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Dianne Feinstein has died

nytimes.com

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Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#111

Post by seanw444 »

mc32 wrote: post #88
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.

Dubious congress trades aside, congresspeople should not die of old age serving. There is something wrong with people like Byrd and Feinstein dying while serving. Even without term limits they should have the decency to know when to call it quits and not become a figurehead where most of the work they’re entrusted with is done behind the scenes by others —none of this bullshit whispering in their ear on how to vote.…

"Professionals" arbitrarily deciding whose psychological functions are passable in order to allow an elected person to take office sounds horrendous to me, impartial panel or not.

If there's anything 2020-2021 and the 4th branch of the gov't taught me, it's that we need to quit putting authority figures in positions of power over the people, for the sole reason of being an authority figure.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#112

Post by shmatt »

eropple wrote: post #4
alexb_ wrote: post #3

Can someone give a QRD on all of the political ramifications that will come from this? I've heard things about judges being harder to appoint, what else is there?

The governor of California can turn around an interim appointment pretty quickly if he so chooses; there's some static around a prior promise to appoint a Black woman, which most people viewed as effectively a promise to Representative Barbara Lee. She has since declared candidacy for that Senate seat--as Feinstein was not going to run for re-election--and Newsom (understandably, IMO) doesn't want to hand the keys to…

Cue Senator Winfrey

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#114

Post by Goronmon »

flagrant_taco wrote: post #75

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.

Term limits are just a mechanism to transfer power to un-elected officials and lobbyists, and to make sure any decent politicians are kicked out before they can have any lasting impact.

Imagine working at a job where there were rules that forced your company to lay off all the most experienced folks after a few years.

Sounds miserable to me.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#115

Post by [deleted] »

mc32 wrote: post #88
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.

Dubious congress trades aside, congresspeople should not die of old age serving. There is something wrong with people like Byrd and Feinstein dying while serving. Even without term limits they should have the decency to know when to call it quits and not become a figurehead where most of the work they’re entrusted with is done behind the scenes by others —none of this bullshit whispering in their ear on how to vote.…

[deleted]

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#116

Post by mc32 »

seanw444 wrote: post #111
mc32 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dubious congress trades aside, congresspeople should not die of old age serving. There is something wrong with people like Byrd and Feinstein dying while serving. Even without term limits they should have the decency to know when to call it quits and not become a figurehead where most of the work they’re entrusted with is done behind the scenes by others —none of this bullshit whispering in their ear on how to vote.…

"Professionals" arbitrarily deciding whose psychological functions are passable in order to allow an elected person to take office sounds horrendous to me, impartial panel or not. If there's anything 2020-2021 and the 4th branch of the gov't taught me, it's that we need to quit putting authority figures in positions of power over the people, for the sole reason of being an authority figure.

Why? I don’t want people with decreased mental abilities serving in important gov positions. Do public companies let aging incompetent leaders stay on as senior executives?

I'm not asking for stringent qualifications. Bare minimum. Have time awareness, place awareness, be aware of the connection between action and consequences, have control over bodily functions. I'm not asking for a Chess champion or math wiz.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#118

Post by unsupp0rted »

flagrant_taco wrote: post #75

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.

I don't see a need for term limits- as long as they keep being popular and able to do the job, they should do it.

I see a need for impartial testing of "able to do the job", such as "can count backwards from 20 without falling asleep or missing any numbers or going briefly catatonic".

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#119

Post by jpadkins »

frob wrote: post #58
alexb_ wrote: post #3

Can someone give a QRD on all of the political ramifications that will come from this? I've heard things about judges being harder to appoint, what else is there?

From everything I could tell, one of the reasons Sen Feinstein was sticking around was that the GOP had indicated it would not allow Senate Democrats to replace her on the Judiciary committee. This would deadlock the committee, effectively stalling all judicial appointments and confirmations. That was in the case of a retirement. This is a death and reappointment. I am unsure if the new Senator would assume Sen Feins…

[flagged]

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#120

Post by stetrain »

yardie wrote: post #105
flagrant_taco wrote: post #75

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.

My problem with term limits is being a politician is a job like any other. You get a performance review every few years. But by the time you get really good at the job you're forced to quit. If there are age minimums for these federal offices there should be age maximums.

I think being too “good at the job” is part of what people are worried about for politicians.

Yes there are skills to be learned to be effective in such a system, but being too entrenched in it can lead to forming relationships that overshadow the relationship with their constituents.

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