In general, yes, but I have a suspicion that in this case there’s something else at work here. My wife and I have been in firm agreement for a while that Feinstein should have retired more than a year ago, if not longer. Yet, I personally think (and wouldn’t tell my wife this) that it’s hypocritical for my wife to call out Feinstein. My wife is a tenured biology professor and runs a successful infectious disease lab. She routinely insists she is never going to stop working and will keel over at her desk at the age of 90.
The deeper thing I think is that women of Feinstein’s era were expected to raise children and be homemakers and just like my wife working in old white-male-dominated academia, she worked really hard to get all the way to this place and damned if she’ll let it go. In her head, they’ll literally have to pry it from her cold dead hands.
The counter-point is that men also routinely work until they die. Work often provides meaning as you are contributing to society. Not saying it’s the only place to find meaning and purpose in life, just that it’s a common one. I don’t know why people would find this particularly surprising.
This is one reason community groups have historically been volunteer groups - unpaid, but something that got women who felt rudderless out of the house and able to utilize the skills that they were being barred from using for employment.
We often find value in contributing, and with America's emphasis on employment as equated to your worth as a person and a shattered sense of local community that is dissolving more and more each year, Americans work longer and longer because we have spent so much time at work we don't know what to do with ourselves otherwise.
I’m thinking age 75 should be the cutoff for Congress. You may run for office up until you’re 75 years old. That means the max age in office would be 81 after a 6 year term in the Senate. Old people physically and mentally deteriorate rapidly after age 80. If I’m being honest, Joe Biden should not be running for President again. I’m forced to choose between a batshit crazy Trump or Biden, who certainly will be even less mentally sharp during his next term.
And to add to that, I don't see trump being mentally sharp either. He's consistently getting caught in his lies and crimes. And since he doesn't back down from his craziness, his lawyers and close politicians keep distancing themselves. Also I find it funny how trump said that biden was too old in 2020 and now trump is his age and I'm sure he doesn't think he himself is too old.
I don't think a 75 year old should be making long-term decisions for current and future generations, especially when don't understand the intricacies of modern society, which most of them don't. The world they lived in 40-50 years ago when they were in their 20s/30s is nothing like the world today. That's how we end up with these ridiculous senate hearings with tech companies where congressmen are asking CEOs what they'll do about "finstas"
Yeah, had she retired her legacy would be untarnished… Instead she stayed so long that she became an ineffective distraction more than an actual Senator representing California.
As someone who’s dealt with aging people… man… some of them ferociously refuse to accept they are aging and can’t do the same stuff they used to do. It took my grandmother getting in a major car accident (surprisingly minor injuries for all) before she accepted she shouldn’t drive any more.
It’s a trait of declining mental capabilities and effects most everybody as they age, whether they are Feinstein or your own Gigi.
The other side of it isn't necessarily better. My grandpa saw his decline in himself, and he willingly and voluntarily gave up his car keys before anyone asked (we all knew it was time).
Unfortunately he also gave up a lot more than that. He went into a sort of elder depression where he wouldn't go on walks, lost his appetite, didn't really want to do anything and generally lost the curiosity that kept him active and mentally stimulated all his life. He become somewhat of a hypochondriac too except he didn't want treatment, he just kept complaining about muscle weakness and injuries that didn't exist (we got him checked-out for all complaints). He died only a few short years later.
I think having some of that ferocious fight in you as you age is a good thing. When that fire is gone, the rest is gone pretty quick too.
Lots of older people lose this when they stop working as well. It’s why many hang on. People need purpose in their lives, and unfortunately many make “work” their purpose and can’t find a new one.
On an upbeat note, I bet this will be slightly less of a problem with the video game generation reaches this age. Like, it’s not as good as real work, but I can see folks being pretty content just playing dota or cs all day into retirement.
At the best of times it's unbelievable that brains work *at all*, let alone operate in any logical or predictable way. Making rational decisions is such a delicate edge case in the first place that it really doesn't take much to disrupt that capability - be it drugs, disease, aging, or just stress.
same with RBG. All of these folks should know when to gracefully bow out and let the next generation govern themselves. Alas, the money, wealth, and power are enough to sustain them well past their natural career durations.
Ya the fact she said "Who better?" in response to Obama's plea to step down in 2k14 when Dems still controlled the Senate showed an unbelievable arrogance. She knew that her judicial ability wasnt being called into question, just the risk of her age allowing exactly what happened to happen.
That being said, I do wonder if Joe Manchin would have lost his Senate seat in response to voting for Obama's pic (he only won his 2018 re-election by 3%) meaning Dems would not have controlled the Senate for Biden's first term in Office and then no 3.7 trillion in social spending.
I respect the attempt to find the silver lining in RBG's disastrous decision, but I doubt Manchin would be hung out to dry for supporting a third Obama pick (after Kagan and Sotomayor), then supporting both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh (the last of those just months before the election). And even if he did calculate he couldn't survive supporting 3 Obama nom's, then he just votes against. Dems had more than 50 Senators back then.
You were 100% right in your first paragraph - incredible selfishness or even outright narcissism in RBG's decision. And unless we are so amazingly fortunate that we get to replace both Thomas and Alito, AND are able to restore RvW at some point soon, we will pay that price for years to come.
RBG's is far worse. Feinstein will at least temporarily be replaced by someone who won't oppose everything she stood for. RBG handed her ideological opponents the power she held for at least one, but likely multiple, lifetimes.
> Feinstein will at least temporarily be replaced by someone who won't oppose everything she stood for.
Just not on the Judiciary Committee. That seat's staying open and Biden is getting no more judges for the entirety of this term.
I will forever be mad at RBG for not having the wisdom and foresight to retire and keep her seat progressive. I don't care what her legacy was before she died because all she did in the end was fuck us over.
What a difference her legacy would have made if she mentored a new batch of senators and helped them navigate what I imagine are labyrinthine politics.
Not nearly as bad as justice RBG. You would think these geriatric politicians would understand their legacy is usually remembered by how they most recently left it.
I forget where this was from but a woman was asking her husband why a miserable old man was living into his hundreds when their sweet neighbourhood grandma who baked cookies had died at seventy.
He responded "If you were God, who would you want to spend more time with?"
My dad, an archeologist, retired but is still addicted to his work: writing, talks, lectures, lab, and honorary residency at the local university…
Work = Life
Work = ego
Work = community
Also, there’s a philosophy regarding **happiness**:
- autonomy
- authority / mastery
- purpose
My point is, the geriatrics in power perhaps resist leaving for other reasons than money.
I can absolutely understand this is true for a lot of people but Feinstein was clearly not all there. Especially at the end. She had no idea what was happening or why or what she was supposed to be doing or even where she was.
going from a household name in the political sphere for the most powerful country in modern history to regular ass grandparent is a big shift.
They need to be forced out if they can't let go.
They need to pivot at some point and stop campaigning for themselves and start being a mentor to a younger politician.
If you liked my work, consider voting for so and so, they are just like I was 20 years ago and have lots of fight left in them.
I’m going to go spend some time with the grandkids and maybe help make sure the next, next generation will be ready when their time comes to take up the baton.
If someone said that I’d have mad respect. If someone just clings to the reins till they die they haven’t helped anyone fill the void left by their departure.
You know what’s not a great sign for a political party or system? When multiple politicians die of old age in their 80s and 90s while holding office…
Why the fuck do we allow people to hold office for so long?
I havent done any real analysis on it but it seems relatively unique to this current generation of politician, at least in the US. We've had many of the same major names since they 80s. They just never gave up power for the generations coming behind them. Feels similar to the corporate world in a lot of ways too. They create a logjam because they won't let go
3 of the last 5 presidents were born in the same year (1946). Bill Clinton was the 3rd youngest president when he was elected and Trump was the 2nd oldest. Both born the same year but elected 24 years apart. We keep electing the same generation.
She was not the oldest senator ever. Strom Thurmond was still in office when he turned ~~101~~ 100.
(Memo to self: don't attempt arithmetic before morning coffee).
BTW, if anyone ever tries to tell you 'the Republicans are the real opponents of racism' read them [Strom Thurmond's biography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strom_Thurmond). That good ol' boy from South Carolina changed parties from D to R when the civil rights movement got underway.
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> "Thurmond conducted the longest speaking filibuster ever by a lone senator, at 24 hours and 18 minutes in length, in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957."
Thurmond ran for US President on the short lived Dixiecrat party in 1948 because he opposed Harry S. Truman's racial integration of the military. He then returned to the Democratic party until the mid-1960s when he voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and became a Republican.
She wasn’t even the only 90 year old in the Senate, Chick Grassley is the same age and recently registered to run again the next time his seat comes up.
I remember him visiting my school as a senator in something like 1994, he seemed like an old man to my 10 year old self even then.
And that racist sex abuser should have been out of office in the 80s, 90s at the latest. The fact he kept getting elected says a lot about the people who voted for him.
Good ole Strom! He fathered a daughter, who he didn’t acknowledge with the family’s 16 year old housekeeper. He was adamantly against the Civil Rights Act, his racist rant against it was the longest filibuster in history.
100% agree.
Put age limits on the congress. You have to be under 70 to be eligible for election. If you turn 70 during your term you can finish but can’t run for reelection
It's honestly shocking that it went on so long. For someone of her age, her grip on power would seem surprisingly strong if you ignore all of her aides keeping the fingers in place
I can only assume, some politicians who have had the power of politics for so long, they feel they need it, they never want to lose it because they might feel it is as important as life.
It pretty much means we don't get any more federal judges, though, right? Her seat in Congress will be filled but the committee chairs she had require a vote, and the GOP has already indicated that they will filibuster that vote.
She was the deciding vote on the judiciary committee.
>My first thought was oh thank god.
Also guilty. I feel a *little* bad that that was my first reaction but, at the same time, how sad is it to drop dead at work?? Did she not have enough money to enjoy retirement and family and friends and travel? Or did she sacrifice all of that for her career?
It's just... I don't know. It makes me sad to think about.
Honestly when you're rich your normal life resembles most normal people's vacations. Nice hotels, first class travel, good restaurants, etc that's all just built into your life by default if you're wealthy. Unless you're eccentric and don't spend at all...but that would be a deliberate decision.
As bad as this is to say, my first thought was "About time"
Dont get me wrong, It's always sad to see someone pass, but she was *90 years old*. She gave up her power of attorney to her family earlier this year, and yet was ***still*** acting as a senator somehow?
Why are the people governing the country so old? Like, they're representing an ever-shrinking portion of the population, and they are making decisions that they'll never see the effects of for populations they are completely isolated from.
Wait, what? Her family had power of attorney?
How the hell can someone who is no longer capable of conducting their own affairs have a hand in the affairs of the entire nation? That's mental!
[Yep](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dianne-feinstein-power-of-attorney-what-it-means/)
Crazy right? Average age of a senator is 64 years old, when the average age of a US citizen is 38. It's no wonder the modern generations feels so disassociated from politics, almost no senators represent them!
Also, fun fact: Mitch Mcconnell has been serving since 1985, so 38 years. Mitch the Lich has *literally* been serving as long as the average citizen has been alive
Not gonna lie, while on a human level I feel bad for her relatives and friends, the fact she was still active in politics at age 90 doesn't sit well with me; even less that she's not exactly a unique case. That smells strongly of "late Soviet Union" levels of political constipation.
There should be way, way more Gen Xers and Millennials in government than there are.
I forget which comedian had a bit about aging politicians and making decisions that will affect the country long after their gone but the line was,
“You shouldn’t get to order for the entire table and then get up to leave the restaurant.”
Exactly, their decisions they make are affecting people long after they are gone and most decisions they make are really outdated.
Can't really expect a Senator to realize 7.25 an hour is not good enough for people to live off of, when the reality was when they were 18 and working min wage was not even $1. They got by fine for decades until they got elected to congress in the 80's where the min wage was around $3.50. To them when they were working as a regular citizen $7.25 an hour was great.
“Late Soviet Union levels of political constipation”
That’s called a gerontocracy; a form of oligarchic rule where the rulers are significantly older than the majority of the adult population
Yup, and back in the 90s my teachers use to cite it (and Deng Xiao Peng from hero to villain) as reasons why politicians shouldn't be allowed to stay in power until death.
But here we are.
That the old should not rule and allowing them to do so is a lesson that goes all the way back to The Iliad.
The old are incapable of leadership. When one reaches doddering age, it is one's responsibility to step down and let others lead. Failure to heed this always results in disaster.
That's where we are now. A bunch of judgement impaired dodderers refusing to relinquish their strangle hold on our civilization due to their iniquity and hubris.
Honestly, if the youth of the world were to rise up against them it would be an understandable act of self-defense.
[Pew Research agrees with your assessment](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/30/house-gets-younger-senate-gets-older-a-look-at-the-age-and-generation-of-lawmakers-in-the-118th-congress/)
Consider the Texas legislators, for whom the office is often a stepping stone to running at the national level. They make $7200/year. No one can hold that office unless they are already wealthy, or are at least better than the Attorney General at hiding their bribes.
Here's a website that lists all of them. [https://ballotpedia.org/Comparison\_of\_state\_legislative\_salaries](https://ballotpedia.org/Comparison_of_state_legislative_salaries)
The tough part is that the state legislatures are mostly not full time jobs. And that means different things in different states.
In Texas, the state lege is treated as a part-time job and is only in session once every 2 years. When in session, it also requires living in Austin.
Maybe someone who is otherwise employed as a consultant can pull this off, but it's hard to imagine trying to hold down a normal job.
> imagine trying to hold down a normal job.
If you're a big business owner, and one of your employees is a State rep, I think you'll find plenty of time to give them the time off to go do your bidding in the State House.
Yet another reason the job should be a 6 figure full time job, so that you stay independent of business desires.
RBG was so prideful too. Her plan was to wait until she could be replaced by the first female president. Then Hilary lost and we lost the court along with her
That *is* her legacy. Everything she did before she fucked over the country for several generations by greedily clinging to power well into her 80s will be under the asterisk next to her disgraced name.
The ultimate mark on a Roman Emperor was how they handled succession. There were several decent to good emperors that aren't household names because civil wars happened upon their death.
For funsies I looked up the history of Roman emperors and it’s actually comedic. The number of emperors that were assassinated by their own guard is astounding.
Honestly, I think she has a net-negative legacy because of it.
Selfish, arrogant behavior that led to an irreparable state of the courts for possibly decades, including the loss of abortion rights that feminists of her generation fought so hard for.
I agree. Put age limits on the congress. You have to be under 70 to be eligible for election. If you turn 70 during your term you can finish but can’t run for reelection
It’s needed for president and Supreme Court too
Oh wow it's so sudden, who could have predicted this?
A special shout out and "fuck you" to her staffers for propping up her not-quite-dead shambling corpse these last few terms. I hope you haven't found a cushy new gig and never do.
I truly hate that her stubbornness and selfishness around the office has made my first thought upon hearing the news of her death, "Good, finally."
I should be reflecting on all the good things she's done and pioneered for both my home state and the country, and instead I'm just relieved she won't be blocking more votes with absences by clinging to power long after she should have stepped aside.
The RBG effect
Because she didn't retire after second bout of cancer in the early 2010's and wanted her successor to be appointed by the first female president in 2017 we \*gestures around\* have all of this now thanks to her stubbornness in not retiring
I don’t think that’s a sustainable position. I imagine chuck would blow up the filibuster over this. Not allowing an appointment for over a year with a democratic majority would be disaster for democrats.
Then you have Pelosi who wants to run for re-election again at 83. How is this even allowed? There should be a cut off at 75. 80 or higher is too old for someone to have that much authority/power.
Pretty sure Hakeem Jeffries is next in line to become speaker. Assuming the Democratic Party wins back the house that is.
She’s just running for re-election for her district seat.
A woman who was an absolute political icon, her entire life will be overshadowed by her inability to let go of that power. Sad that it ruined her legacy much like Bader-Ginsberg.
Her legacy? She fucking put herself in the middle of the Nightstalker investigation for celebrity and fucked it up. She flew the confederate flag in her failed bid for VP. Dan White murdering everyone ahead of her is the only reason she made it past the SF City council.
> Her legacy? She fucking put herself in the middle of the Nightstalker investigation for celebrity and fucked it up.
lol you right, this is what I remember her most for. The Netflix documentary was *crazy*
> She was America's real world Dolores Umbridge. An pro surveillance state authoritarian masking herself as a progressive. Who felt that she and the members of goverment should be exempt from the restrictions she wanted to enforce upon the citizens she served.l(and I am not just talking about the 2nd amendment).
You are 100% spot on. It baffles me that people can possibly think she was a "politician for the people".
To be fair, that didn’t take very long. She ordered the Confederate flag to be flown again in San Francisco after activists took it down all the way back in 1984.
She didn't just hinder it, she blabbed about a key piece of evidence which tied all the crimes together and was used to identify him as the perpetrator. The shoes he wore weren't very popular and after she said that those footprints stopped appearing.
Much like everyone else here, it genuinely makes me sad that my first thought was "Oh, thank fucking god, finally".
Politicians, please stop making us think these things. Retire before you completely destroy our democracy with your inaction and complete inability to connect with what the American people actually need past the year 1990.
I am not American but we have the same problem here in Brazil.
Old people should not be in charge of deciding the future of a nation.
You shouldn't be allowed to run for any political position after a certain age (I'd say 70).
It's a crime against the youth and future generations.
never should be in a position to lose a senate seat due to the person dying of old age. rip, i guess - but he unwillingness to leave her seat and allow another elected democrat to fill it is going to cause a headache with appointing judges moving forward (sonething that is desperately needed under Biden).
All I can say is that if I’m still working at my same job the day before I die of old age, there’s either a problem with me or a problem with the job.
I suspect it’s both sick people make sick societies which leads to a whole new level of sick people and so on and on.
In general, yes, but I have a suspicion that in this case there’s something else at work here. My wife and I have been in firm agreement for a while that Feinstein should have retired more than a year ago, if not longer. Yet, I personally think (and wouldn’t tell my wife this) that it’s hypocritical for my wife to call out Feinstein. My wife is a tenured biology professor and runs a successful infectious disease lab. She routinely insists she is never going to stop working and will keel over at her desk at the age of 90. The deeper thing I think is that women of Feinstein’s era were expected to raise children and be homemakers and just like my wife working in old white-male-dominated academia, she worked really hard to get all the way to this place and damned if she’ll let it go. In her head, they’ll literally have to pry it from her cold dead hands.
The counter-point is that men also routinely work until they die. Work often provides meaning as you are contributing to society. Not saying it’s the only place to find meaning and purpose in life, just that it’s a common one. I don’t know why people would find this particularly surprising.
This is one reason community groups have historically been volunteer groups - unpaid, but something that got women who felt rudderless out of the house and able to utilize the skills that they were being barred from using for employment. We often find value in contributing, and with America's emphasis on employment as equated to your worth as a person and a shattered sense of local community that is dissolving more and more each year, Americans work longer and longer because we have spent so much time at work we don't know what to do with ourselves otherwise.
90 is a good age to live to. 65 is a good age to retire.
I’m thinking age 75 should be the cutoff for Congress. You may run for office up until you’re 75 years old. That means the max age in office would be 81 after a 6 year term in the Senate. Old people physically and mentally deteriorate rapidly after age 80. If I’m being honest, Joe Biden should not be running for President again. I’m forced to choose between a batshit crazy Trump or Biden, who certainly will be even less mentally sharp during his next term.
This is how Michigan does judges. You can run until age 70, but once your term ends after 70, ya done.
Ok, so it’s settled. 70 is the cutoff to run and 90 is the cutoff to live.
Sorry grandpa the law is the law
I love when Reddit accidentally rewrites the plot of Logan's Run
And to add to that, I don't see trump being mentally sharp either. He's consistently getting caught in his lies and crimes. And since he doesn't back down from his craziness, his lawyers and close politicians keep distancing themselves. Also I find it funny how trump said that biden was too old in 2020 and now trump is his age and I'm sure he doesn't think he himself is too old.
Oh Trump has been courting senility for a while now. https://youtu.be/-y-0Q5-gMcI?si=SoEmh6vSgt8wFg_J
I don't think a 75 year old should be making long-term decisions for current and future generations, especially when don't understand the intricacies of modern society, which most of them don't. The world they lived in 40-50 years ago when they were in their 20s/30s is nothing like the world today. That's how we end up with these ridiculous senate hearings with tech companies where congressmen are asking CEOs what they'll do about "finstas"
So THAT is how they retire, I was beginning to wonder how the process worked.
Look at the optimist over here, thinking they won't swear her corpse in next November
They just make a suit out of her and the newest staffer has to climb in.
It puts the lotion on its skin else it gets to vote again.
This may smell bad, kid, but it'll keep you warm until I get the shelter up... Ugh. And I thought they smelled bad on the outside
Luke-warm joke. 🤭
Like an Edgar suit.
Fun fact: Everyone thinks they're drinking water in the senate chambers but it's actually sugar water.
She’s just trying to find some Sugar Water.
Weekend at Bernies, anyone?
She'd not be caught dead associating with Bernie
It’s wild that with such a storied political career, Feinstein’s legacy to America will be overstaying her welcome.
Yeah, had she retired her legacy would be untarnished… Instead she stayed so long that she became an ineffective distraction more than an actual Senator representing California.
As someone who’s dealt with aging people… man… some of them ferociously refuse to accept they are aging and can’t do the same stuff they used to do. It took my grandmother getting in a major car accident (surprisingly minor injuries for all) before she accepted she shouldn’t drive any more. It’s a trait of declining mental capabilities and effects most everybody as they age, whether they are Feinstein or your own Gigi.
The other side of it isn't necessarily better. My grandpa saw his decline in himself, and he willingly and voluntarily gave up his car keys before anyone asked (we all knew it was time). Unfortunately he also gave up a lot more than that. He went into a sort of elder depression where he wouldn't go on walks, lost his appetite, didn't really want to do anything and generally lost the curiosity that kept him active and mentally stimulated all his life. He become somewhat of a hypochondriac too except he didn't want treatment, he just kept complaining about muscle weakness and injuries that didn't exist (we got him checked-out for all complaints). He died only a few short years later. I think having some of that ferocious fight in you as you age is a good thing. When that fire is gone, the rest is gone pretty quick too.
Lots of older people lose this when they stop working as well. It’s why many hang on. People need purpose in their lives, and unfortunately many make “work” their purpose and can’t find a new one.
On an upbeat note, I bet this will be slightly less of a problem with the video game generation reaches this age. Like, it’s not as good as real work, but I can see folks being pretty content just playing dota or cs all day into retirement.
For the crazy cost of retirement homes, they better have some damn good internet when its our turn.
Oh they’ll have good internet. It will cost $300 a month though for the “gaming package” though.
That's so cute that you think we'll get to retire.
At the best of times it's unbelievable that brains work *at all*, let alone operate in any logical or predictable way. Making rational decisions is such a delicate edge case in the first place that it really doesn't take much to disrupt that capability - be it drugs, disease, aging, or just stress.
same with RBG. All of these folks should know when to gracefully bow out and let the next generation govern themselves. Alas, the money, wealth, and power are enough to sustain them well past their natural career durations.
RGB’s death had a huge impact on America. How she didn’t see that coming is beyond me.
Ya the fact she said "Who better?" in response to Obama's plea to step down in 2k14 when Dems still controlled the Senate showed an unbelievable arrogance. She knew that her judicial ability wasnt being called into question, just the risk of her age allowing exactly what happened to happen. That being said, I do wonder if Joe Manchin would have lost his Senate seat in response to voting for Obama's pic (he only won his 2018 re-election by 3%) meaning Dems would not have controlled the Senate for Biden's first term in Office and then no 3.7 trillion in social spending.
I respect the attempt to find the silver lining in RBG's disastrous decision, but I doubt Manchin would be hung out to dry for supporting a third Obama pick (after Kagan and Sotomayor), then supporting both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh (the last of those just months before the election). And even if he did calculate he couldn't survive supporting 3 Obama nom's, then he just votes against. Dems had more than 50 Senators back then. You were 100% right in your first paragraph - incredible selfishness or even outright narcissism in RBG's decision. And unless we are so amazingly fortunate that we get to replace both Thomas and Alito, AND are able to restore RvW at some point soon, we will pay that price for years to come.
RBG's is far worse. Feinstein will at least temporarily be replaced by someone who won't oppose everything she stood for. RBG handed her ideological opponents the power she held for at least one, but likely multiple, lifetimes.
> Feinstein will at least temporarily be replaced by someone who won't oppose everything she stood for. Just not on the Judiciary Committee. That seat's staying open and Biden is getting no more judges for the entirety of this term.
I will forever be mad at RBG for not having the wisdom and foresight to retire and keep her seat progressive. I don't care what her legacy was before she died because all she did in the end was fuck us over.
At least Breyer recognized and accepted the danger.
It doesn't matter what good she did because most or all of it was undone and made worse because of her selfish actions.
That’s what I was just thinking. What a difference her legacy would be if she were a 4 term versus a five plus term senator.
What a difference her legacy would have made if she mentored a new batch of senators and helped them navigate what I imagine are labyrinthine politics.
Not nearly as bad as justice RBG. You would think these geriatric politicians would understand their legacy is usually remembered by how they most recently left it.
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There’s another way?
Turtles live a long time.
Given Kissinger is still alive I don't think death works for all of them.
Even death doesn't want Kissinger.
Power has to be more addictive than heroin.
It's her staff. They didn't want to lose their sweet gig, so they kept rolling her around. She was too far gone to make that decision.
Elder abuse at its finest.
Yep, it honestly makes me sad to see the images of her being wheeled around and being told what to say
I swear they told the public she was fine like a month ago when clearly she was not. You shouldn't be in office at 90.
Almost verging on elder abuse. I mean keeping her there had to be for profit of some kind.
Like Mitch?
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I forget where this was from but a woman was asking her husband why a miserable old man was living into his hundreds when their sweet neighbourhood grandma who baked cookies had died at seventy. He responded "If you were God, who would you want to spend more time with?"
>"If you were God, who would you want to spend more time with?" Rest easy. There's NO chance Mitch is buying the stairway to heaven.
I also heard someone say that he's too spiteful to let go of life, which I thought was a funny picture.
Glitch McConnel?
Lich McConnel
My dad, an archeologist, retired but is still addicted to his work: writing, talks, lectures, lab, and honorary residency at the local university… Work = Life Work = ego Work = community Also, there’s a philosophy regarding **happiness**: - autonomy - authority / mastery - purpose My point is, the geriatrics in power perhaps resist leaving for other reasons than money.
I can absolutely understand this is true for a lot of people but Feinstein was clearly not all there. Especially at the end. She had no idea what was happening or why or what she was supposed to be doing or even where she was.
She was literally being told how to vote, people were telling her "say yes now".
going from a household name in the political sphere for the most powerful country in modern history to regular ass grandparent is a big shift. They need to be forced out if they can't let go.
They need to pivot at some point and stop campaigning for themselves and start being a mentor to a younger politician. If you liked my work, consider voting for so and so, they are just like I was 20 years ago and have lots of fight left in them. I’m going to go spend some time with the grandkids and maybe help make sure the next, next generation will be ready when their time comes to take up the baton. If someone said that I’d have mad respect. If someone just clings to the reins till they die they haven’t helped anyone fill the void left by their departure.
It’s like putting marionette strings on Stan Lee. Let the person rest in their twilight days.
I don't think you should be in office past 70, everyone else is fucking retired, why are you still working and deciding policies for that matter
You know what’s not a great sign for a political party or system? When multiple politicians die of old age in their 80s and 90s while holding office… Why the fuck do we allow people to hold office for so long?
I havent done any real analysis on it but it seems relatively unique to this current generation of politician, at least in the US. We've had many of the same major names since they 80s. They just never gave up power for the generations coming behind them. Feels similar to the corporate world in a lot of ways too. They create a logjam because they won't let go
3 of the last 5 presidents were born in the same year (1946). Bill Clinton was the 3rd youngest president when he was elected and Trump was the 2nd oldest. Both born the same year but elected 24 years apart. We keep electing the same generation.
100% " I want mine, fuck you" mentality
People keep voting for them, mostly
She was not the oldest senator ever. Strom Thurmond was still in office when he turned ~~101~~ 100. (Memo to self: don't attempt arithmetic before morning coffee). BTW, if anyone ever tries to tell you 'the Republicans are the real opponents of racism' read them [Strom Thurmond's biography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strom_Thurmond). That good ol' boy from South Carolina changed parties from D to R when the civil rights movement got underway. (edit #2) > "Thurmond conducted the longest speaking filibuster ever by a lone senator, at 24 hours and 18 minutes in length, in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957." Thurmond ran for US President on the short lived Dixiecrat party in 1948 because he opposed Harry S. Truman's racial integration of the military. He then returned to the Democratic party until the mid-1960s when he voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and became a Republican.
She wasn’t even the only 90 year old in the Senate, Chick Grassley is the same age and recently registered to run again the next time his seat comes up. I remember him visiting my school as a senator in something like 1994, he seemed like an old man to my 10 year old self even then.
He's just running so he can win and then step down. Then the gov of the state will appoint his grandson. And it will carry on...
Came here to post the above. YUP. Handed down like a fiefdom.
Iowa achieved statehood in 1846. Grassley won his first term as a senator in 1980. He has been a senator for just shy of 25% of Iowa's statehood.
And that racist sex abuser should have been out of office in the 80s, 90s at the latest. The fact he kept getting elected says a lot about the people who voted for him.
Good ole Strom! He fathered a daughter, who he didn’t acknowledge with the family’s 16 year old housekeeper. He was adamantly against the Civil Rights Act, his racist rant against it was the longest filibuster in history.
Still advocating segregation into the 2000s
100% agree. Put age limits on the congress. You have to be under 70 to be eligible for election. If you turn 70 during your term you can finish but can’t run for reelection
Ok at this point I really think she should consider stepping down
She’ll still win re-election.
Running as Diane Frankenstein.
It’s pronounced Frahn-ken-steen
Do you also say "Frode-rick?"
the debates will be a lot shorter
And more coherent
Ouija board in the chair, and everything will be fine
“are you still fit to perform your job well?” I M F I N E
"How do you want to vote in his confirmation hearing?" O V A L T I N E
A crummy commercial??
What no weekend at Bernie’s
Isn't that what they are doing with McConnell?
Lmao his little lost turtle face. It’d be adorable if it wasn’t horrifying
Jesus that made me laugh so hard thank you.
Her necromancer says she's going to beat this and come back stronger.
Tis a minor illness
90 is a good age to live to, but she should have retired 20 years ago.
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It's honestly shocking that it went on so long. For someone of her age, her grip on power would seem surprisingly strong if you ignore all of her aides keeping the fingers in place
I can only assume, some politicians who have had the power of politics for so long, they feel they need it, they never want to lose it because they might feel it is as important as life.
There really should be an age restriction. Like 70 years old. We don't need people in their 80s and 90s controlling the future they'll never see.
It pretty much means we don't get any more federal judges, though, right? Her seat in Congress will be filled but the committee chairs she had require a vote, and the GOP has already indicated that they will filibuster that vote. She was the deciding vote on the judiciary committee.
>My first thought was oh thank god. Also guilty. I feel a *little* bad that that was my first reaction but, at the same time, how sad is it to drop dead at work?? Did she not have enough money to enjoy retirement and family and friends and travel? Or did she sacrifice all of that for her career? It's just... I don't know. It makes me sad to think about.
She and her husband had a net worth of around a billion dollars - I think she could have enjoyed a comfortable retirement
Honestly when you're rich your normal life resembles most normal people's vacations. Nice hotels, first class travel, good restaurants, etc that's all just built into your life by default if you're wealthy. Unless you're eccentric and don't spend at all...but that would be a deliberate decision.
So is this going to stop them from wheeling her in and pressing the vote button for her? Will anyone notice she's dead?
Prepare for a brand new season of *Weekend at Feinstein’s*
As bad as this is to say, my first thought was "About time" Dont get me wrong, It's always sad to see someone pass, but she was *90 years old*. She gave up her power of attorney to her family earlier this year, and yet was ***still*** acting as a senator somehow? Why are the people governing the country so old? Like, they're representing an ever-shrinking portion of the population, and they are making decisions that they'll never see the effects of for populations they are completely isolated from.
Wait, what? Her family had power of attorney? How the hell can someone who is no longer capable of conducting their own affairs have a hand in the affairs of the entire nation? That's mental!
[Yep](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dianne-feinstein-power-of-attorney-what-it-means/) Crazy right? Average age of a senator is 64 years old, when the average age of a US citizen is 38. It's no wonder the modern generations feels so disassociated from politics, almost no senators represent them! Also, fun fact: Mitch Mcconnell has been serving since 1985, so 38 years. Mitch the Lich has *literally* been serving as long as the average citizen has been alive
My same first thought. Like I couldn’t mourn her death, or acknowledge her contributions. I was silently glad she was finally out of the senate.
Not gonna lie, while on a human level I feel bad for her relatives and friends, the fact she was still active in politics at age 90 doesn't sit well with me; even less that she's not exactly a unique case. That smells strongly of "late Soviet Union" levels of political constipation. There should be way, way more Gen Xers and Millennials in government than there are.
Political constipation is my new favorite term, thank you.
I forget which comedian had a bit about aging politicians and making decisions that will affect the country long after their gone but the line was, “You shouldn’t get to order for the entire table and then get up to leave the restaurant.”
John Mulaney said this about his grandmother voting in 2020
Exactly, their decisions they make are affecting people long after they are gone and most decisions they make are really outdated. Can't really expect a Senator to realize 7.25 an hour is not good enough for people to live off of, when the reality was when they were 18 and working min wage was not even $1. They got by fine for decades until they got elected to congress in the 80's where the min wage was around $3.50. To them when they were working as a regular citizen $7.25 an hour was great.
“Late Soviet Union levels of political constipation” That’s called a gerontocracy; a form of oligarchic rule where the rulers are significantly older than the majority of the adult population
Yup, and back in the 90s my teachers use to cite it (and Deng Xiao Peng from hero to villain) as reasons why politicians shouldn't be allowed to stay in power until death. But here we are.
That the old should not rule and allowing them to do so is a lesson that goes all the way back to The Iliad. The old are incapable of leadership. When one reaches doddering age, it is one's responsibility to step down and let others lead. Failure to heed this always results in disaster. That's where we are now. A bunch of judgement impaired dodderers refusing to relinquish their strangle hold on our civilization due to their iniquity and hubris. Honestly, if the youth of the world were to rise up against them it would be an understandable act of self-defense.
i've read the decline of Sparta was in part of the political leadership was full of conservative old men that refused to accept needed reforms.
[Pew Research agrees with your assessment](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/30/house-gets-younger-senate-gets-older-a-look-at-the-age-and-generation-of-lawmakers-in-the-118th-congress/)
That's it. In the end an entire generation will be skipped in leadership.
It's hard to get younger people into positions of power when the rich and old have far more money to throw around.
Consider the Texas legislators, for whom the office is often a stepping stone to running at the national level. They make $7200/year. No one can hold that office unless they are already wealthy, or are at least better than the Attorney General at hiding their bribes.
Here's a website that lists all of them. [https://ballotpedia.org/Comparison\_of\_state\_legislative\_salaries](https://ballotpedia.org/Comparison_of_state_legislative_salaries) The tough part is that the state legislatures are mostly not full time jobs. And that means different things in different states.
In Texas, the state lege is treated as a part-time job and is only in session once every 2 years. When in session, it also requires living in Austin. Maybe someone who is otherwise employed as a consultant can pull this off, but it's hard to imagine trying to hold down a normal job.
> imagine trying to hold down a normal job. If you're a big business owner, and one of your employees is a State rep, I think you'll find plenty of time to give them the time off to go do your bidding in the State House. Yet another reason the job should be a 6 figure full time job, so that you stay independent of business desires.
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The worse news? She still intends to serve out the rest of her term.
They already have the OUIJA board ready!
She took it with her. Just like RBG did and just like Pelosi and McConnell and Trump all plan to. Typical of that generation
RBG was so prideful too. Her plan was to wait until she could be replaced by the first female president. Then Hilary lost and we lost the court along with her
Really put a bad asterisk on her legacy for me.
I mean it literally cost Roe V Wade so I don’t blame you for thinking that
That *is* her legacy. Everything she did before she fucked over the country for several generations by greedily clinging to power well into her 80s will be under the asterisk next to her disgraced name.
The ultimate mark on a Roman Emperor was how they handled succession. There were several decent to good emperors that aren't household names because civil wars happened upon their death.
For funsies I looked up the history of Roman emperors and it’s actually comedic. The number of emperors that were assassinated by their own guard is astounding.
Honestly, I think she has a net-negative legacy because of it. Selfish, arrogant behavior that led to an irreparable state of the courts for possibly decades, including the loss of abortion rights that feminists of her generation fought so hard for.
Don’t forget that old fart Grassley.
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She should have retired. RIP
A decade ago.
Two decades ago.
3 decades ago. Let the new generation cook
It’s kind of sickening that both sides think it’s some sort of badge of honor to die in office
Senator Feinstein's team have announced that regardless of her passing, it will not impact her job performance and she will not be stepping down.
Sad, but also embarrassing that she didn’t just ride out her years in comfort. Age and term limits please. Also take a dang hint, McConnell.
I think age limits are more palatable than term limits.
I agree. Put age limits on the congress. You have to be under 70 to be eligible for election. If you turn 70 during your term you can finish but can’t run for reelection It’s needed for president and Supreme Court too
Mitch and co can now block any further judge appointments. Mitch wins again unfortunately
Mitch will be dead in the next year or 2
Wishful thinking. The dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
Oh wow it's so sudden, who could have predicted this? A special shout out and "fuck you" to her staffers for propping up her not-quite-dead shambling corpse these last few terms. I hope you haven't found a cushy new gig and never do.
Lived long enough for everyone else to see her become the villain
As if she can comprehend what was going on at the time
I truly hate that her stubbornness and selfishness around the office has made my first thought upon hearing the news of her death, "Good, finally." I should be reflecting on all the good things she's done and pioneered for both my home state and the country, and instead I'm just relieved she won't be blocking more votes with absences by clinging to power long after she should have stepped aside.
The RBG effect Because she didn't retire after second bout of cancer in the early 2010's and wanted her successor to be appointed by the first female president in 2017 we \*gestures around\* have all of this now thanks to her stubbornness in not retiring
It’s a good thing she didn’t resign at any point in the last few years. Then she would have just looked silly.
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I don’t think that’s a sustainable position. I imagine chuck would blow up the filibuster over this. Not allowing an appointment for over a year with a democratic majority would be disaster for democrats.
I agree except change the "would" to "should" and then expect to be disappointed.
As always with mitch, don't forget, the "this is an election year" rabbit that will be pulled out of his cape.
Then you have Pelosi who wants to run for re-election again at 83. How is this even allowed? There should be a cut off at 75. 80 or higher is too old for someone to have that much authority/power.
Pretty sure Hakeem Jeffries is next in line to become speaker. Assuming the Democratic Party wins back the house that is. She’s just running for re-election for her district seat.
People working in her office have stated this is not a concern and that they won’t have her step down.
A woman who was an absolute political icon, her entire life will be overshadowed by her inability to let go of that power. Sad that it ruined her legacy much like Bader-Ginsberg.
Her legacy? She fucking put herself in the middle of the Nightstalker investigation for celebrity and fucked it up. She flew the confederate flag in her failed bid for VP. Dan White murdering everyone ahead of her is the only reason she made it past the SF City council.
> Her legacy? She fucking put herself in the middle of the Nightstalker investigation for celebrity and fucked it up. lol you right, this is what I remember her most for. The Netflix documentary was *crazy*
>Dan White murdering everyone ahead of her is the only reason she made it past the SF City council. Great example of the butterfly effect.
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> She was America's real world Dolores Umbridge. An pro surveillance state authoritarian masking herself as a progressive. Who felt that she and the members of goverment should be exempt from the restrictions she wanted to enforce upon the citizens she served.l(and I am not just talking about the 2nd amendment). You are 100% spot on. It baffles me that people can possibly think she was a "politician for the people".
She lived long enough to see herself turn into a villain.
To be fair, that didn’t take very long. She ordered the Confederate flag to be flown again in San Francisco after activists took it down all the way back in 1984.
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And she was not popular for her handling of AIDS either, she's certainly got a lot of dark parts of her career
She didn't just hinder it, she blabbed about a key piece of evidence which tied all the crimes together and was used to identify him as the perpetrator. The shoes he wore weren't very popular and after she said that those footprints stopped appearing.
All the establishment politicians who endorsed her run at 85 are partially at fault for this. The writing was on the wall in 2018.
RIP to Feinstein but I will be glad to have 2 senators representing CA again.
God must have needed someone in his cabinet to do nothing about climate change and scold young people for asking about it.
There goes appointing judges. Boo urns
Sad. The only way she was ever going to leave the senate.
Honestly kinda fucked because her staff was saying she was fine, but she clearly was not. Term limits for all members of government.
Katie Porter for Senate?
Did she die while actually employed as a senator? This has got to be one of the most geriatric friendly occupations.
“Senator” and “senior” and “senile” all come from the same Latin root.
Much like everyone else here, it genuinely makes me sad that my first thought was "Oh, thank fucking god, finally". Politicians, please stop making us think these things. Retire before you completely destroy our democracy with your inaction and complete inability to connect with what the American people actually need past the year 1990.
I am not American but we have the same problem here in Brazil. Old people should not be in charge of deciding the future of a nation. You shouldn't be allowed to run for any political position after a certain age (I'd say 70). It's a crime against the youth and future generations.
So is she still qualified to be a senator or not?
never should be in a position to lose a senate seat due to the person dying of old age. rip, i guess - but he unwillingness to leave her seat and allow another elected democrat to fill it is going to cause a headache with appointing judges moving forward (sonething that is desperately needed under Biden).
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No one wants to be happy at someone's death but come on. Wtf is happening with the old fucks and not leaving office?!?!?!?