Is Following Politics Good For Seniors?

Discussion in 'Politics & Government' started by Tony Page, May 30, 2024.

  1. Jacob Petersheim

    Jacob Petersheim Very Well-Known Member
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    I'm pretty frustrated by the lack of local news coverage. No more weekly free/donations paper just for starters.

    Blink and you can find your road blocked at one end as they start tearing it up to install new drainage and utilities to feed McMansion developments 5 miles away. Blink again and they tear up the road in front of your hovel and you can't get in and out for 6 weeks. Grr.

    Don't get me started on the other local government shenanigans taking place effectively in the dark now.
     
    #16
  2. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    Same here plus you know how many times in the last 10 years school and Town officials both elected and hired have been caught stealing funds and supplies.
     
    #17
  3. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    The Progressives say the words, but never intend to keep the oath. One of the big things I have against Progressives in government.
     
    #18
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  4. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    To the topic of whether or not following politics is good for seniors; probably not but…

    Someone has to be able to make some sense of things and be able to pass that on to those who need the wisdom and who better than someone who has been through it all?

    I mean, although this latest fiasco concerning the Trump trials is something completely new, many of us have been around for 3 and some even 4 wars, was around for the assassinations of JFK, Bobby, Martin Luthor King and Oswald to boot.
    We found our way through the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Clinton, Reagan, Obama, Trump and Biden regimes without shooting ourselves or anyone else (sans wars) so indeed, what doesn’t kill us makes us even stronger.

    Sure, I get a little ticked and the blood pressure maxes out at times when I see and hear what’s happening on the political stage but I’ve also learned from past experiences that taking the somewhat stoic attitude of “it is what it is” helps me remember that this ain’t my first rodeo and if I live a little longer it ain’t gonna be my last.
    After all, the crap that’s going on is just my millionth or so learning experience so maybe instead of allowing politics to send me to the rubber room or an early casket, I can indeed learn more and be the better for it.
     
    #19
  5. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    Some people can handle it some people can't, and it carries into tha a daily life.
     
    #20
  6. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Very true Tony but one would think that at our age, we’d have developed thicker skin by now.
    But back to your statement, some do and some don’t.
     
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  7. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    This is the key. And hopefully those who can't, won't. I believe a person should be informed and keep up with current events but not immerse themselves in the insanity.
     
    #22
  8. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    I don't think thicker skin is in the picture. I remember when I was a child after world war II, We lived on a very long street in Brooklyn Probably equivalent 2 or 3 other streets. The street was closed for a ginormous block party to celebrate the end of the war, but also to welcome back our heroes. Patriotism flowed everywhere, neighbors who didn't know each other hugs with big smiles, we were all Americans.
    I don't have a lot of memories but of the actual party but I remember the hugging, I remembered going on the roof of a garage in the middle of the block and watching my uncle and father set up a music system to blass the street with music, I remember people dragging tables in front of the there houses and filling them food.
    I remember thinking as a child how proud and happy I was and I would defend this country to my last breath if needed. I was young and I felt the strength of patriotism.
    Come forward to today would I defend this country to my last breath? you betcha, so I'm not thin skinned to fight. This new enemy is a sneak hides behind the economy, political positions, uses the law in ways it was not meant against good people.
    So I won't listen to every kernal of the news anymore, just the important stuff if I feel it's real.
     
    #23
  9. Lee Brown

    Lee Brown Well-Known Member
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    Jacob,

    I have found that the only place you can get local news is on local TV channels or local radio stations, either by watching/listening to the newscasts or reading the articles on their websites.

    I don't know if you do or not, but I hope you have those resources where you live.
     
    #24
  10. Lee Brown

    Lee Brown Well-Known Member
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    Yeah.

    But it would take an amendment to the Constitution to do away with the Electoral College. 2/3 of the states would have to petition Congress to amend the Constitution (if Congress itself doesn't do it). Then the Congress has to call a convention of the states to come up with the amendment. Then the 3/4 of the states would have to ratify the amendment. This is all spelled out in Article V of the Constitution.

    If individual states try to collectively circumvent Article V of the Constitution then the issue would surely end up in the Supreme Court.
     
    #25
  11. Johnny Forster

    Johnny Forster Active Member
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    The electoral college was designed to prevent unfair representation. If it's done away with, God help us all.
     
    #26
  12. Mary Robi

    Mary Robi Veteran Member
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    For about the last five years of her life, my mother refused to read about or listen to politics in the press or media. She'd say, "I trust my daughters to tell me what I need to know and who to vote for."

    I'm pretty sure that's how she was able to live past 95 and look like a 70-year-old. Politics age you. When this current mess is over, I'll probably look like I'm 100.
     
    #27
  13. Lee Brown

    Lee Brown Well-Known Member
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    You're absolutely correct. And that's why so many Democrats want to do away with the electoral college because they know the country would end up being a pure democracy then where the big cities with their mostly Democrat populations would be deciding the elections through the popular vote.
     
    #28
  14. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    And no one expects them to.
     
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  15. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    The other day I was noticing that most of what I read and subscribe to are political in nature. It's all negative. It's all "They're taking our rights away!!!" I had to put down the magazine I was reading because I didn't want any more of it.

    I used to subscribe to Smithsonian Magazine and The Economist and Foreign Affairs and other periodicals of broader interest. Now it's just a gun rights magazine and internet news sites. It's tough to find that balance between staying informed and tuning out that which we have no control over. I need to add some other things to the mix to regain some balance.
     
    #30

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