Non-Partisan discussion... when are you too old to be in office?

highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Yes, but that's completely irrelevant, unless you also point out that the Founding Fathers would jump for joy over the prospect of longer lifespans.

Some of those Founding Fathers, including Madison & Monroe, also expected that the Constitution be reformed & revised every 20 years or so. They never imagined it to permanently dictate US law as if etched in stone. And they also might have shouted GMAFB if they saw how partisanship had paralyzed their efforts at making the Constitution become a revise-able document. Of course, they wrote the Constitution before any of the authors saw first-hand the results of politically partisan elections on the national scene.
Again, life span for many wasn't as short as too many people say. Look at the life spans for the Founding Fathers- pretty damned long. I and many others have ancestors from the 1600s-through the 20th century who lived into their 80s and some from the 20th who lived to the mid-90s and that means they lived through the Influenza epidemic, the Depression, austerity during WWII and generally crappy health care.

It's not about a number, it's about mental competence and some are just not 'all there', all the time. If someone is visibly confused on even an occasional basis, it's time for testing. If it happens in the person's 60s, 70s or 80s, it doesn't matter but they need to be tested at some point and it needs to start NOW.

Now, Biden is warning world leaders- what's the worst that can happen? And he wants to save the world from climate change- the possibility that he thinks this is possible makes me doubt his mental competence.

WRT the partisanship- members of Congress fought in the chambers and dueled with firearms when they disagreed- maybe we need to have cage matches. That would make for some good entertainment and if it proves to be popular, they could charge admission as a way to offset the budget deficit that they created.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Not sure if its really about age limits, I think it needs to be about a HONEST 3rd party health evaluation by doctors that are not associated with the "president, or a person running for office or residing in office. When a person freezes while speaking in public, there is a problem. Or a person that can't remember important details when those details should be well known to that person. Or a prolonged absence from your office is a indicator that something is wrong with that persons health. Or even a person that repeatedly provides false statements to make themselves look important or better than they really are, a true sign of a obsessive-compulsive disorder/ narcissistic personality disorder..
Or someone who wanders off during a medal ceremony, asks where he needs to go, looks like he's in dreamland and WRT your last point, lies about his family, is known to have plagiarized several times and if he actually saw FDR on TV, it would have been between his birth and when he was less than 2-1/2 years old.

We know Trump has a loose grasp on the truth- he was known for it before the election.
 
GO-NAD!

GO-NAD!

Audioholic Spartan
Judge Newman was just suspended. I'm not sure what to to think of this. I doubt the other judges would fabricate the evidence cited in the order. On the other hand, this is anecdotal, but people who've argued cases in which she was on the panel haven't told me of any declines in recent years (this is an extrmely small sample). One told me that Newman hammered him during oral arguments. He joked that she lit up a cigarette when she was done with him.

>>>Judge Pauline Newman’s colleagues on a federal appeals court . . . told Judge Newman, 96, that she had been suspended amid growing concerns about her mental fitness.

The order suspending Judge Newman for one year followed an unusually bitter and public dispute over her cognitive state and her ability to continue to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a specialized court that hears patent cases. . . .
More than 20 interviews with members of the court staff, along with emails sent by Judge Newman, “provided overwhelming evidence,” the order said, that she “may be experiencing significant mental problems including memory loss, lack of comprehension, confusion and an inability to perform basic tasks that she previously was able to perform with ease.”

The order said that evidence pointed to instances in which Judge Newman, when struggling with basic tasks, “became frustrated, agitated, belligerent and hostile.”

“With no rational reason — other than frustration over her own confusion — Judge Newman has threatened to have staff arrested, forcibly removed from the building and fired,” the order said. “She accused staff of trickery, deceit, acting as her adversary, stealing her computer, stealing her files and depriving her of secretarial support.”<<<

I recently read Bill Browder's book Freezing Order. In it, he complains about Judge Thomas Griesa's ability to understand testimony in the Prevezon money laundering trial, suggesting that it was due to his advanced age and cognitive decline.
For reference: United States v. Prevezon Holdings, Ltd. – CourtListener.com

Setting arbitrary retirement ages for any particular profession can be considered unfair, or prudent, depending particular circumstances.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
Not sure if its really about age limits, I think it needs to be about a HONEST 3rd party health evaluation by doctors that are not associated with the "president, or a person running for office or residing in office. When a person freezes while speaking in public, there is a problem. Or a person that can't remember important details when those details should be well known to that person. Or a prolonged absence from your office is a indicator that something is wrong with that persons health. Or even a person that repeatedly provides false statements to make themselves look important or better than they really are, a true sign of a obsessive-compulsive disorder/ narcissistic personality disorder..
I'd say this is more along the lines of what I'd like to see happen.

Age isn't really the issue, it's whether or not people have their mental faculties in place and can actually function at the level they need to in order to do their job properly.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I recently read Bill Browder's book Freezing Order. In it, he complains about Judge Thomas Griesa's ability to understand testimony in the Prevezon money laundering trial, suggesting that it was due to his advanced age and cognitive decline.
For reference: United States v. Prevezon Holdings, Ltd. – CourtListener.com

Setting arbitrary retirement ages for any particular profession can be considered unfair, or prudent, depending particular circumstances.
Exactly- it should be a performance-based assessment, but term limits should be instituted to prevent people making politics into a career. I wouldn't have a problem if they moved into a different branch, but at some point, they become a door stop. As an example, Biden was in the Senate from 1973-2008 plus eight years as VP/Senate President) and IMO, that's too long. His record isn't so good that he should be considered a great politician.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
His record isn't so good that he should be considered a great politician.
One could argue that the very example you cite shows that he is a great ‘politician’… on the other hand, it is more questionable whether he is a great leader. ;)
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
One could argue that the very example you cite shows that he is a great ‘politician’… on the other hand, it is more questionable whether he is a great leader. ;)
Sticking around doesn't say anything about the quality of performance, it often means they didn't have alternatives to un-seat him.
 
cpp

cpp

Audioholic Ninja
Hmm....that didn't post well.

Let not forget Joe Biden. His recent bit of confusion on how to exit the stage in Maryland. I think he needs a marshaller ( the person with two flashlights on the ground airport that signal at plane to its gate) to signal him off the stage. Then this week claiming he was at ground zero the next day after 911, when it was actually nine days. But this is getting beyond embarrassing now can we actually say he is impacted by "Senility."
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Let not forget Joe Biden. His recent bit of confusion on how to exit the stage in Maryland. I think he needs a marshaller ( the person with two flashlights on the ground airport that signal at plane to its gate) to signal him off the stage. Then this week claiming he was at ground zero the next day after 911, when it was actually nine days. But this is getting beyond embarrassing now can we actually say he is impacted by "Senility."
There's a bunch of old age to deal with....like drumphy's babbling about the Panama canal. Scary to think that Biden and Drumphy are the leading candidates for 24.
 
davidscott

davidscott

Audioholic Spartan
Absolutely both of these guys are too old to run for President. As are a whole lot of Congressmen and Supreme Court Justices. We need term limits. And age limits on who can run for President. It won't happen in my lifetime though because as long as it's your party in power you are fine with it.
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
There's a bunch of old age to deal with....like drumphy's babbling about the Panama canal. Scary to think that Biden and Drumphy are the leading candidates for 24.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is younger than both of them. :D
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
lets dig up Ross Perot, what the hell .......... :eek:
He did get 19% of the votes in his first campaign in 1992 running for US President as a third candidate. No one in modern times has gotten anywhere near that.
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
There's a bunch of old age to deal with....like drumphy's babbling about the Panama canal. Scary to think that Biden and Drumphy are the leading candidates for 24.
And now he wants to execute General Milley? Beyond scary.
 
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