, either to get some of the GOP out or to make more room for progressive candidates on the Democrat side. Without term limits things can get too stagnant.
Even if people get to be as perfectly healthy at 90 as they were at 30, without term limits you could have some pretty bad situations with the same politicians in the same offices for decades and decades. Even with term limits there’s plenty of political positions across the municipal, district, state, federal levels to move between to build a very long and useful political career.
Well there’s age limits v. term limits.
I think term limits are definitely reasonable, regardless of age. We don’t need one person in a specific government role indefinitely.
Age limits, I’m kind of inclined to agree that would be hard to pin down. Frankly 73 is a bit young in my experience to be as far gone as John Kennedy seemed to be. Certainly it drops off and drops off suddenly at some point for people, but you do have people into their 90s with their cognition intact. Bernie Sanders is in his 80s and he seems mentally still there.
I’ve just never seen a very compelling case for term limits. I don’t think they’ll fix anything and in my anecdotal experience, the most prominent supporters tend to be rightwing cranks, so it makes me all the more suspect of the idea.
It’s one of those things that might sound really good to say, especially when someone has just had it up to here with the outcomes of legalized bribery and a corrupt government in the hands of incompetents and radicalized right wingers.
And yeah, when it comes to things like healthspan, I am not a fan at all of trying to apply some upper bound on age, especially when we may be poised on a revolution in things related to aging. Our government is already famously slow in catching up to other developments, this would be yet another where we are ushering people out of job long before it makes sense…
Right now, the most ardent term limit hopes are against Trump. I also see people here all the time clamoring for Congressional term limits, either to get some of the GOP out or to make more room for progressive candidates on the Democrat side. Without term limits things can get too stagnant.
Even if people get to be as perfectly healthy at 90 as they were at 30, without term limits you could have some pretty bad situations with the same politicians in the same offices for decades and decades. Even with term limits there’s plenty of political positions across the municipal, district, state, federal levels to move between to build a very long and useful political career.