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Dianne Feinstein has died

nytimes.com

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Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#171

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

anonymouse008 wrote: post #128
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

List them here! You aren't actually saying anything.

Other comments have gotten at the nuts and bolts of administrations, and here's the PR side of it: Do the 'Mom Test' on any candidate and you will see why 9 out of 10 times a challenger to an incumbent fails [0]. The only challengers who succeed beat the 'good enough test' while simultaneously fending off the current administration's inertia (aptly put by paulgb) [0] https://www.momtestbook.com/

what is "the mom test"?

the link seems to be an entire marketing campaign selling a book and a brand, with no "test" clearly specified - can you summarize it, please?

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#172

Post by slimginz »

jpadkins wrote: post #119
frob wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]

Literally not how things work. The last time states tried to secede a little thing called the Civil War happened and we determined that no, actually you can’t just leave the US whenever you feel like it.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#173

Post by giarc »

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…

I can't remember where I heard this, but the reason that every state gets 2 senators goes back to the creation of the United States. If they didn't allow equal representation, why would any state join if they immediately started with less than equal rep? For example, why would a small state with a population 10x less than New York for example, join the US and accept 10x less senators.

Caveat - I'm not American and have never taken a US history class. This is just something I heard on a podcast.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#174

Post by jstarfish »

layer8 wrote: post #134
tristor wrote: post #125

I know it’s rude to say negative things about a person who has just passed, but I can’t help feeling happy that such an influential Senate seat will finally go to someone that’s not over 70 (hopefully). There should be age limits for public office and it should match whatever we consider the retirement age to be. We have too many dusty old codgers running things and ruining things, clawing at power and money while de…

> it should match whatever we consider the retirement age to be. That would create wrong incentives for pushing the retirement age upwards though.

Pin it to the military's retirement age then.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#175

Post by bombcar »

lefstathiou wrote: post #107
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.

If I had a magic wand: 1- One six-year term on the presidency. Enough time to get stuff done and see the results, but then you're out. The current structure gives the American public 1-2 years of productivity, then they go into campaign mode on the tax payers dime. 2- All official party nominees get the exact same budget for campaigning. Creates a level playing field and neutralizes the power of lobbying 3- Congressm…

I guarantee that "require voters to get engaged to understand the candidates better" is the exact opposite of what would happen. Voters ain't got time for that shit, they'd more strongly become single-party lever-pullers.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#177

Post by bombcar »

ianbutler wrote: post #137
Goronmon wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How do you feel about the US presidency in that case?

Term limits should for the presidency should probably have been left as a "gentleman's agreement" and not codified in an amendment just because politicians were pissed at the people continually electing Roosevelt.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#178

Post by parineum »

iamwpj wrote: post #44
panax wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does everyone keep reelecting them? Vote for someone else. We also need a better voting system than first past the post.

It would require voting for the other party. The big issue is the parties being willing to back aging candidates. But of course, party leaders are just as old -- so they see no problem.

Not in California. Feinstein beat Kevin de Leon, a Democrat, in the 2018 general.

California runs an open primary and a top two general.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#180

Post by alphabettsy »

bell-cot wrote: post #69
MisterBastahrd wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why exactly should the elderly be exempt from proper representation? There are plenty of things to criticize Nancy Pelosi about, for example, but still she's more intelligent and coherent than 99% of Congress.

Those in their first ~2 decades of life have long been exempted from proper representation, and I've never heard the elderly complain about that. Having both ends cut off sounds more fair and balanced to me.

Comparing a child to someone in their 70s with a lifetime of experience is silly. Maybe there should be limits once in office at a certain age, but not everyone ages the same.
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