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Dianne Feinstein has died

nytimes.com

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Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#71

Post by alistairSH »

bhouston wrote: post #45
alistairSH wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do they cling to power? I imagine the personality type that seeks political power in the first place tends to want to keep it. It's good to be the king. At the end of the day, the people continue to elect them. If voters were unhappy with Feinstein's performance (or that of her key aides), the solution was as simple as voting her out. Name recognition is powerful. Seniority leads to leadership of key committees i…

> If voters were unhappy with Feinstein's performance (or that of her key aides), the solution was as simple as voting her out. Often these incompetent people are in "safe seat" regions. Either heavily democrat or republican. Voters won't switch parties just because representative is incompetent. There should be another options.

Feinstein was a Senator and CA uses a "jungle primary" for state-wide elections - there's no "safe seat" in that model.

In her last election, both final candidates were Democrats. Neither party could unseat her. Voters have been clear that they preferred Feinstein to anybody else.

So the question is why? Was it her power in the Senate? Was she particularly good at bringing pork to CA? Or was it just money and the political machine? Probably a lot of that last item - the parties themselves have incentives to keep winning politicians around - they're good for fund-raising.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#72

Post by mc32 »

brigadier132 wrote: post #56
throwme_123 wrote: post #40

So sad to lose such a great stock trader! - https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/as-feinstein... - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_congressional_insider_tra... - https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/14/dianne-feinstein-hu... etc.

All these senators that manage to make tens of millions of dollars on their $250k salary should really release personal finance books.

No kidding! It would be a one-pager tough.

Become congressperson. Use insider knowledge to make fortuitous trades, remain immune!

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#73

Post by grotorea »

Enginerrrd wrote: post #29
jliptzin wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is how it’s supposed to work. She was 85 when she got elected the last time. If voters don’t want 90 year olds in office, maybe they shouldn’t vote 85 year olds in for a 6 year term. If she can’t be beat in a primary, then we need something like ranked choice voting so people can safely vote for an alternative third party without risking spoiling the election for a candidate they definitely don’t want.

I'd rather see a proportional system.

(Closed-list) proportional system wouldn't stop an unfit party insider being put at the top of the list.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#74

Post by rqtwteye »

brigadier132 wrote: post #56
throwme_123 wrote: post #40

So sad to lose such a great stock trader! - https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/as-feinstein... - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_congressional_insider_tra... - https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/14/dianne-feinstein-hu... etc.

All these senators that manage to make tens of millions of dollars on their $250k salary should really release personal finance books.

Title "If I can make millions as senator, so can you!"

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#75

Post by flagrant_taco »

I know the easy approach here is for people to want an age limit in Congress, but I've always been more partial to a term limit.

I'm sure there are plenty of hypotheses as to why this happens, but whatever the cause elected officials seem to have an extremely easy go of getting re-elected these days. The increasing average age in Congress is just a side effect of that in my opinion.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#76

Post by wiredfool »

coldpie wrote: post #10
bhouston wrote: post #6

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 "she" was made in the last couple years was made by her aids and not her. This is not how democracy is supposed to work. Details: > Four U.S. senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffer…

Yes, and she'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'd require a constitutional amendment, but I expect there's lots of support for it from all sides. I'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. [1] This article is from six y…

Reagan wasn’t all there for his second term.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#77

Post by flagrant_taco »

I know the easy approach here is for people to want an age limit in Congress, but I've always been more partial to a term limit.

I'm sure there are plenty of hypotheses as to why this happens, but whatever the cause elected officials seem to have an extremely easy go of getting re-elected these days. The increasing average age in Congress is just a side effect of that in my opinion.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#78

Post by [deleted] »

coldpie wrote: post #18
bhouston wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Tests for public participation have a real, real bad history, and for good reason. Age is a simple and objective measure.

[deleted]

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#79

Post by banannaise »

Enginerrrd wrote: post #29
jliptzin wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is how it’s supposed to work. She was 85 when she got elected the last time. If voters don’t want 90 year olds in office, maybe they shouldn’t vote 85 year olds in for a 6 year term. If she can’t be beat in a primary, then we need something like ranked choice voting so people can safely vote for an alternative third party without risking spoiling the election for a candidate they definitely don’t want.

I'd rather see a proportional system.

A proportional system will still have one of the primary issues with the current system: the parties choose their representatives, and the two major ones will continue to trot out just the worst people they can find.

(Yes, there are primaries, but the DNC and RNC hold an astronomical amount of power in picking the candidates and influencing the winners.)

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#80

Post by baggachipz »

wiredfool wrote: post #76
coldpie wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and she'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'd require a constitutional amendment, but I expect there's lots of support for it from all sides. I'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. [1] This article is from six y…

Reagan wasn’t all there for his second term.

As far as I'm concerned, his entire term.
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