Verdict is in: Texas voters tell oldest judges it's time to retire
Verdict is in: Texas voters tell oldest judges it's time to retire
Texas voters rejected a proposal to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges. The outcome in Tuesday's off-year elections turned heads and drew new attention to issues of age and fitness for office in the U.S.
When it comes to age on the ballot, Texas didn’t wait until 2024 to weigh in.
Asked to let judges stay on the bench until they’re 79 years old — a year younger than President Joe Biden — Texas voters soundly rejected the proposal in Tuesday’s elections, a defeat that drew new attention to issues of age and fitness for office in the U.S.
“Age is front of mind for American voters in a way that it has not traditionally been and they are nervous about it,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.
Others cautioned against broader takeaways. At least four other states have rejected similar proposals over the last decade, according to the National Center for State Courts. And states that have passed the measures have mostly done so in close votes.
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It's long past time to get the generation of lead-induced dementia patients out of office. Slow Biden, Glitch McConnell, and all of their geriatric ilk need to go.
Glitch McConnell
lol I haven't heard that one before, that's a good one.
I'm quite a fan of Lich McConnell since he definitely has a philactery
Sounds like something antibiotics could clear up.
Maybe that's why he hates healthcare so much?
But Trump is young and spry, right?
Not in the slightest. Trump is a prime example of what happened to the brains of kids who ate lead paint chips.
To be fair, he's also a speed addict.
The problem with these guys isn't that they are old, it is that their way of dealing with problems is outdated.
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They thought that $400 was enough to cover people for months of lost Covid wages.
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They still think oil is "the most perfect energy in the world"
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They think college is still $1200 for the experience
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They think $7.50 is more then enough to cover housing, car, essentials.
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No reality on global warming. Because it isn't going to effect them.
Only one of those things is partially due to age. The rest of it is because they're beholden to corporations. A geriatric progressive / social democrat / actual leftie would have very different views.
If you think they're trying to do the right thing but just don't know any better, I've got a bridge to sell you.
I think they're both. I don't treat my politicians like Good vs. Evil.
But as smart evil vs. dumb evil.
Some of these guys have failed upwards so long just by doing the same cost cutting measures they always had. It's the only strategy that has worked for them for 75+ years.
Only this time it isn't working.
Rather then change their mindset, they will let America Rot and the rest of the world will outpace us in our hubris. I consider this a dumb evil situation.
It’s pretty evil. Unless the politician in question openly refuses corporate PAC money, you can be sure they take open bribes that affect their decisions to betray the will and values of the American people.
I hate to break it to you, but Biden is definitely a corporate hack.
I hate to break it to you, but Biden is definitely a corporate hack.
For sure, but that is my fault for not adding context.
I wasn't referencing a political party, but a mindset any political leader. I would hope that most leaders would make smart decisions.
But my personal belief is that most governments operate on a sense of Narcissism or Egoism.
Which can still be useful, but not if for every dumb evil choice (Roe V Wade) that is made, 50 dumb evil problems are created.
Who can respect that?
I mean, if we are just making rhetorical arguments…. Do you think Hitler believed what he was doing was evil?
I think humans lie to themselves the most. We can convince ourselves to believe the prettiest of lies even if the reality is vile.
I think Hitler convinced himself he was right for what he did, but I do believe he knew what he was doing was evil.
That's Just my speculation.
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Healthwise, Trump appears to be older than Biden
The party that would vote for Trump is also older, though. The Democratic party needs to attract the younger folks, so it's more of a concern for us than for the MAGA crowd.
An age limit on elderly judges is critical where they get appointed for life.
At least these other geriatric ilk have to get re-elected periodically. In previous years I would have said to trust the voters to eventually come to the right conclusion, but elections are really crazy these days
Judicial elections are barely even elections. Independent voting guides never mention them and news media rarely profile or interview them (or if they do it's not prominently compared to other local races). Plus at least in my experience incumbent judges usually run unopposed. I also think they have very strong restrictions on what they can/can't say while campaigning so voters can't even do their own research properly (especially for new judges, who don't have much of a track record). Basically it's near impossible to be an educated voter when it comes to judges, so maybe they're better off being appointed.
Judgeships are also rarely contested, making the elections a useless formality.
Lead-induced?
Yes. Lead used to be everywhere. In the paint on your house walls. In the paint on your children's toys, that they would inevitably put in their mouth. In makeup. In water pipes (still in use in many places, see Flint, MI). In gasoline, leading to lead-tainted air pollution.
I've had/have lead poisoning. It's not fun. I had to take some horse sized pills that were virtually impossible to keep down.... it was like there was a little trampoline in my stomach that just made them want to pop straight back up.
My stomach still lurches a little thinking about them.
In water pipes
Better check my bong!
Actually yes. Lead and cadmium in glass and pigment products is a real problem.
Yeah, lead fucked a lot of people up.
And it still is affecting our children.
I mean I know lead is bad for you but the body does process it over time and leaded gas has been banned since the 70s. You can't just disqualify everyone who was alive in the 70s because there was potential for lead exposure.
One would hope that such a bold and specific claim as "the President and Senate Minority Leader have lead-induced dementia" would have...a single shred of specific evidence.
Lead poisoning causes permanent irreversible brain damage that manifests in the form of learning disability and behavioral disorders.
Ok so the claim is that the president and Senate minority leader got permanent irreversible brain damage in the 70s?
More than likely, they got it as children.
You think it is more than likely that both of these people had permanent brain damage their whole lives and proceded to get elected to higher and higher office continuously getting votes amongst the scrutiny of the national press for decades? Despite having zero evidence.
If true, it must be brain damage so slight that it's meaningless. If false, you're just making something up because you don't like some political leaders.
It sounds like you haven't read about chronic lead poisoning. You should do so sometime.
I'm more interested in actual political discussions instead of parsing out this weird baseless accusation.
Don’t forget leaded paint. It was also banned in those decades but any house/building from before then is potentially contaminated with lead paint. While interior paint has gotten a lot of attention, “encapsulating” it is not perfect nor permanent and the building is still surrounded by contaminated soil from exterior paint.
And prop planes … leaded fuel not banned yet
The Wikipedia article is pretty scary, especially
According to a study, half of the US population has been exposed to substantially detrimental lead levels in early childhood – mainly from car exhaust whose lead pollution peaked in the 1970s and caused widespread loss in cognitive ability.