One of the things that is as certain as death and taxes is that people age.
This is a natural event and it can't be stopped.
Of course we live in an age where people live longer than ever and we like to imagine that age is something we can control, but of course we can't.
Watching the debate last night I simply couldn't get past one fact, the leading candidates are older than they really should be.
It is both a physical issue and mental one potentially but its more of a cultural one.
They may or may not experience significant deterioration in four to eight years, but certainly they are high risk. However listening to their answers they tend to reflect things not as relevant as they once were.
Take Joe Biden's attitude toward Marijuana, which he tried to correct last night but considering how most of his life he was in a world where it was considered bad he has deep cultural embedding to overcome.
Similarly, Elizabeth Warren thinks fondly of how her brothers served, and remembers inaccurately I think her mother checking the mail each day. A letter made her day and assured her the son was still alive. Her fond memories of military or alternative service was one step short of reinstituting the draft and her response seemed to assume only men would be asked to serve.
I generally think Bernie Sanders simply reflects the radicalism of his youth and while it plays fairly well, it just seems dated to me.
We are what we were and the world these folks grew up in is not the world of the future. There has to be a time when we pass the baton on to a new generation, and it just seems like its time.
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