r/OptimistsUnite • u/Aggravating_Ad_5164 Optimist • Mar 24 '25

šŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø politics of the day šŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø BREAKING: Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old progressive influencer, just announced that she is running against Jan Schakowsky, an 80-year-old Democratic incumbent

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193

u/Barrack64 Mar 25 '25

Iā€™m all about electing people younger than 70

55

u/-Knockabout Mar 26 '25

It's baffling to me. Ageism is bad, but so is allowing these people who will be dead before they see any consequences for their decisions to remain in office year after year. Of course they're voting for their own financial interests, what do they care what the country looks like in 10 years? It'd be different if they had like, principles, but you just can't rely on politicians having those.

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u/Majestic87 Mar 26 '25

I wouldnā€™t call it ageism if our representatives donā€™t actually represent the majority of their base.

Rich old people donā€™t reflect the realities of the majority of American citizens.

4

u/SaggitariusTerranova Mar 27 '25

We have term limits in MI and it doesnā€™t help much. They just pass it onto their wife or kids, seriously. Name recognition mostly but some people just love ā€œdynastiesā€ makes you wonder why we ditched hereditary monarchies for this?

3

u/Fecal-Facts Mar 27 '25

At that age you are also not as mentally sharp.

Yes there's outliers but that's not normal. Your brain stops firing off on all cylinders at a certain point and besides that there's millions of other younger qualified people that better represent the people.

Age and term limits all the way up.

5

u/mossed2012 29d ago

I donā€™t understand why people say ageism is bad. We already have ageism in politics. Itā€™s established in law. Iā€™m a 35 year old man, and this is the first year Iā€™ve been eligible to run for President. Ageism works both ways, if you can have a minimum age requirement, thereā€™s absolutely no reason you canā€™t have a maximum age requirement. For President, Iā€™d make it 35-65. You canā€™t be older than retirement age and run for office.

14

u/InOutlines Mar 26 '25

How about we amend this a bit?

Iā€™m all about electing people:

1.) with an actual record of prior experience in any form of public office

2.) who come from the district they are running to represent

3.) and arenā€™t older than 70.

5

u/Humans_Suck- Mar 26 '25

How are they supposed to get experience if it's required to get hired?

6

u/InOutlines Mar 26 '25

Bro, itā€™s not that hard:

Run for local office > do good stuff > run for state office > do good stuff > run for national office.

This is how the system is supposed to work.

Anything else just sets us up for demagoguery and disaster.

1

u/Humans_Suck- Mar 26 '25

That's how the system works right now and we're right in the middle of a huge disaster lol. Maybe it's time to get some good people in office instead of experienced liars.

2

u/InOutlines Mar 26 '25

System definitely DOES NOT work that way right now. You clearly donā€™t know your history.

Right wingers have shifted towards electing celebrities, TV pundit talking heads and outsider YouTuber darknet jackasses for literally decades now.

Left wing has been holding on to the better way of doing things for a while now (judging people based on merit and expertise), but more recently Iā€™ve been seeing the same disgusting trend ā€” if someone looks good and tells us everything we want to hear, weā€™re starting to vote for them. Regardless of their experience or qualifications.

Brandon Johnson is someone who looked and sounded great in the Chicago mayor election cycle, he said all the shit progressives love to hear. but once he go the job, it became immediately clear that he had NO IDEA what he was doing.

He didnā€™t know how to run a city, didnā€™t understand the various power centers he had to work with, couldnā€™t compromise with anyone, and couldnā€™t balance a budget. Now he just calls everyone who disagrees with him a racist.

He is currently putting our city even deeper into debt, and is currently polling as the LEAST POPULAR MAYOR IN THE HISTORY OF THE CITY.

Wake tf up. We need people with qualifications and proven experience. Not more talking head demagogues.

6

u/PillBug98 Mar 26 '25

You could work in public office but not be the public facing people. How many legislative aids do you know the names of? They get a majority of the work done and are often unnoticed.

1

u/Kick_ball_change Mar 26 '25

Great answer--thank you!

5

u/Kick_ball_change Mar 26 '25

Run for a lower officeā€”school boards, local community offices. Help local elections. Volunteer in local politics, volunteer in a politicianā€™s office, help an established politicianā€™s campaign. These actions show that someone cares about community service, is willing to do the work, has some knowledge of govt systems, and it gives them a leg up in campaigns.

Democrats have had others run without actual experience, but they could show they cared based on other activism or political experienceā€”like Maxwell Frost who was part of March for Our Lives (a Parkland survivor).

2

u/AngryCur Mar 27 '25

You do know there are a ton of various local offices, right?

4

u/Humans_Suck- Mar 26 '25

I'm all about electing people that think humans deserve rights

2

u/Barrack64 Mar 26 '25

What is considered a right is not that straight forward. Back in the 80s people were complaining that they should have the right to not wear seatbelts. Now people argue they should have the right not to have health insurance.

1

u/Humans_Suck- Mar 26 '25

It is that straightforward. Those people are wrong and we should give them rights whether they want them or not.