U.S. Sen. Ed Markey secured the Democratic nomination in Massachusetts’ Senate primary Tuesday, once again fending off a push for generational change as he seeks a third term.
Markey, 80, defeated U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, 47, who had attempted to argue that it was time to do away with the “status quo” in his pursuit to oust the octogenarian.
Yet Markey successfully pointed to Moulton’s more moderate positions to argue that it was Moulton — not the older incumbent — who was out of touch with the state’s voters. Perhaps no other issue defined the race more than transgender rights, and Markey repeatedly hit Moulton for previously saying he would not want his daughters to play against transgender athletes.
Nope, that’s a ridiculous take.
People have a choice at the ballot box. And the young are just as capable of hoarding wealth and power; it’s hardly exclusive to any particular age bracket.
Capable, sure, but that’s not the reality we’re living in. I just believe there needs to be some sort of re-calibration towards equity between people in the late stages of their career and the young people who are waiting for them to leave the well-paying jobs.
But I do recognize there’s a lot of nuance to this discussion. I do however find the arguments of Samuel Moyn (“Gerontocracy in America”) very compelling, moderate, and well-reasoned.
Eh, I seem to recall hearing boomers complaining about the same thing (older generations not just stepping aside and letting them take over). They seemed to think they were just somehow owed positions of more prominence, just by the rationale that there was so many of them and they had been coddled most of their lives.
I like Adam Mockler, but I’m so tired of him making some kind of point where he says “people in my generation…” as a preface, as if there is something truly unique to an age bracket. It is truly eye-rolling, and I bet he cringes at some of this stuff once he’s a bit older.
Also, what people overlook is the biggest wealth transfer in history has already started, and it’s from boomers -> Gen Y/Gen Z. So when people are talking as if boomers are somehow clinging to all the wealth, I’m not sure that’s really true.
That’s fair. Looks like I need to investigate this further.
It’s possible I’ve been consuming too much rational optimist type of stuff. What tends to come up a lot in this kind of literature is that the average lifespan is increasing, as a general trend. So when I see the possibility of not only lifespan being extended, but health span, I wonder at the constant drumbeat to start imposing things like arbitrary age limits on politicians, which is likely to trickle down to people in other roles, at a time when people, more than ever, may be retaining their capabilities (along with the wisdom and the job experience) into much older years on average.
Or when I see people clamoring to “fix” Social Security by making people take those benefits at a later age at almost the exact same time they are talking about pushing people out of work.
I’m not saying you are making those arguments, mind you.