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Dianne Feinstein has died

nytimes.com

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Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#201

Post by steviedotboston »

pstuart wrote: post #135
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…

She held a position of incredible importance (chair of the senate judiciary committee). Her leaving would cause a stalemate and block all judicial nominations. That's a fact, not a guess. She should have left, but the reason she didn't should be happening either.

Yeah this is just an unfortunate reality of the situation we're living in today. People think she was on some sort of ego trip by remaining in the senate or something, when really it was just the best option for making sure Biden is able to appoint judges. She was able to get a bunch of them approved recently, we should be thankful for that. People saying stuff like "thank God she's finally gone" are so ignorant. Newsom will appoint a democrat, that democrat will get no meaningful committee appointments, and we'll be in a worse situation than we were.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#202

Post by koolba »

nickthegreek wrote: post #99
coldpie wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See also: Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. She threw her whole legacy into the garbage disposal just so she could cling to power for two more years.

I don't believe she threw away her WHOLE legacy, but she did not in fact end on a high note like the OP asked and sadly become a cautionary tale.

> ... and sadly become a cautionary tale.

I'm not convinced anyone in Congress has read that tale.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#203

Post by AnimalMuppet »

JWLong wrote: post #70
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.

I’m fairly certain that percentage will still be less than the number of minors, which no one has a problem with excluding in the same way.

And maybe elders should be excluded for the same reason!

That is: Why do we exclude people under 18 from voting? Because we think they don't have the mental tools to understand policy well enough to make an informed decision. Well, if seniors don't have the mental tools anymore, should they be allowed to vote?

And this is even stronger with holding office. You can vote at 18, but you can't be a representative until 25, or a senator until 35. Why? Because you need to be old enough to (hopefully) have some judgment. Well, what if you're too old to have judgment?

So, yeah, excluding seniors from office would in fact be reasonable. Or at least requiring an annual mental competency test.

Unfortunately, we'll never get it without a state-driven constitutional convention, because those with the most power in Congress are highly correlated with those with the highest age.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#204

Post by lenkite »

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…

80 years should be the absolute upper limit. After that one should really look at relaxing in their final decade.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#205

Post by firebat45 »

alphabettsy wrote: post #180
bell-cot wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Having a lifetime of experience does not necessarily make someone smart, rational, or even coherent. It especially does not make someone interested in voting for changes that will improve the lives of people younger than them.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#206

Post by legitster »

giarc wrote: post #173
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…

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 ha…

This is more or less correct. The idea was that all states were to have equal amounts of sovereignty, regardless of population. Bodies like the UN only have 1 delegate at a time. Well, the US allows them to have a backup in the Senate.

Also, the intended function of the Senate was to oversee process and senators were selected by state legislators. They are not supposed to originate legislation. But it got a bit twisted up since then.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#207

Post by AnimalMuppet »

layer8 wrote: post #159
chongli wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Between her and McConnell and the other gerontocrats in Washington, I’m really baffled. Why do these people grip the reins of power until their knuckles turn white? What is so important about political horse trading that they have to literally haul you out of office on a stretcher?

Because, like most people, they want to feel they have purpose in their life. Giving up the job is almost like accepting death, especially if they are old.

Bobby Bowden said, "I don't want to retire. After retirement, there's really only one big event left."

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#208

Post by outside1234 »

chongli wrote: post #9
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…

Between her and McConnell and the other gerontocrats in Washington, I’m really baffled. Why do these people grip the reins of power until their knuckles turn white? What is so important about political horse trading that they have to literally haul you out of office on a stretcher?

I don't understand it either but my theory is this.

This is their life. It is literally the only thing they have ever one in one form or another.

For many of us this would be like never touching a computer again after turning 65.

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#209

Post by pierat »

alphabettsy wrote: post #180
bell-cot wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"Adolescence" was a made-up term to remove personal sovereignty over younger people who know full well, and would do, but aren't legally permitted to do so. They're also subject to our laws. They should have their say as well.

And then we see under-18 routinely be charged as adults.

And yes, if 15 year olds could vote and run for office, I do think we'd see more issues aimed at the younger generations ALONG WITH longer views of how our government is run. And we're seeing the judicial side of this with youngsters suing for climate devastation, like https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/08/1...

Re: Dianne Feinstein has died

#210

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

unmole wrote: post #191

> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Do not upvote it then? It is mostly mob rule, just accept that some "normie-gossip" is relevant to many readers here.
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