<story><title>Dianne Feinstein has died</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/29/us/politics/dianne-feinstein-dead-senate.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bhouston</author><text>Are age limits viable in our aging population?  I think they may not work because it would exclude so many people and many voters will be aged as well?  I think a low bar competency test would be more viable.</text></item><item><author>coldpie</author><text>Yes, and she&amp;#x27;s not the only one who is (edit: was) serving without being functional[1]. We need to start talking about upper age limits for public office. I believe it&amp;#x27;d require a constitutional amendment, but I expect there&amp;#x27;s lots of support for it from all sides. I&amp;#x27;d suggest 65 as a maximum age for being elected, which means one could serve to about age 71, for a six-year Senate term.&lt;p&gt;[1] This article is from six years ago. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www3.bostonglobe.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;science&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;congressional-pharmacy-has-reportedly-delivered-alzheimer-drugs-members-congress&amp;#x2F;4K2HsLB7YqLXIFDFzyHQxM&amp;#x2F;story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www3.bostonglobe.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;science&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;congres...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>bhouston</author><text>She was mentally unfit to serve for the last couple years.  It was a travesty many countries seem to have no mental bar required to serve or even reasonable age limits (Feinstein was 90!)  Any decision &amp;quot;she&amp;quot; was made in the last couple years was made by her aids and not her.  This is not how democracy is supposed to work.&lt;p&gt;Details:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Four U.S. senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers and the California Democratic member of Congress told The Chronicle in recent interviews that her memory is rapidly deteriorating. They said it appears she can no longer fulfill her job duties without her staff doing much of the work required to represent the nearly 40 million people of California.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.sfchronicle.com&amp;#x2F;politics&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;dianne-feinstein-senate-17079487.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.sfchronicle.com&amp;#x2F;politics&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;dianne-feinstei...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;With our aging population, we need to figure out how to be inclusive of those who can contribute, while identifying those who can not.  Hard age limits are likely becoming less desirable as the population ages - retirement at 55 will seem like a joke.  But that doesn&amp;#x27;t mean we should just accept people who are not with it in various positions of power.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>goda90</author><text>Politicians make up a tiny percentage of the population and babies haven&amp;#x27;t stopped being born at any point, so there will always be a population under 65 from which to elect people. If voters over 65 feel left out because they can&amp;#x27;t vote for someone their age bracket, I don&amp;#x27;t know what to tell them except &amp;quot;welcome to the party&amp;quot;.</text></comment>
<story><title>Dianne Feinstein has died</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/29/us/politics/dianne-feinstein-dead-senate.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bhouston</author><text>Are age limits viable in our aging population?  I think they may not work because it would exclude so many people and many voters will be aged as well?  I think a low bar competency test would be more viable.</text></item><item><author>coldpie</author><text>Yes, and she&amp;#x27;s not the only one who is (edit: was) serving without being functional[1]. We need to start talking about upper age limits for public office. I believe it&amp;#x27;d require a constitutional amendment, but I expect there&amp;#x27;s lots of support for it from all sides. I&amp;#x27;d suggest 65 as a maximum age for being elected, which means one could serve to about age 71, for a six-year Senate term.&lt;p&gt;[1] This article is from six years ago. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www3.bostonglobe.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;science&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;congressional-pharmacy-has-reportedly-delivered-alzheimer-drugs-members-congress&amp;#x2F;4K2HsLB7YqLXIFDFzyHQxM&amp;#x2F;story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www3.bostonglobe.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;science&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;congres...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>bhouston</author><text>She was mentally unfit to serve for the last couple years.  It was a travesty many countries seem to have no mental bar required to serve or even reasonable age limits (Feinstein was 90!)  Any decision &amp;quot;she&amp;quot; was made in the last couple years was made by her aids and not her.  This is not how democracy is supposed to work.&lt;p&gt;Details:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Four U.S. senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers and the California Democratic member of Congress told The Chronicle in recent interviews that her memory is rapidly deteriorating. They said it appears she can no longer fulfill her job duties without her staff doing much of the work required to represent the nearly 40 million people of California.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.sfchronicle.com&amp;#x2F;politics&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;dianne-feinstein-senate-17079487.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.sfchronicle.com&amp;#x2F;politics&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;dianne-feinstei...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;With our aging population, we need to figure out how to be inclusive of those who can contribute, while identifying those who can not.  Hard age limits are likely becoming less desirable as the population ages - retirement at 55 will seem like a joke.  But that doesn&amp;#x27;t mean we should just accept people who are not with it in various positions of power.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>coldpie</author><text>Tests for public participation have a real, real bad history, and for good reason. Age is a simple and objective measure.</text></comment>