I acknowledged that in the paragraph you quoted. It’s a difficult problem. I was just (in my long-winded way) trying to address @Whack-a-Mole’s question as to why term limits might contribute to corruption and reduced quality of government.
I think that’s already been solved by partisan polarization. The incumbency advantage has gone way down over the past 10-15 years IIRC. People in a 60% Republican state used to happily vote for the four-term Democratic senator just 'cuz, but now they don’t.
Back to Mitch … he was doddering long before he was old.
Some get more wisdom with experience even if they move slower and occasionally trip. Some are the same or greater fools they’ve ever been.
I wouldn’t disqualify someone based on having had a TIA or an absence seizure or depression needing a hospitalization.
McConnell was not qualified for his position at any age. Sure illness can disqualify and age increases the risk. But it is not an absolute.
Morally? Sure. Politically? McConnell has been a master politician IMO, among the top five American politicians of the millennium. (I’d put Pelosi up there, and am grudgingly starting to wonder whether Biden’s going to fit in there). He’s maneuvered his party through some bonkers times and come out with astonishing wins that are going to fuck our nation over for a generation.
Yeah, love him or hate him, he’s good at what he does.
And so far there is no evidence that infirmity, age related or otherwise, has made him any less effective at doing things that harm our country and world.
I want him gone. I’ll not mourn his death when he leaves these mortal coils. But age alone or medical issues alone are not why. If he had dementia sure, but a seizure or a TIA or just old no.
I agree – he’s been one of the most effective Majority Leaders in Senate history. Managing a caucus that includes Susan Collins and Ted Cruz is no small feat. I can’t imagine who’s going to step into his shoes when he shuffles off.
Yeah, that’s how i feel.
If only he could have used his powers for niceness instead of evil.
https://www.oldest.org/politics/members-of-us-senate/]This really surprised me. Of the 10 oldest senators, only McConnell, Grassley, and Feinstein were first elected to the Senate before 2000. Somewhat curiously, none of the 10 were first elected in the 90s.
In my ignorance I assumed the majority of the oldest have been there forever.
A higher percentage of the oldest Reps seem to have been their much longer (list includes Sens.)
That is quite true. However, acting on principle is not necessarily fighting corruption in practice. In most cases it requires politicians to break a promise to their constituents not to do follow their own personal principles. Not that I disapprove, I’d prefer politicians who are up front about their principles to the ones who say they’ll do anything the voters want, but that doesn’t happen much. Politicians on the way out tend to cash in their favors and wield their influence before it’s gone.
Which is why Mitch McConnell is such a paragon of virtue.
I don’t think term limits will improve the morality of politicians. And in the case of McConnell the real problem has been how effective he’s been. He would probably get replaced by a less skilled politician, but one even further to the right of Mitch and with less regard for the country than him, hard as it is to believe that’s possible there are worse there already.
Immorality with accumulated power is worse than immorality with little power.
Which also cuts both ways. We want a congress neither of fools or scholars if they’re going to end up ineffectual at the job. The consolidation of power is the result of seniority rules that can be changed. That change will need effective officeholders and more importantly, demand from the voters for that change.
As long as the senior members of Congress hold that power the rules cannot be changed because they will not allow it.
They can be changed but they will not allow it until we make their jobs dependent on it. No set of qualifications on candidates will matter as long as the voters aren’t smart enough to look after their own interests.
Moderating:
Ok, let’s please take further discussion of term limits and their relative merits to a different thread. This thread is for the discussion of Mitch McConnell and his medical issues. Thanks.
Thanks for the cat-herding. FYI, I would read a term limits thread, but glad I don’t have to here.
Okay, here’s a serious Mitch McConnell and his medical issues question: I keep hearing comments from “his people”. And every time it’s…not exactly even close to the truth.
‘He merely paused in his speech and stepped away from the microphone’, said his people.
‘The Senator is just fine’, said his people.
So, if he’s hospitalized or even dies over the Senate break, will his people admit it? After how long?
.
eta : Sorry if I got anyone daydreaming about that outcome.
(I did: “He’s late getting back to Washington, as he’s been busy playing on a farm upstate.”)
“There, he moved!”
“No he didn’t, that was you hitting the casket!”