Die Demokraten müssen sich ihrer Gerontokratie konfrontieren – die Partei braucht eine höfliche Möglichkeit, Politiker in den Ruhestand zu bringen.

From the article:

To a degree that seems bizarre to me, the American party system, particularly on the Democratic side, defers to incumbents. Since the 2022 midterm election, eight Democratic members of Congress have died in office.

Instead of facing massive public pressure from Democrats to retire before Obama left office, the liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was rewarded with cutesy interviews about her workout program and indomitable spirit. This came at a high cost for American women a few years later, when a 6–3 conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade. What was presented as perseverance now looks like narcissism. The court needs me. No other Democratic appointee will do.

The most incredible story remains that of Kay Granger, an 81-year-old Republican, who missed six months of votes in Congress before she was discovered in an assisted-living facility. Her family had put her there without notifying her constituents or the media. She has “dementia issues,” her son said.

What America needs are stronger parties that are able to exert influence on their members for the greater good. The Democrat and Republican establishments are clearly now ghostly shadows of what they once were. Worn away by money and polarization, they are useless husks. The Republicans cower in the face of Trump’s bullying, and the Democrats lack the killer instinct necessary to eject frail and faltering liabilities.

It doesn’t need to be polite at this point. We’re in the middle of a fascist takeover.

They don’t need to be polite about it.

i am 77, almost 78, and i see AOC, jasmine crockett, etc as the future of the party.

they are who i’d vote for, anyway.

Hey NYC Democratic primary voters, this article is directed at you! Please for all that is good, do NOT nominate Cuomo. Take a moment and research the other candidates, get over this ridiculous phobia of supporting candidates whose career you haven’t followed for 30+ years.

No fuck that polite shit. How many times has the left been burnt trying to „politely usher out“ old, decrepit mfers? How many times have they bypassed vibrant, aggressive younger Dems for positions only to push in yet another person far too old?

I’m speaking as a 53 yo progressive. Already at 53, I’m starting to lose touch with the desires and issues facing younger people. I’m not „out of touch“ quite yet but by 60-65, my concerns aren’t necessarily going to be their concerns and vice versa. That perfectly fine and normal for rank and file voters but when officeholders can’t/won’t relate to my concerns **or** the younger generations concerns and are only holding power for the sake of power, they have to go.

Nah, it doesn’t need to be polite. This preoccupation with politeness is how we ended up with the cryptkeeper caucus still occupying some of the most important positions of power in our society. The simple fact of the matter is if the Vietnam war was ever an issue in your political consciousness, you’re too fucking old. Make that desert storm 1 (maybe a little bit earlier) and now we’re on the right track.

And the party needs to say that, „We will not be supporting x,y, or z in this election because there is a significant chance that due to their advanced age they will experience decline during their tenure, as a responsible political party we cannot support a candidate that would be unable to exercise their constituency’s will“.

The next step should be, „We’re supporting this younger candidate in this primary, even though it might make the race more contestable for the opposition, we’re confident that people will see we’re not afraid of democracy in action and we’ll do our absolute best to make sure you’re represented through this candidate“.

Problem is, they are unwilling to break with long-standing Washington consensuses on topics such as „the U.S.’s role in world affairs, the military budget, economic policy, etc. etc.“ They want the electorate to get stoked for 90s era Clintonite policy with at best, some moderate tinkering around the edges. That is simply not going to happen. I don’t know many people my age who conceive of Neoliberalism as a resounding success, especially because they were too young to have ever seen any sort of direct benefit.

At this point, who cares how great the Clinton economy was? We’ve seen how it turned out, regardless of how great it must’ve been, it lead us to moneyed interests having more sway over the political process at nearly every level from national down to city politics. „What have you done for me lately?“ is a concept that is not unknown. But it’s a concept that helps win elections if you’re actually willing to do for people lately and can show a track record that supports that instead of empty rhetoric.

The political sphere is awash in talk, that talk needs to get in line or get gone. Sending 10 different people out to yap about their own particular views and beliefs isn’t doing it. It dilutes the message if we’re hearing 10 different life stories. Are these things good governance because of their life story (a life story strangely, that everyone does not share) or because they’re actually desirable policy? The case needs to be made that it’s good policy, because it is, not because someone saw their single mother struggling or x issue effected their sister like this and came to this position as a result.

We need conformity to a plan. We need people in the party who don’t conform to that plan to get drummed the fuck out and stop enjoying automatic support just cause they chose to put a D next to their name. States wanna go full red? Great, let’s make them actually own their failures when they inevitably fail. Instead of glad handing and legitimizing them by getting them to come hang out on the campaign bus and talking about how much respect we have for them while their constituency is fucking miserable. We need a project 2029 and we need sign ons to the project and we need to hold them accountable if they don’t execute.

They aren’t, politely, going anywhere. Which reminds me: it’s time to call my Senators again and tell them to boot Schumer from leadership or I’m voting against them in the primaries and won’t vote for them in the General if they still prevail.

It’s not just politics, boomers have an iron skeletal grip on the jobs market, they refuse to give up jobs because they know they destroyed the economy when they were younger but won’t admit it.

„HEY, FUCKIN RETIRE!“ There.

Or NOT so polite. It *needs to be done!!*

Why should it be polite? They serve us.

Maybe Republicans should usher their old ass President out as well?

The crazy thing is Schumer’s cognitive dissonance around this entire matter.

I think term limits would do.