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Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

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Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#851

Post by newzisforsukas »

mortify wrote: post #754
tiffanyh wrote: post #533

Putting politics aside … Why don’t they have an age limit on the president (or any elected office)? E.g., you must be younger than the average life expectancy (currently men: 73yo / female: 79) - while in office. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

The same reason we don't have a race or sex limit on the Presidency. We should only have competency limits regardless of any other factors. My grandfather died at 101. He was extremely sharp until he was 98 and on no medication. I'd vote for that 95 year-old over either of our current choices without hesitation.

And at 98 did your Grandfather lead a country? How about a company? Manage a store? A team of employees?

All these anecdotal superhuman tales fail the smell test.

There is this hyped longitudinal study, but it doesn't say what roles these "superagers" were in, only that they had slightly better cognitive outcomes than their peers.

No one has cognitive capacity or neuronal volume of a 35 year old at 65, not to speak of 95.

It is delusional to think anyone can escape the effects of aging at this point in time.

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/44/25/e2059232024

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#852

Post by doomemax »

drewcoo wrote: post #768
lisper wrote: post #603

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airline pilots have a legally mandated retirement age of 65. Running the country seems like it's at least as mission-critical as flying a plane.

And no one past grade 12 is eligible to be a Girl Scout. Running the country seems like it's at least as mission-critical as selling Samosas. That's a silly argument.

That's a false equivalency.

Airline pilots have a mandatory retirement age based on health and safety studies associated with the risks and requirements of flying a plane.

Girl scout age requirements, as you might imagine, aren't based on the same criteria.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#853

Post by was_a_dev »

10xDev wrote: post #466
was_a_dev wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While not as much skin, we sadly have more skin in this game as I'd wish The election of the next President will have a large effect on the security of Europe with respect to both Russia and Israel

In what world is Israel relevant to the security of Europe?

Given it is on the border of Europe, geography alone is a sufficient answer.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#854

Post by jonp888 »

lisper wrote: post #603
tiffanyh wrote: post #533

Putting politics aside … Why don’t they have an age limit on the president (or any elected office)? E.g., you must be younger than the average life expectancy (currently men: 73yo / female: 79) - while in office. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

Airline pilots have a legally mandated retirement age of 65. Running the country seems like it's at least as mission-critical as flying a plane.

That's a completely different situation.

It's measurable biological certainty that reaction times as measured in milliseconds and fine motor control degrade with age. Vision and hearing also degrade. The nature of hands on control of flying a plane means there are no ways to compensate for this.

None of this applies to a politician making decision in a time span of hours, days or months and who can delegate tasks as they wish.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#856

Post by winternewt »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #829
nightowl_games wrote: post #682

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the prolonged drama made it far far worse for Biden's legacy

He was dropping out no matter what, and Kamala losing is objectively worse for his legacy than Kamala winning. Anything he could do to help her is good for his legacy, and he took a ton of bullets for her the past few months in order to give her the best shot at beating Trump.

Genuinely wondering, what kinds of bullets are you referring to?

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#857

Post by newzisforsukas »

MrDrMcCoy wrote: post #815
tiffanyh wrote: post #533

Putting politics aside … Why don’t they have an age limit on the president (or any elected office)? E.g., you must be younger than the average life expectancy (currently men: 73yo / female: 79) - while in office. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

If there's to be an age limit, I think it should be tied to the average retirement age plus 7 years. This accounts for changes in life expectancy while also allowing representation for retirees.

It should be based in science.

IMO, on evidence for when the brain starts to age in a significant way, and supplemented individually based on a robust battery of tests that represent cognitive fitness (something more demanding than n-back and stroop tests).

Unfortunately, I think fantasies about living forever and politics around ageism will prevent this from ever being implemented in our lifetimes.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#858

Post by jalapenos »

gumby wrote: post #32

One of the most effective presidents since Johnson or Truman. But he did campaign on a single term. Let’s hope the Dem’s circular firing squad puts down its guns so they can quickly concentrate on winning the election with someone … probably Harris is the simplest answer.

I laughed out loud when I read this, but maybe if you reword it "effective presidencies" you could be right.

I imagine those around him were doing all the presidenting, and perhaps they're more effective without a functioning president to get in their way.

Some might then point out things like the border were signs of ineffectiveness, but actually, if you reasonably assume it was intentional, then they were exceptionally effective.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#859

Post by OldSchool »

jszymborski wrote: post #578
PopePompus wrote: post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politicians who refuse to retire is a huge, bipartisan problem in the US affecting both genders. Putting an age limit on the president or members of congress would probably have to be done via a constitutional amendment, because the Supreme Court has ruled in the past that states cannot add eligibility requirements that are not in the constitution. One reform that would help in Congress would be to modify the seniori…

Maybe not even modulo but something like seniority increases monotonically for five terms but decreases monotonically for each subsequent term after the fifth term.

as lobbyists, you guys are going to lose most of them at modulo and the rest at monotonically

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#860

Post by fakedang »

mcswell wrote: post #671
woodruffw wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not going to happen, but I wonder how a mixed party ticket would do. Kamala (or whoever) + Mitt Romney as VP ? I think it would be very hard to convince the liberal-progressive base (i.e. the core of the party) of the DNC to go for this. > Has it ever been done? Before the 12th Amendment was passed, the VP came from the opposing party[1]. This didn't work particularly well in practice, which is why nobody remembers…

Larry Hogan would make an interesting VP candidate on Harris's ticket. He's a Republican, but was a two term governor in the blue state of Maryland. (Maryland has a two term limit on the governor, so he's now running for Senator.) To the extent that the candidate for VP pulls in votes, I think he'd do an awesome job.

The fact that you had to explain who Larry Hogan is and why he would make a good VP candidate to pull votes, is precisely why he isn't a good VP candidate to pull votes.
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