When it comes to age on the ballot, Texas didn’t wait until 2024 to weigh in.

Asked to let judges stay on the bench until they’re 79 years old — a year younger than President Joe Biden — Texas voters soundly rejected the proposal in Tuesday’s elections, a defeat that drew new attention to issues of age and fitness for office in the U.S.

“Age is front of mind for American voters in a way that it has not traditionally been and they are nervous about it,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

Others cautioned against broader takeaways. At least four other states have rejected similar proposals over the last decade, according to the National Center for State Courts. And states that have passed the measures have mostly done so in close votes.

    • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yes. Lead used to be everywhere. In the paint on your house walls. In the paint on your children’s toys, that they would inevitably put in their mouth. In makeup. In water pipes (still in use in many places, see Flint, MI). In gasoline, leading to lead-tainted air pollution.

      • Jay@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I’ve had/have lead poisoning. It’s not fun. I had to take some horse sized pills that were virtually impossible to keep down… it was like there was a little trampoline in my stomach that just made them want to pop straight back up.

        My stomach still lurches a little thinking about them.

      • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I mean I know lead is bad for you but the body does process it over time and leaded gas has been banned since the 70s. You can’t just disqualify everyone who was alive in the 70s because there was potential for lead exposure.

        One would hope that such a bold and specific claim as “the President and Senate Minority Leader have lead-induced dementia” would have…a single shred of specific evidence.

        • Joe-Blow240@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Lead poisoning causes permanent irreversible brain damage that manifests in the form of learning disability and behavioral disorders.

          • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Ok so the claim is that the president and Senate minority leader got permanent irreversible brain damage in the 70s?

              • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                You think it is more than likely that both of these people had permanent brain damage their whole lives and proceded to get elected to higher and higher office continuously getting votes amongst the scrutiny of the national press for decades? Despite having zero evidence.

                If true, it must be brain damage so slight that it’s meaningless. If false, you’re just making something up because you don’t like some political leaders.

                • Drusas@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  It sounds like you haven’t read about chronic lead poisoning. You should do so sometime.

                  • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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                    1 year ago

                    I’m more interested in actual political discussions instead of parsing out this weird baseless accusation.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Don’t forget leaded paint. It was also banned in those decades but any house/building from before then is potentially contaminated with lead paint. While interior paint has gotten a lot of attention, “encapsulating” it is not perfect nor permanent and the building is still surrounded by contaminated soil from exterior paint.

          And prop planes … leaded fuel not banned yet

          The Wikipedia article is pretty scary, especially

          According to a study, half of the US population has been exposed to substantially detrimental lead levels in early childhood – mainly from car exhaust whose lead pollution peaked in the 1970s and caused widespread loss in cognitive ability.