Why? The Grim Reaper shadows your every step. The actuarial tables laugh at the idea of you surviving to the end of your term. Is your goal really to be remembered as being too stubborn to step aside and let a spring chicken born after WWII take over your seat? Is there a special backdoor to Valhalla located in the congressional building? What compels these people to stay until the bitter end?

[–] aqwxcvbnji@hexbear.net 2 points 14 hours ago

On top of everything which is said already I just want to add: my personal experience with old people is that they become very stuborn. (Anyone trying to tell an older relative that it's time to move to an assisted living situation can probably confirm that.) So I guess that once those those politicians cross a certain age-treshold, you can never, ever convince them anymore that they're no longer the right person for the job, especially not if you're trying to argue that their age is the problem.

[–] Blakey@hexbear.net 14 points 1 day ago (4 children)

It's just bizarre to me. Even the least wealthy politicians at that level have more than enough to afford to retire (see Bernie and Jane Sanders owning multiple homes despite his being one of, if not the, least wealthy senators) so why stick around? There are very few jobs I can imagine wanting to do until the day I die. Do they actually believe they're achieving something unique? Because that's just... Weird. They're so nakedly acting in their own class interest, and anyone (of that class) could be doing that. Why not retire and let someone else ensure those interests? It's not like there's no one to take over.

[–] CTHlurker@hexbear.net 3 points 20 hours ago

Their job is to sit in meetings and have people speak at them, before they do whatever they want with zero mechanic for accountability. Like, if you're even the least bit sentient, why the fuck would you not stick around in that job for as long as humanly (or inhumanly) possible? It's not like the Democratic Party is trying to actually effect change, so why shouldn't the party just be a mechanism for self-righteous fossils to feel important.

[–] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 8 points 1 day ago

so why stick around? There are very few jobs I can imagine wanting to do until the day I die.

My guess is that it's the sweetest gig imaginable where everything is done by your army of staffers and interns and people immediately surrounding you do nothing but kiss your ass. You just have to occasionally sign a bunch of tl;dr document and appear in the public every once in a while. And they're still getting paid even when Congress is not in session.

[–] BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago

It's so baffling, why accumulate all that wealth if you're not going to bother enjoying it? Seems like dragons get more mileage out of their treasure and all they do is sleep on it.

[–] DragonBallZinn@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago

I have to hypotheses:

Boomers in the west think retiring is “dishonorable” and should never retire under any circumstances.
The whole point is so no one else can have it, they can do fuck all in office but the point is playing keep away from others.

[–] GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Valhalla involves a lot of fighting, pretty sure that's partially why those who wanted to go there wanted to get there good and young so they wouldn't suck at the eternal war

[–] BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net 4 points 1 day ago

Maybe there's a handicap system