Why Are There So Many Boomers In Congress? | FiveThirtyEight

Congress has gotten steadily older over the past few decades, and that has major implications for the issues the legislature cares about.

[doesntmatter]

The Senate is basically an assisted living home at this point.

[MichaelJohnson-vieh]

And I guess universal health care isn't a priority because they already have it?

[SeaBassTian]

It's time for older boomers to do what the rest of Americans cannot: RETIRE!

[dannyarcher]

Today is the first time I've heard of the missionary generation. I guess the sexual revolution wasn't a totally negative phenomenon after all.

[alandpost]

I think "a series of tubes" is a decent metaphor for a computer network

[tomaikenhead]

if old age brings wisdom, why is the oldest congress ever also the least productive and most ideological?

[jonasmiller]

Everyone should read "A Generation of Sociopaths." It describes pretty much the root of where everything went wrong in the country.

[darussankarat]

Some countries have just had the youngest national leader and privy councillor.

It's time for a change or a generational revolution.

[darussankarat]

it is intergenerational injustice where are youth leader in politician role?

It's time to marching protest against injustice.

All countries have a low proportion of young politicians.

It is time to stand up and the people must stand by the new generation by supporting the new generation to become strong politicians, both men and women.

[dominoep]

Because nobody ever retires and voters vote for incumbents, especially ones whose names they recognize after seeing and hearing them for 2 decades. The End.

[jeffperteet]

They are so risk averse and stubborn it makes them very despicable at times.

[rorysimpson]

Because it's a retirement program for criminals that never got caught?

[deborahferguson]

One point to add. What age bracket has been voting …?

[pamr.]

Interesting video, but I found the volume of the background sound distracting.

[danielsykes]

This same graph, but also chart the median life expectancy of the US .... That would be a political graph

[ellieswanson]

Is FiveThirtyEight looking at the No Labels initiative for the 2024 election? Thoughts on the Harris X poll they are basing a lot of their decisions on? Would be interesting as part of a podcast.

[mattalford]

Seniors are so smart they vote for the party that's trying to take their retirement away lol.

[MikeAnn]

A lot of good points in this video. But I don't like the way the concept of technology has been dramatically reduced in scale to where it's now assumed to mean only the most modern -- typically small, portable, _electronic_ --devices. The term "technology" is far older than the oldest living human today, and really just means the application of knowledge to systems & devices that people can use.

Obviously, Boomers didn't grow up with smartphones -- and I didn't even _have_ one until a couple years ago -- though we did have all kinds of other portable electronic gadgets, including Blackberries, mp3 players, digital audio recorders, and digital cameras, the functions of which are now easily acquired with a quickly-downloadable smartphone app. But many *Zoomers and beyond* wouldn't have a clue how to use the standalone devices at first glance. Is that important? Probably not in most cases, but my point is just that they *are not inherently more tech-savvy* as the belief goes.

Even a still-widely-used technology like email or a Windows-based computer is comparatively foreign to them. And many of them would be literally lost or stranded if they had to use a _map, _ or get somewhere in a stick-shift vehicle. In fact just yesterday I saw a video of a carjacking that failed because the would-be thieves couldn't drive the manual-transmission car. 😄

Working at a Post Office, when asking customers if they'd like to buy any stamps, I met a few young people who didn't know what they would use one for. At first I probably thought they were joking, but in retrospect it made sense. And how many could shave without Googling -- or asking their electronic assistants -- for instructions on using a manual razor?

Millennials, a bit older, might have a challenging learning curve with older systems like a VCR, a FAX, or how to "dial" a long-distance phone number ("a what??") with a standalone phone, especially a rotary-dial model. Many would stare clueless upon booting up a pre-Windows computer and seeing only a "C>" prompt on an otherwise black screen, but I could still run all kinds of programs on such a machine. Many wouldn't know how to use a _camera_ not built into a smartphone, especially if it used _film_ -- that has to be _developed??_ And could they figure out what to do with old home movies their parents filmed?

I might have my years a little off, and I'm also not derogating anybody. These things make sense.

As I see it, being tech-savvy isn't a matter of age so much as a matter of familiarity, interest, and skill. _Everyone_ is tech savvy to some degree or another with the technology they use regularly, which is often what they grew up with. Boomers and earlier generations were and still are tech-savvy with things the youngest generation will never be.