At every age, there should be a cognitive test to qualify for public office at each election, at every level, including local.

Fetterman had a stroke in his early 50s, which left him impaired. It's not only about age, and age doesn't necessarily mean one is impaired. Bernie is doing fine, and I suspect several of the over-80's running for office now are fine, too. But, not all of them.

Age is not a strong enough determiner of mental impairment to disqualify one from running for office, it's just a convenient one. This isn't an argument for the status quo, there are better ways, and we should use those, instead of age.

EDIT: Furthermore, if you want actual change and aren't just here to bash on old people because they're old, you need to realize that since Congress IS populated by old people, and will continue to be so, the chances of passing an age limit law are practically nil. BUT, I suspect some sort of cognitive impairment test could pass. However, since it would need to be a Constitutional amendment, the battle is long and uphill.

Finally, my motivation. I'm 60, BUT I happen to agree that younger people would be better at running the country. Because, younger people are less jaded, and more empathetic. Also, as a Democratic Socialist, I don't want people like Bernie to be unjustly disqualified by age. And, I will happily vote for AOC should she appear on my ballot for any office in the future.

Bill Clinton, lil Bush, and trump were all born in 1946, Biden in 1942.

With the exception of Obama (1961) it's pretty fucking ridiculous we just keep moving the bar up for what an acceptable age is to placitate boomers.

It was bad enough 30 years ago before the dementia set in.

By law, the age limit to serve should match the retirement age, as per the Social Security Administration rules of 2025. So, you cannot run for office if you are 67 or older, and you cannot serve beyond your 70th birthday.

Max age limits for all elected and appointed officials should be tied to the social security retirement age. Once you hit that age, you can finish your term and then fuck right off. Also make the change to the SCOTUS, DOJ…etc. all elected and appointed, term limits, defined terms for those that don’t have them, and age limits. I am beyond tired having senile, dementia patients running the country into the ground.

These decrepit fucks think all "real" jobs are easy money, so of course they don't care about making retirement a feasible option. They just fall asleep in an air-conditioned hall, rarely stirring awake to thoughtlessly vote down opportunities for citizens -- young and old -- to have a manageable life.

If you forced some of these antedeluvian ulcers in our government's guts to depend on the services they legislate on, then those services might actually become serviceable. Instead, they collect an easy paycheck until they die in-office. Using active office like it's a pension.

We need to be getting these geriatric fucks out of the government.

Get those geriatrics out of politics. They will never let go, they need to be shown the door. Fire the ineffective old geezers and get some new blood in the system.

The Democratic Party needs to learn from the GOP and build a"farm team"

They are all vampires

Gerontocracy

I like Maxine waters and Bernie but the rest can go back to the catacombs

You need term limits for senators. Wonder why they only voted that for president. When it was brought up oh so long ago.

Tbf, you don't really need much mental capacity left to just rubber stamp whatever your donors tell you to. /hj

Can my grandma run? She just became a US Citizen not too long ago, so she could theoretically run.

I mean if Americans are so obsessed with grannies, why don't we do a campaign where my granny runs for congress?

Lmfao.

Edit: Just googled it, apparantly you need to be a citizen for 7 years for the house, 9 years for the senate...

so if my grandma survives 7 more years, she could theoretically run to be a representative...

she'd be like 84 I think

she's hasn't been exactly a kind grandmother to me, but I bet she's still better than a bunch of rich out-of-touch old people

Gerontocracy.

This is all the wrong focus, but I expect nothing less than inter-generational hatred to be stoked by the corporate media to make sure people don't have their eye on the ball...

If anything, as lifespan/healthspan gets extended, we'll see even more people that are 80+ in Congress.