Why Won’t Old Politicians Accept That They Are Replaceable Rather Than Recyclable? Democracy Can Survive Them. They Need To Let It.
Why Won’t Old Politicians Accept That They Are Replaceable Rather Than Recyclable?
Increasingly, those in Democratic Party and Republican Party conference leadership in the United States Congress, the 435-member House of Representatives and 100-member Senate, refuse to relinquish their positions.
Whether speaker, majority leader, minority leader, whip, committee and sub-committee chairs, the message remains singular: Their experience, individually and collectively, is essential for the protection of the party process, party discipline, party authority, party initiatives, party standards, and party values. The just-below-the-water line message: The nation cannot survive without them.
Younger members- and for those in their eighties that means those in their fifties and sixties have not the seasoning, the “living history” to be effective stewards of leadership for not only the future of their respective political party, but more consequently the nation, given its fragile state. Unspoken is that fragility is a direct result of the leadership they have provided to their conference members and to voters across the nation. Collectively, the elders have served as a conducive adhesive for the toxicity that continues to intoxicate generations of voters.
Joseph Biden, President of the United States (2021-) will be 80 on 20 November 2022 and will be 82 as he completes his four-year term on 20 January 2025. If he seeks and is elected for a second term, he would be 86 when completing his second term on 20 January 2029. For comparison, Ronald Reagan (R- California), President of the United States (1981-1989), was seventy-seven years of age when he completed his second term.
Mitch McConnell (R- Kentucky), Republican Leader of the United States Senate is 80 and will be 82 at end of the 118th United States Congress on 3 January 2025. Senator McConnell is seeking to have the vote by his conference colleagues be concluded despite the election of a United States Senator from the State of Georgia remaining unknown until 6 December 2022.
Charles Schumer (D- New York), Democratic Leader of the United States Senate is 71 and will be 73 at the end of the 118th United States Congress on 3 January 2025.
Nancy Pelosi (D-California), Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, is 82 and will be 84 at the end of the 118th United States Congress on 3 January 2025. Representative Pelosi previously confirmed that her position as speaker would conclude at the end of the 117th United States Congress, meaning on 3 January 2023.
James Clyburn (D- South Carolina), Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives, is 82 and will be 84 at the end of the 118th United States Congress on 3 January 2025.
Steny Hoyer (D- Maryland), Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, is 83 and will be 85 at the end of the 118th Congress on 3 January 2025.
Senator McConnell and Representatives Clyburn, Hoyer, and Pelosi should have announced their retirements earlier in 2022 so that taxpayers in their respective states could save the cost of a special election. They are not public servants, they are selfish.
Term limits are essential for local, state, and federal office holders. They do exist in some states. More consequential would be for the imposition of age limits since those in office are unable to appreciate that democracy can survive without them. Prohibitions on nepotism would equally serve value- an increasing number of offspring are groomed to replace their parents- and there have been occasions where governors in states have appointed spouses as replacements and special elections have included spouses and offspring.
Why are elected and appointed offices becoming more about legacy and bloodlines than ability and experience? Because voters are voting due to party affiliation rather than competence of candidates; and voting for whomever might be the most bellicose, intense, and fragrantly flouting courage of ignorance with an underlying contempt for voters. If one candidate goes low, the other will go lower.
Appreciate this: One United States Senator announced an intention to no more than serve two terms. The United States Senate seat of his state colleague became vacant so he announced that he would seek that seat- thus, in his mind, and the minds of voters because he was elected, this was not an aberration of his two-term promise. Some members of the United States Congress have supported term limits when they seek office, but then oppose them when they want to remain in office. This sums up well why so many of those in the United States Congress need to be replaced.
