Do people live forever just because we want them to?

[loyalsister]

Obviously not.

I am really confused by the entrenched beliefs that age is not relevant. I don't think opinions or contributions should be devalued because of a person's age. I do think there are some reasonable practical considerations regarding physical stamina when selecting a presidential candidate. The travel alone is physically grueling. Add to that they mental stress that comes with the job.

The favorite candidates I see mentioned here are all old enough that they are expecting to develop the natural bodily decline soon if they aren't seeing it already. Meanwhile, republicans have been grooming Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, and other candidates who are relatively young.

Significantly younger candidates win in disparate matches. Reagan is the only exception that I know of over the past 40 years.

Are Democrats not grooming younger candidates, or are we just so attached to the old guard that we ignore them?

[tazkcmo]

1. Dems take turns n/t

[Fred Sanders]

2. If Sanders runs as a Democrat the age issue will be front and centre.

[loyalsister]

3. I think that's true

I think he would be a great addition to the dialogues during primaries. And, there is something to value in experience and wisdom. It just seems to me to be rational to factor age into the equation as a part of general health.

[Fred Sanders]

4. And since we now know Reagan, in the WH suffered from age related dementia, why is this taboo?

Seems too many people prefer comforting lies to inconvenient truths.

[loyalsister]

5. So true

I wonder if Sander's calculation is to simply add to the debate. I can't imagine someone wanting the job at his age. I am really hoping someone who inspires more confidence in their long term good health comes out of the woodwork.

I'm hoping Martin O'Malley will turn out to be a worthy candidate. I still have a lot to learn about him.

[Fred Sanders]

6. If Sanders runs, I or D, fires up the unlikely voter to come out and vote, for a Change, and then

drops out to endorse the eventual nominee...I would salute the aging socialist warrior.

[loyalsister]

7. Me too!

I hope he runs as a Democrat so that he is part of the official primary debates.

[FrodosPet]

12. I've just started reading about him

Progressive in many ways, but a "law and order tough on crime" type in others.

He is apparently anti-MJ legalization.

---------------------------------

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/as-90-day-session-opens-omalley-opposes-allowing-recreational-marijuana-in-maryland/2014/01/08/86fd81be-7879-11e3-b1c5-739e63e9c9a7_story.html

As 90-day session opens, O’Malley opposes allowing recreational marijuana in Maryland

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley voiced strong opposition Wednesday to legalizing marijuana for recreational use, saying that it could be “a gateway to even more harmful behavior.”

“I’m not much in favor of it,” O’Malley said during an annual“Annapolis Summit” radio show broadcast on the first day of Maryland’s legislative session.

“I’ve seen what drug addiction has done to the people of our state and the people of our city,” O’Malley, who rose to political prominence as a tough-on-crime mayor of Baltimore, told host Marc Steiner of WEAA 88.9 FM.

~ snip ~

[loyalsister]

13. Bummer

I think it may be difficult for any candidate can take a hard line stance in opposition to legalization at least for medical purposes.

I'm not a fan of the rigid law & order types either. Thanks for the info!

[Xyzse]

8. I'm in to O'Malley, he is relatively young.

Stating that, I have not heard of any young Democrat taking the fore and being groomed to move forward.

One possibility is that many of the more progressive ones are too far from the mainstream political thought that they just don't work.

Sadly, in regards to political theater, there is a core decorum there that is harder for some at the left to keep up with, while the right revels in it. I mean seriously, politicians and pundits from the right automatically do the suit and tie thing, while many of their contemporaries who may be even smarter, and to the left, seem to have a problem with working with the system

I am not really sure about these thoughts, but it does come up in my head now and then.

[loyalsister]

9. That's a good point

I think Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow do set a good examples.

[Xyzse]

10. I mean, all we have to look at is the punditry in the US

The ones at the right, they do the bluster, the faux outrage down pat, all the while wrapping it in a bow of decorum and tradition.

The left tend to push against that, and they tend to get older before realizing that they have to use those tools as well to even be looked at with some degree of seriousness.

Which is why I am saddened by Occupy Wallstreet, which was great, and it does still do things, but it was looked upon by the media and a vast majority of people as a joke. I mean, out of that movement, I have yet to hear of even one person who can be looked upon as a leader, or even to come out of that with some political clout.

[loyalsister]

11. I feel the same way about OWS

Disregarding public safety rules and permit processes in a movement to demand that others follow strict rules dilutes and overshadows the message by creating unnecessary distracting controversies. I think it may be born out of the line of thought among a collective that overvalues nonconformity.

I also felt that there was an unfortunate air of self entitlement in the interpretation of the right to assemble.

There seems to be an ideology that assumes that anyone who participates in mainstream politics is a sell-out. These contradictions seem to prevent the development of the common ideology necessary for a political organization to unite.