#gerontocracy

[politijohn]

Source

End the Gerontocracy

#politics #us politics #government #the left #gerontocracy #news #current events

[ancaporado]

#gerontocracy #kleptocracy #democracy #freeblr #libertarian #mass media #corporate media

[mostlysignssomeportents]

What Americans want

Tomorrow (Oct 19), I'm in Charleston, WV to give the 41st annual McCreight Lecture in the Humanities. And on Friday (Oct 20), I'm at Charleston's Taylor Books from 12h-14h.

If you aspire to be a Very Serious Person (and whomst amongst us doesn't?) then you know why we can't have nice things. The American people won't stand for court packing, Congressional term limits, the abolition of the Electoral College, or campaign finance limits. Politics is the art of the possible, and these just aren't possible.

Friends, you've been lied to.

The latest Pew Research mega-report investigates Americans' attitudes towards politics, and honestly, the title says it all: "Americans’ Dismal Views of the Nation’s Politics":

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/09/19/americans-dismal-views-of-the-nations-politics/

The American people hate Congress. They hate the parties. They hate the president. They hate the 2024 presidential candidates. They loathe the Supreme Court. Approval for America's bedrock institutions are at historic lows. Disapprovals are at historic highs.

The report's subtitle speaks volumes: "65% say they always or often feel exhausted when thinking about politics." Who can blame them? After all: "63% express not too much or no confidence at all in the future of the U.S. political system."

"Just 4% of U.S. adults say the political system is working extremely or very well": that is to say, there are more Americans who think Elvis is alive than who think US politics are working well.

There are differences, of course. Young people have less hope than older people. Republicans are more reactionary than Democrats. Racialized people trust institutions less than white people.

But there are also broad, bipartisan, cross-demographic, intergenerational agreements, and these may surprise you:

Take Congressional term-limits. 87% of US adults support these. Only 12% oppose them.

Everyone knows American gerontocracy is a problem. I mean, for one thing, it's destabilizing. There's a significant chance that neither of the presumptive US presidential candidates will be alive on inauguration day:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/01/designated-survivors/

But beyond the inexorable logic of actuarial science, there's the problem that our Congress of septuagenarians have served for decades, and are palpably out-of-touch with their constituents' lives. And those constituents know it, which is why 79% of Americans favor age limits for elected officials and Supreme Court justices:

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/09/19/how-americans-view-proposals-to-change-the-political-system/

Not all of this bipartisan agreement is positive. 76% of Americans have been duped into favoring a voter ID requirement to solve the nonexistent problem of voter fraud by imposing a racialized, wealth-based poll-tax. But even here, there's a silver lining: 62% of American support automatically registering every eligible voter.

Threats to pack the Supreme Court have a long and honorable tradition in this country. It's how Lincoln got his antislavery agenda, and how FDR got the New Deal:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/25/consequentialism/#dotards-in-robes

The majority of Americans don't want to pack the court…yet. The race is currently neck-and-neck – 51% opposed, 46% in favor, and with approval for the Supreme Court at lows not seen since the 2400 baud era, court-packing is an idea with serious momentum:

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/21/favorable-views-of-supreme-court-fall-to-historic-low/

66% of Democrats want the court packed. 58% of under 30s – of every affiliation – favor the proposal.

And two thirds (65%) of Americans want to abolish the Electoral College and award the presidency to the candidate with the most votes. That includes nearly half (47%) of Republicans, and two thirds of independents.

Americans believe – correctly – that their elected representatives are more beholden to monied interests than to a sense of duty towards their constituents. Or, as a pair of political scientists put it in their widely cited 2014 paper:

Economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

So yeah, no surprise that 70% of Americans believe that voters have too little influence over their elected lawmakers. 83% of Republicans say big campaign donors call the shots. 80% of Democrats agree.

Which is why 72% of Americans want to limit political spending (76% for Democrats, 71% for Republicans). The majority of Americans – 58% – believe that it is possible to get money out of politics with well-crafted laws.

Americans truly do have a "dismal view of the nation's politics," and who can blame them? But if you "feel exhausted thinking about the nation's politics," consider this – the majority of Americans, including Republicans, want to:

abolish the electoral college;

impose campaign spending limits;

put term limits on elected officials and Supreme Court justices;

put age limits on elected officials and Supreme Court justices; and

automatically register every eligible American to vote.

What's more, packing the Supreme Court is a coin-toss, and it's growing more popular day by day.

Which is all to say, yes, things are really screwed up, but everyone knows it and everyone agrees on the commonsense measures that would fix it.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/18/the-people-no/#tell-ya-what-i-want-what-i-really-really-want

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!

#pluralistic #gerontocracy #corruption #politics #polling #usa usa usa #pew #term limits #scotus #pack the court #citizens united

[odinsblog]

Democratic leadership is overly concerned about the importance of “bipartisanship,” and maintaining “norms” or (gasp) doing something “unprecedented,” but as our rights are being cancelled by an illegitimate Supreme Court, remember—Trump's entire presidency has already shattered all norms, was unprecedented, and continues to put our democracy at risk. Democrats should be pulling out every trick and doing everything they can to protect citizens from the Christofascist Supreme Court. And they should be doing it all before the November midterms. Waiting until after Republicans (likely) take the House and Senate is criminally negligent.

“We are hamstrung by the rules” hasn’t stopped Republicans ever, not since they stole an election in the year 2000, and devotion to “following the rules” didn’t stop Trump, and it’s definitely not stopping SCOTUS. So when do Democrats ante up and start playing smash mouth?

It’s well past time that Democrats got creative and tried a slew of quirky, unorthodox, outside-the-box type ideas.

If not now, when?

#politics #joe biden #bidenism #scotus #roe v wade #neoliberalism #centrism #dnc gerontocracy #gerontocracy

[k-wame]

#politics #beyonce #taylor swift #potus #joe biden #us politics #gerontocracy #descent into fascism #potus biden #potus 46 #renaissance tour #the eras tour #britney spears #brazil

[vanilla-voyeur]

I care significantly less about the number of Black women in the Senate as I do the number of progressives under the age of 50. Cut out your virtue signaling bs and give me someone who has a direct, personal stake in the next 30+ years.

#diane feinstein #performative allyship #US Senate #gerontocracy #My opinion as a black female progressive under 50 #I think the rumors of putting in a 77yo are false

[personal-blog243]

There is absolutely no sane world in which we should have to endure a Biden-Trump rematch 🙄

How did the worst candidates manage to do this well? Other than name recognition????

Seriously how did this happen other than the establishment of both parties trying to throw support to the candidates they thought were “safer” in the most out of touch way possible! Did they not poll people about which candidates they actually wanted? Because literally everyone I have spoken to across the political spectrum is not happy with either candidate? I wrote in a leftist candidate named Cornel West who was running as an independent in the primaries and I guess that’s as productive a vote as any at this point 🤷🏼‍♀️. It kind of feels like for the primaries the vote doesn’t even matter this time because they purposely set it up this way. It doesn’t seem very democratic does it?

I should clarify that voting in the general election is still important to at least hopefully get some progressive candidates in the house of representatives and in the senate. That could be vital to protecting ourselves from another coup.

Let’s also not forget that there were WOMEN candidates running in both major parties (Williamson-D, Haley-R) who were not neck deep in the grave that were passed over for older men.

#house of representatives #senate #u.s. senate #u.s. house of representatives #democratic primary #coup klux clan #jan 6 insurrection #election 2024 #protect democracy #please vote #feminist #feminism #me too #yes all women #times up #progressive #leftist #politcs #political #cornel west #leftism #gerontocracy

[quasi-normalcy]

#american politics #gerontocracy

[unicornheadnebula]

Saving Our Kakistocracy

Here is a list of various forms of government. They left out Idiocracy, so I guess we are more of a Kakistocracy right now. Or Kleptocracy.

Here is a list of various forms of government. They left out Idiocracy, so I guess we are more of a Kakistocracy right now. Or Kleptocracy. Kakistocratic Kleptocracy maybe? Or would it be Kleptocratic Kakistocracy? Various forms of government: Democracy = Rule of the people Monarchy = Rule of one Oligarchy = Rule of a few Aristocracy = Rule of the best Plutocracy = Rule of the…

View On WordPress

#Anarchy #Aristocracy #Autocracy #Democracy #forms of government #Gerontocracy #government #Kakistocracy #Kleptocracy #Meritocracy #Monarchy #Noocracy #Oligarchy #Plutocracy #rule #Stratocracy #Technocracy #Theocracy #Timocracy

[politijohn]

90 years old. Noticeably suffering for the past several years. Standing in the way of progress. This gerontocracy cannot remain the norm.

Source

#gerontocracy #politics #us politics #government #the left #democrats #news #current events #progressive

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The current president is 80 years old. His presumed opponent for 2024 is 77 years old.

Four US Senators are in their eighties. Twenty nine US senators are in their seventies. Seven more are sixty-eight or sixty-nine.

The current Democratic Senate majority is 51-49.

Twelve members of the House are in their eighties. Sixty-two reps are in their seventies (thirteen more are sixty-nine).

The current Republican Congressional majority is 222–213.

Two Supreme Court justices are in their seventies (Clarence Thomas is 75). Three more are in their sixties.

The right-wing Supreme Court “supermajority” is 6–3.

- Designated Survivors: The gerontocratic elephant in the graveyard

#gerontocracy #designated survivors #actuary #usa usa usa #death and taxes #all-causes mortality

[odinsblog]

The Democrats are helping her do it.

Liz Cheney has adroitly reframed the insurrection as something that a handful of “bad” Republicans did, and a plucky band of “good” Republicans saved the day—when it’s really the rank and file, Republican Party base who attacked. You would have to be a fool to believe that all the people testifying under threat of subpoena, somehow didn’t manage to see Trump for what he was until January 6th. Give me a break. Cut the bullshit.

And right on cue, Andrew Yang is forming a third political party chocked full of pro-business, pro-gun, Trumpublicans & right leaning Libertarians, but he’s calling it a “centrist” party. It’s the “Third Way” okie doke all over again—it is nothing less than an attempt to legitimize Republicans and conservatism, and siphon off just enough votes from the Democratic Party to ensure Republicans win in 2024.

America really does need a robust multiple party system to break the two party duopoly, but not another conservative party masquerading as centrists, “undecided voters” and “independents” who are actually right wing Libertarians and Republicans.

#politics #liz cheney #republicans #andrew yang #third way #j6 #gerontocracy #3rd way #neoliberalism #centrism #january 6 #january 6 commission #january 6th #insurrection

[ode-on-a-grecian-butt]

Jamelle Bouie piece if you want to read it use https://archive.ph/ if you want to read it for free.

#gerontocracy #democratic party #biden #pelosi #feinstein

[toastiemcstrudel]

A few flag re/designs of various political ideologies I made.

Gerontocracy Spontaneism Turanism Noocracy

I don't necessarily believe in or endorse these ideologies.

#flags #vexillology #new flag #flag design #flag redesign #vexillography #design #redesign #political ideologies #political ideology #ideology #Gerontocracy #Spontaneism #Turanism #Noocracy

[alanshemper]

Age/generational politics is an anti-politics meant to obscure actual ideology. That's why rich pricks like Elon love to focus on it.

#gerontocracy #elon musk #reactionary politics #peter theil does this too #generational politics

[mitchipedia]

The fallacy of gerontocracy

Paul Kleyman at Generations Beat Online: Whatever you think of Mitch McConnell, 80, Nancy Pelosi, 82, and Bernie Sanders, 80, they are at the top of their game. Donald Trump, 76, is showing no sign of slowing down. If you have a problem with any or all of them, it’s not because of their age.

On the other hand, Marjorie Taylor Green, 48, Matt Gaetz, 40, and Lauren Boebert, 36, are toxic idiots. If they are still alive in 45 years, they will be toxic idiots then too.

#gerontocracy #politics #aging #ageism #Generations Beat Online #journalism #Paul Kleyman #twt