I ended the previous post on climate change that the young are worried about, and rightfully so, with a call for action. I wrote: "Send all those Medicare-eligible wannabe presidents, Senators and Congressmembers home and elect a new, younger, generation to power."
It is not the first time that I have blogged about the gerontocracy that we call as democracy here in the US. In August 2016, I opened this blog-post with:
The two major party presidential contenders are no spring chicken. Senators who ought to have retired long ago continue to run and, even more bizarre is how they get re-elected; there are 25 current senators in DC who are at least 70 years old! A quarter of the Senate!
I continued to rant about the tyranny of the old, like in this post from August 2017:
I have complained enough about the choke-hold that older people have on everything going on in the world. I have called them names, like tyrannosaurus elderex! Of course, I have screamed at the senior citizens in my profession to retire already. For whatever reasons, we do not engage in honest conversations on senior citizens who don't want to call it quits.
The heavens finally heard my rants.
Nancy Pelosi, who is 82 years old, has announced that she is stepping down from leadership roles. 82!
There's more good news. "Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the 83-year-old No. 2 Democrat, told his colleagues that he would not seek a leadership position in the next Congress."
83!
It is not that I do not appreciate the phenomenal work that Pelosi did. If not for her groundwork, President Obama's health care plan would have gone nowhere. There was no way that Obama was going to lead the battle, and it was left to Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid to win the war. I am with Eugene Robinson, who writes that "Nancy Pelosi was the most consequential speaker of our time."
And, my, her clapback at tRumps' State of the Union address, and then a year later ripping up her copy of his address, well, only Pelosi could have done that!
But, hey, "To everything (turn, turn, turn) | There is a season (turn, turn, turn)."
Pelosi said this too when she announced her plans: "Scripture teaches us that for everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven."
On her way out, Pelosi took another shot at tRump when she said "I have enjoyed working with three Presidents." She named the three: Bush, Obama, and Biden. Now that is how she serves the revenge dish! 👏👏👏
We all recognize that there is a season and then the time's up.
Pelosi added: "For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect. And I am grateful that so many are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility."
Who is the new generation of leadership? "Representatives Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Pete Aguilar of California were expected to seek the top three spots among House Democrats." Jeffries is 52,Aguilar is 43, and Clark is the senior most at 59. Nowhere near the 80s and 70s that has become common among leadership!
Meanwhile, across the aisle, the GOP is all set to elect yet another spineless Republican as the Speaker. (Wait, are there any Republicans with any spine?)
Recent decades have seen the Republican conference led by a series of unsteady, uninspiring figures — Paul Ryan, John Boehner, Denny Hastert. Oof. And the current minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, who is best positioned to be the next speaker, promises to be even weaker and more feckless.
In case you have cleared your memory cache, Denny Hastert was later found guilty of having sexually abused a high school student when Hastert was a coach, and for his illegal money laundering activities to cover up the scandal. He abused more than one student, but the statute of limitations had run out. The rotten bastard, who served as the Speaker of the House for eight years, led a political party that now hysterically lies that Democrats are pedophiles and groomers!
Such is the profile of the people on the other side.
I am confident that there are plenty of younger people ready, willing, and capable of fighting for democracy and justice. You too will support those Democratic Party leaders, won't you?
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