• kofe@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Age isn’t inherently a bad thing in politics. We’re a representative democracy, and older adults deserve representation reflected as equally as any other eligible voter demographic imo (which could include felons and other disenfranchised populations where possible, but that’s a whole other convo).

    It’s disproportionately skewed due to lack of term limits, it’s often safer for parties to run an incumbent, and there’s benefits to having someone with the experience stay in, so idk. I don’t have a ton of solutions by any means, just want to push back on the ageism and add some nuance here. Bernie’s still out there doing a his job representing the demographic well

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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      6 months ago

      Age isn’t inherently a bad thing in politics. We’re a representative democracy,

      I am not a workaholic. I want to retire from my profession some day, not continue working while in hospice care.

      I want to be represented by someone who understands and shares my values, which includes a desire to enjoying life after retirement.

      I want my representatives to value and promote the idea of recreation, hobbies, volunteer work, etc. Which means they will be retiring from professional work around 65, not 90.

      Being of retirement age is an inherently bad thing in professional politics.

      • kofe@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Just because it’s what you want doesn’t mean you speak for everyone. That’s the point of democracy.

        • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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          6 months ago

          My point is that if the electorate wants to enjoy their retirement, they should be electing candidates who actually plan on enjoying their own retirement. They shouldn’t be electing candidates who think retirement is something for weak or lazy people.

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      Age is a problem cognitive decline is real and no one escapes it. These 70 and 80 year old people aren’t mentally competent.

      • kofe@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Cognitive decline is not inherent to old age. It is something to look out for.

        • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          Cognitive decline absolutely is inherent. You can delay it, but by 70 everyone has measurable decline.

          • kofe@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Do you have research that demonstrates this conclusively? I’ve taken courses in psychology of aging, lifespan development, brain & behavior, etc. None of them discussed such a claim for everyone, but it’s possible I didn’t pay well enough attention.

            I asked ChatGPT as well, and it’s disagreeing with you, for the record. There are changes and differences, but the brain is a muscle like any other that requires training. Learning new skills, solving puzzles, etc. is correlated to the maintenance and/or improvement of the organ over the lifespan.