Would you support a mandatory retirement age of 75 for US House, US Senate & US Supreme Court Justices and if not why?

I'm onboard with 65 as the maximum age anyone can run for Congress but I don't have a problem with people 65+ finishing their terms provided they're actually competent. I'd like to see mandatory cognitive decline testing for anyone running for Congress, appointed to the SC or appointed to any high position in the executive branch.

It's absolutely ridiculous that we're allowing people with 5-7y remaining life expectancy to plan our future 20, 40 or 100y out - they just don't have the skin in the game that someone in their 20s or 30s does.

On top of all of that I'd like to see vigorous corruption testing, SC justices and congresscreatures shouldn't be bought and paid for the way they are now.

I agree on the legislature, but not the court. The legislature has to plan for the future. Their age should be below the average life expectancy. They need to have a foreseeable future for us to allow them to plan ours.

I would resolve the instability of the court by eliminating its fixed size. One new justice shall be appointed every other year. In the odd-numbered years, between election cycles.

This will tend to increase the size of the court over time. The average term length is currently about 16 years, but that is with strategic retirements. I would expect the average term to increase to 24 to 36 years, leaving us with a court of 12 to 18 justices.

Honest question, what do we do that we are now living longer, and have better quality of life and medical advancements? With AI progressing exponentially, this will likely increase average lifespans in developed countries. You might be arguing against your own comments here when you hit 65 and realize you still maintain mental acuity and are thriving.

Personally, I feel like we should be spending our time and focus on fixing a number of other issues. Namely lobbying, special interest groups tied to anti-consumer companies, 'slap on the wrist' fines for billion dollar companies, predatory lending, student loans. I mean the list goes on. These things aren't an age problem, it's a corruption problem.

Shit I'd go even lower. Gotta be young enough to have some skin in the game when it comes to the consequences of legislation, etc.

I think they should also be paid using their state's disability/unemployment system and get food through their state's EBT system.

I agree with the Idea that being in a position for too long increases the possibility of corruption. But, I'll counter with two thoughts:

1.) Shouldn't people have the ability to vote for who they want to represent them? If the people of Vermont want to keep on rejecting electing Bernie Sanders, why should they not be able to? (Valid counterpoint- Dianne Feinstein)

2.) This is the less trivial one - I fear that term limits would invite more corruption, as the representatives understand they only have a limited amount of time to grease as many palms and make as many connections as possible in their limited amount of time in office. We already have issues with the lame duck period, and those are currently measured in weeks. I can only imagine what I'd be like if a large portion of reps had full lame duck sessions.

Lifetime appointments to the supreme court are obviously a mistake; the idea there is to make them secure in their jobs so they don't have to politik from the bench. It doesn't account for actually evil people digging in like parasites in the heart of our government. They should serve a single 10 year term, at which point no matter their age they must retire and then serve no further roles ever again. Like, you're not allowed to go be a senator, or a congressman, or a governor, or a Walmart greeter. You can volunteer to speak to law students, you can retire, or you can die. Minimum punishment for a sitting or former supreme court justice for any crime: jay walking, copyright infringement, speeding, embezzling, mass murder: instant death. The guilty/not guilty verdict is read to your firing squad. The members of our highest court should be nothing less than absolute exemplars of citizenship.

The house and senate should have maximum terms of not ten years each; the senate currently has 6 year terms, that would have to be shortened, possibly to four. Wouldn't hurt my feelings if we eliminated those mid-election years so we could have some time away from being screamed at by our so-called government. You want a full career in politics? You start at the local or state level, then you run for federal office.

I would make prior office a requirement for President. As far as I'm concerned, you have no business serving as president if you have not already been a senator, congressman, governor, state senator or general assemblyman. I do not believe town council or city mayor should count here because of the low barrier to entry for buying 10 acres of rural land and incorporating it as a town with one resident and electing yourself mayor.

Not an original idea by far, but I was chatting it up with a few friends recently about this and we thought a civic duty term made far more sense (think jury duty). So much needs to be fixed in the process, like the bill riders addons (a horrible scourge to our political system) and lobbyist (scum). But imagine you were picked (randomly) to serve for 3 year stints, with those getting picked for a 2nd and maybe even 3rd term, serving as some Senior politician. Clearly it needs much more thought, but far better potential because you have to participate and accountable.

Before you knock it down, think about the intelligence required here. Boebert is an absolute moron. Bills before the system need to be something the average person can understand (legal verbiage is such a pointless waste and almost unnecessary). You would need to participate in collaboration with others, understand how to be honest and forthcoming with your goals.

We can’t hold Politicians accountable (not the system today) and this could be an answer.

65-67 is perfect.

If you set it to match social security age, the old fucks who want to stay in power will just up the social security age.

I think we need staggered term limits. Make it so you can only serve up to two terms in a row and then you are forced to take a term off. No lifetime appointments.

That and approval voting from federal to local elections.

I support a mandatory retirement age, but being more than 75 years doesn't necessarily mean you're senile.

That comes out to around 62. And forbidding seniors from voting is a great way to have them be exploited more than they already are.

I'm a Bernie fan too, but Diane Feinstein bothered me in multiple ways. She was infirm and senile for years but still chose to run for reelection when she and her staff knew she had multiple health problems. Her aids were telling her how to vote, but the voters didn't elect them, and who knows who's interests they represented. Her stubbornness to not retire was a disservice to Californians. I also have concerns that Mitch McConnell is doing a similar disservice to the state of Kentucky with his health problems due to age.

Bernie still has his mental faculties, and could still inspire, and sway representatives while being out of office. I would listen to him, and think progressive representatives would as well.

And incentivize them to raise it? No thanks!

I did post the question because I thought it would be engaging, and many people could participate. I like Lemmy and seeing discussions thrive here.

You are free to downvote the post, and engage with it however you choose. Or post questions that you wish to see to shape this community.