Nikki Haley Wants Old Pols Tested, Ann Coulter's "Hindu Business" Idiocy, and Musk Encourages Anti-Semitism
A Slaver Wrote "Amazing Grace," Movie Reviews, Jimmy Buffet Sings
Kareem’s Quote of the Day
“Along with the idea of romantic love, she was introduced to another--physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion.”
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Nikki Haley Says Senate Is the ‘Most Privileged Nursing Home’ in the U.S. (The Daily Beast)
SUMMARY: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley called for mental competency tests for lawmakers aged 50 and over after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) froze up again Wednesday in front of cameras. Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, Haley said that “right now the Senate is the most privileged nursing home in the country.” Although she acknowledged that McConnell, 81, “deserves credit” for his “great” political achievements, she said: “You have to know when to leave... these people are making decisions on our national security. They’re making decisions on our economy, on the border. We need to know they’re at the top of their game. You can’t say that right now looking at Congress.” Haley also voiced concern about 90-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and 80-year-old President Joe Biden.
MY TAKE: Age is no guarantee of wisdom. But age is a guarantee of declining abilities, both physical and mental. At the same time, youth may suggest a more robust body, but it is no promise of smarts.
Haley is not wrong in voicing concern over the mental conditions of some of our elderly statespersons. However, her snarky comment about “privileged nursing home” is an insensitive insult to those who may be in nursing homes for physical reasons that have nothing to do with their mental competency. Those residing in nursing homes may be there because that is their only option given their finances, unlike their wealthier peers.
Testing for mental competency is not as simple as it sounds. According to three experts in geriatric medicine interviewed by Slate (“Nikki Haley Wants Mandatory Competency Tests for Older Politicians. Here’s What the Experts Say.”) such tests are not only ageist, but they are not good indicators of a person’s leadership abilities.
Specifically, competency tests vary; they can last from five minutes to four hours, and because they are timed, they have a built-in bias against older people because their neurological processing is slower but not necessarily worse. The test subjects can seem impaired when they are not.
Once we open the door to testing, we are like an insurance company screening potential customers for pre-existing conditions. Why stop at testing based on age? If our goal is to ensure the best decision-making capabilities, why not test for the ability to use critical thinking and identify logical fallacies? That would eliminate a couple dozen. What about testing for a basic knowledge of American history as well as how government works? We could test for alcohol and drug use, which impairs judgment. Wouldn’t mandatory IQ tests give voters crucial information?
And why stop at lawmakers when we have the same concerns about the U.S. Supreme Court, federal judges, and other political appointees? And all candidates before they can run. Of course, the next step is testing citizens before allowing them to vote, a ploy used to deny Blacks the right to vote until the 1965 Voting Rights Act stopped it. You can see that there is a way to justify all this in the name of mental competency, which is a vague term and easily manipulated for biased results.
Singling out older politicians does reveal a prejudice about a group. Similarly, last week, a Florida elementary school came under fire for singling out fourth- and fifth-grade Black students to attend an assembly to improve their standardized tests (“Florida school singles out Black pupils as ‘problem’ group for talk on test scores”). They were shown a PowerPoint presentation called “AA presentation,” the “AA” meaning African American. The problem was that students were lumped together because they were Black, regardless of their actual test scores. Some parents complained that their children were sent to the assembly even though they had passed the tests.
What should we do when an elected official seems no longer fit for their duties? Senators can be expelled under the Constitution by a two-thirds vote, but it is unlikely to happen except under the most egregious circumstances. Only 15 Senators have been expelled since 1789, 14 of them during the Civil War for supporting the Confederacy, the other in 1797 for treason.
Kicking out the oldsters is a popular political stance sure to garner a lot of support. (That’s why older contestants are often the first to go on Survivor.) Just like shouting, “Drain the swamp!” is so popular among voters who then immediately elect hungry swamp creatures to Washington. That’s because the practical details behind the slogans are always elusive. And the methods can often be more corrupt than the original problem.