I read a short article about our Senator, Dianne Feinstein, recently. It was about how Feinstein is hanging on to her Senate seat even though she is 89, and it was not very complimentary. Feinstein just got out of the hospital after spending the last two months incapacitated because of shingles. That is sad.
I last saw Feinstein on TV on January 4, 2019, and it was back-to-back with AOC’s arrival in Washington. There were a group of Children – organized by the Sunrise Movement – picketing House Minority Leader, soon to become the first woman Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi’s office and newly minted Congressperson Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, soon to be almost universally known as AOC, had joined the picket line. The contrast with Feinstein was striking; the picketers were in front of Feinstein’s office when she returned from somewhere, and she had no idea what the Green New Deal or the Sunrise Movement was. After a minute or two of explanation, Feinstein said something like, “You are all children; you’re too young to vote. Why should I care.” she waded through the crowd and entered her office.
Even if I were a pro-destroying the Earth guy, I would still have disapproved. The optics were terrible. Feinstein seemed to have no idea what was happening, and it never occurred to her that the smartphones pointed at her were filming everything. Children coming to the Capitol to see how government works being blown off still shocks me. It’s sad, especially when I reflect on all the good things Dianne Feinstein did for the environment. I’m sorry for her, and I am sorry for the environment. I’m greatly bothered by the number of Democrats who want to die in office, shutting out the next generation rather than seeing them as the asset we desperately need.
There ought to be an age limit. Too many people way too old on both sides. The concept of these lawmakers making decisions on things they don’t understand ( like regulating AI) is terrifying.
Btw – good to hear your voice again. Missed you.
Thanks, Karen. I feel like I’m running out of something to say, however.
If there were an age limit, what would you want it to be?
I knew you’d ask that and I don’t know. Maybe the real answer is term limits. It shouldn’t be a career. Maybe 2 Senate terms. 4 terms in the House. I know it takes a year or two to learn the job and the systems. I’m concerned by the level of corruption where law makers are “owned” by various lobbies. NRA comes immediately to mind but I’m fairly sure there are left leaning lobbies that support the candidates I like as well. If I had to pick an age I’d say 70. What I know for sure is that Diane has lost it and I wouldn’t want her representing me anymore.
How about nobody can be elected after 65? My concern is not about dementia but that the world is changing and old people have old ideas. Many of those old ideas – like Affirmative Action – didn’t work the first time around, and, yet, our answer is to just push harder.
I’m not so sure that old folkshaveold ideas. Bernie comes to mind. I feel more that it’s complacency in the job. Where the goal is staying in office.
Affirmative action didn’t change the ingrained racism in our culture. But it certainly benefited individuals who got jobs they never would’ve been considered for. For them it was very successful. No program will eliminate hatred but I feel like things may be shifting some.
There are other issues in aging that do concern me – less energy being high on the list. And dementia.
Feinstein, once respected and honoured, is clearly and sadly past it. Yet age itself I don’t believe should be a barrier or that limits should be set. Some people are still clearheaded at an advanced age. But how to decide who is and who isn’t would not be easy, and what to do about it officially harder still. The age of President Biden, for example, keeps cropping up. It’s a difficult issue.