It’s A Shame Nikki Haley Has To Rely On ‘Stale’ Gimmicks

Nikki Haley Says The United States is ready and willing to go beyond “the stale ideas and faded names of the past,” Take a deep breath and embrace it “new generation” Leadership. The new Republican presidential candidate is reinventing her self as a forward-looking populist. What big, bold, and innovative ideas has Haley brought to the people? As far as I can tell, two — neither of which has any chance of coming to fruition.

“In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire,” Haley explained. “We’ll have term limits for Congress. And mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.” Term limits existed in both the Athenian democracy and the Roman republic. These days, it’s a cheap way to tap into voter anger at the political class. These monsters are just as bad as anyone else. The returns of limiting legislative terms is minimal at best. It is unlikely to promote better governance or less corruption. Voting is a common practice among partisans, regardless of whether it’s new or old.

Term limits can often be used to replace the few legislators who have genuine institutional knowledge or expertise with amateurish ideologues. Does anyone believe George Santos or Eric Swalwell have improved the aptitude or decency of Congress merely because they’re newer?

Term limits also end up making our lives more politics-obsessed while creating instability in legislatures — which wouldn’t be terrible if it didn’t also create stronger executive branches. The thinking is that a lame duck politician will be more responsive to voters since he doesn’t have to infuriate himself with the powerful. The ugly reality is that term-limited politicians often need institutional support more because they want to run elsewhere — in states with term limits, politicians play musical chairs their entire careers — or they want an administrative appointment, or they want to run the party apparatus or find some cushy lobbying position. They are less dependent on voters.

Cincinnatus is a legend.

However, term limits are already available to us. It’s called voting. People say they hate incumbents but they re-elect them all the time. What we really hate is the other person’s incumbents. But it’s the voters, not the dark money or television ads or the media, who are responsible for keeping these people in power.

Haley’s other big idea is to institute mental competency tests for candidates over 75. This isn’t exactly a new thought, either. Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician So-called A few years ago, for senility testing. It also makes sense theoretically. The thought of a mentally brittle Joe Biden running the world’s most powerful military is indeed terrifying.

Eight people are currently in Congress who were born in 1930s. There are 15 people in Congress older than the 80-year-old Biden — and they include powerful names like Mitch McConnell, Bernie Sanders, Jim Clyburn, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Dianne Feinstein, and Chuck Grassley. Donald Trump turns 77 this June. It is clear that we have something to be proud of.