American politics

[mauveiscurious]

Having just watch an elderly senator unable to speak, I assume due to age. I wonder why there are so many older people at the top of their politics. Biden and Trump are near the same age.

I'm all for an inclusive age policy but I'm surprised there is no younger generation breaking through.

I think it's largely a fluke. There are some wonderful middle-aged people - I love Adam Schiff, for instance.

But maybe the real question is, why aren't more better people going into politics? Are they all going into finance and tech instead? Or has politics become so complex, so bogged down, that it's become impossible to do meaningful work? Or has the extreme right wing become so poisonous that good people don't want to bother?

I agree that it’s a fluke, @MsAmerica , but as an immigrant, I’m also astonished at the way older politicians cling onto power. I couldn’t believe it when Nancy Pelosi said that she’s running again 2024, she’ll be 84! Yes, she’s a trailblazer, but why doesn’t she step aside for younger candidates?

I know it also happens in other countries, but I do find it bizarre!

And I agree that American politics currently extremely partisan, to the extent that little can be achieved. We desperately need some moderate candidates who are open to debate and compromise.

Money.

It takes a lot of it to run and the old furts can raise it easier than younger people.

I always wondered why a country like America couldn't do better than Trump or Biden but if you look at their politics it's all about money.

Who can muscle up the most amount of funds to win. They call it democratic but it's not a representative and fair democracy....only the elite get to pick who runs the country....much the same as the UK.

The mystifying thing to me, @HamBone, is that someone like Mitch McConnell is not only in his 80s, but by all accounts is an awful person, without any principles, solely interested in power and money - but his constituents like him enough to keep him in office.

Very true, @MsAmerica. It’s so frustrating.

It's not just frustrating - it's baffling. The Republican party has quite a few prominent people who are almost universally disliked - not just Mitch McConnell, but Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, et al.

Nothing to do with lack of candidates. Its due to FPTP and gerrymandering. Moderate candidates stand barely a chance in most GOP primaries. Democrats have a base that's more of a coalition in itself so less likely to tend to the extremes.

@GrumpyPanda Is there someone who stands out to you as a unifying future presidential candidate? IMHO, we need someone like a Bill Clinton who can garner votes from independents and even some moderate Republicans. I didn’t live in the US back then, but I can’t stand today’s extreme partisanship, it’s so counterproductive.

It’s not a democracy is it ? In it’s way it is as bad as China and Russia which it likes to condemn. If there’s a war, America is involved there somewhere rightly or wrongly. Too much vested interest in weaponry.

Trump is ahead in all poles and 7% of the population would bear arms(18 million) if he is jailed