Aint it great.

Young was 82, but his death was a result of injuries suffered some 43 years ago (a small plane crash).

There was no evidence he had anything wrong with him mentally.

I know lots and lots of older people who have it a lot more together than the young.

Help to weed out the sociopaths.

think we have a number in congress running with more than a few misfiring cylinders.

Of course logic does not apply on Planet Bozo where most of the teabaggers live.

He was an early member of the Teaparty. However, he voted Yes the other night after his office told me he was a NO earlier in the day. Perhaps he had a Senior Moment and flipped the wrong switch or perhaps his bosses gave him a call.

Gerrymandering the "red" states has led to a LOT of pretty idiotic know-nothings being "elected" and those from OTHER states HAVE a great amount of influence on the rest of us, and can gum up the works for all of us.

I know both parties like to "improve their odds"...and that's why a computer generated grid slapped on every state (for apportionment purposes) would solve a LOT of problems.. We did something similar here and we FINALLY got rid of mary Bono..

donating unlimited amounts from electing a complaint politician. Something need to be done about the outside influence but I don't see how an age limit solves that problem.

Age limits would have lost us Ted Kennedy.

It would also make lobbying pretty much moot as well..

Presidents are term limited and they have less power than most people think..

If 2 terms are enough for the president, 2 terms should be plenty for the others as well../ I would even like to see a 15 year limit for SCOTUS..and a MINIMUM age for them..of 60..

I think campaign finance rules are a much bigger problem than term limits, and maybe prevent former members of congress from financially benefitting from their work by working as lobbyists or for firms their legislation supported. I doubt that will ever happen, though.

And it;s why we never progress.. we just keep re-wrapping the same old stuff we have been fighting about for 40+ years...pretty depressing

that will be discrimination of the grossest kind.

they will only provide the bestest candidates evahhhh..enjoy their work

with many rules but long time members often are able to build up relationships and understand others to try to come together to get things done.

with term limits it is only seen as a stepping stone for something else by most without much intention to learn and do much.

Limits can in fact make lobbying more influential. Without the threat of being voted out of office term limited pols have little to lose by voting the interests of the lobbyists rather than in the best interests of their constituency. They in fact have a lot to gain, like cushy seats on corporate boards or other post-politics paychecks.

In CA term limits have had the effect of pols playing musical chairs, switching to a new elected position as soon as they term out of their current one. It's SSDD.

They serve for a couple of years then get a golden parachute into a cushy lobbyist position.

Benjamin Franklin, Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Jessica Tandy, Rachel Carson, Grandma Moses, Claude Monet, Winston Churchill, Golda Meir, Bertrand Russell, George Bernard Shaw, Eamon de Valera, Pablo Picasso, Artur Rubinstein, Albert Schweitzer, Pablo Casals, Michelangelo, Konrad Adenauer, Leo Tolstoy, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, George Bums - almost all in their 80s or 90s when they accomplished some of their most important achievements.

Just because you're old doesn't mean you're washed up.

and most died well before the computer/ social-networking era.

I think back to the days when Jesse Helms' ancient thinking created a good bit of havoc..and when Strom Thurmond was taken down from his shelf at a local hospital and dragged in to "vote" against some worthwhile bill.. and when so many 80+ somethings kept insisting on running for that senate seat yet again, thus freezing out other younger people from having their chance.

There is something to be said for showing up, doing your best, and then moving on so someone else can try their hands at it.. Does anyone think that McCain has gotten better with age? and before I am accused of ageism...I am OLD

I'm old, too, and I hate the idea that I am no longer considered useful or capable because of it.

We have 300+ million people, and the quality of people we have governing is seriously lacking.. Surely there are others who would do a better job, and perhaps a mandatory retirement age or term limits would nudge the ones we have back into their former lives so others could take on the challenge.. Our founders wanted people to serve and then GO HOME..

I would not expect any improvement from younger people. Ted Cruz, for example, is relatively young, graduated from Princeton and Harvard, and he's an idiot.

Most of these people attained their most notable achievements earlier in life and coasted into their 70s and 80s.

Churchill, for example, was made wartime prime minister at age 65. His second stint as prime minster in the '50s was unremarkable and he had suffered a stroke in '49 and a more severe one in '53 at age 78. These were kept from the public. He died in '65 at age 90.

1. At 100, Grandma Moses was painting.
2. At 94, Bertrand Russell was active in international peace drives.
3. At 93, George Bernard Shaw wrote the play Farfetched Fables.
4. At 91, Eamon de Valera served as president of Ireland.
5. At 91, Adolph Zukon was chairman of Paramount Pictures.
6. At 90, Pablo Picasso was producing drawings and engravings.
7. At 89, Mary Baker Eddy was directing the Christian Science Church.
8. At 89, Arthur Rubinstein gave one of his greatest recitals in New York's Carnegie Hall.
9. At 89, Albert Schweitzer headed a hospital in Africa.
10. At 88, Pablo Casals was giving cello concerts.
11. At 88, Michaelangelo did architectural plans for the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
12. At 88, Konrad Adenauer was chancellor of Germany.
13. At 85, Coco Chanel was the head of a fashion design firm.
14. At 84, Somerset Maugham wrote Points of View.
15. At 83, Aleksandr Kerensky wrote Russia and History's Turning Point.
16. At 82, Winston Churchill wrote a History of English Speaking People.
17. At 82, Leo Tolstoy wrote I Cannot Be Silent.
18. At 81, Benjamin Franklin effected the compromise that led to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
19. At 81, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe finished Faust.
20. At 80, George Bums won an Academy Award for his performance in The Sunshine Boys.

There are millions of people who will be stupid no matter how old they are.

......

Would you push the eject button on him? Just something to think about.

Sam

My position is that if voters continue to elect a person, that is either who those voters want OR there is no other choice that is more appealing to them. In addition, why do you assume that an alert 82 year old will be any weaker than a distracted 45 year old as a Congressperson?

Wisdom trumps age. Experience rules.

so we get somebody with some sense and experience of life.

have attained to the Age of twenty five Years ..."

Constitution, Article I, Section 3, Paragraph iii: "No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years ..."

The Constitution is not my constant bedtime reading.

I'll be practically dead by then !!!"

would have listened to him back in 2003 we would not have gotten into a war in Iraq.

Henry Louis Mencken, 1920

The proposal by the OP is to get rid of Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders! Like progressives want that.

Nothing says America like ill-considered and arbitrary limits on other people. Bravo, champ.

Look at who the Committee chairs are. They are members who have been re-elected for 40 years. Some are from minority communities and have powerful positions because they are so popular with their constituency. You want to overrulew the Peolpe and take their power away from them. That's a ludicrous idea.

You'd need a Constitutional Amendment for ousting US Congresspersons, and good luck getting that through.

At the state and local level, as a Californian I can tell you it was a really, really dimwitted idea. Every couple of years the entire State legislature and local officers are "the freshman class" because of term limits. Just when they learn how things work and where the restrooms are, they have to leave, because two terms and they're done.

You know who in our state capitol doesn't have term limits? Lobbyists. They know how things work, they know everything, and they are only too happy to help out the poor bewildered new legislators.

a one term representative can do. Don't like the person in office then find others to help vote that person ou.

but as I've pointed out multiple times on DU one problem our party has had lately is senators who stay in office until they die. At some point if their health is declining they need to step aside. After Kennedy's death we ended up with a sub-par candidate and lost the seat for almost three years. That's the price we paid. Thankfully in most other cases we've been able to hold the seats.

If we could ever find a way to do term limits that would be nice. I'd say 12 years in the Senate and 10 in the House.

The problem isn't really age. Corruption by money is the problem.

Once the Money gets control of a congress critter, the Money will run that horse until it drops.

Dan Inouye and Dan Akaka, both in their 80's, were among the very few to vote against going to war with Iraq.
Think for a moment about the men and women lost and injured in that pointles war and their families, the Iraqi people, and least of all the debt we added there.

Is it your intention to argue that older people arent sharp enough to serve? Which counterexample should I offer? Cruz, Bachmann, Rubio?


Akaka
Inouye
Lautenberg
Byrd
Kennedy
Sanders

You would have removed them when they were still willing to serve, because of their age? Ridiculous.

Your assertion is absurd, but your argument is even worse.

Cheers.