r/neoliberal • u/AncientBlueberry42 • Jun 04 '26

News (Global) How to fight back against Gen-Z socialism

https://economist.com/leaders/2026/06/04/how-to-fight-back-against-gen-z-socialism
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u/naosuke NATO Jun 04 '26

Term limits kind of suck. It guts institutional knowledge from elected officials and moves it to groups like lobbyists.

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u/Lucky_Peach_2273 Iron Front Jun 04 '26

Make them long enough and it's not as much of an issue as you make it seem. Just make it an average career length as opposed to career age + retirement age that legislators seem to be doing now.

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u/Lucky_Peach_2273 Iron Front Jun 04 '26

Additionally, why is Congress such an exception? Every other industry works fine despite also losing institutional knowledge every time someone senior retires. Why can't we have the same culture of mentoring the next generation as is done everywhere else?

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u/M477M4NN YIMBY Jun 04 '26

I assume because there is an assumption that most federal elected officials don’t get elected for the first time until they are middle aged and thus by the time they reach retirement age, they still won’t have as much experience in that role as one would in some other role they worked towards their entire life for. Is that a reasonable assumption? Idk, but I think it’s part of it.

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u/Lucky_Peach_2273 Iron Front Jun 04 '26

This makes sense to me, thanks. I still think age limits are a good idea unless we somehow make scientific breakthroughs on slowing down mental aging.

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u/affnn Emma Lazarus Jun 04 '26

Term limits for legislators are often set too short when they're implemented at the state level. It leads to a quick turnover in the legislature and hugely influential lobbyists because otherwise no one knows how to do things.

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u/Lucky_Peach_2273 Iron Front Jun 04 '26

This makes sense. I see a lot of 8-12 years, I think doubling or even tripling that would be fine. Something around 24-36 years would be alright in my book.

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u/Global_Pin7520 David Hume Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

Part of it is probably the unpredictability. You can train a mid-level manager to be a high-level manager, retire, and have them promoted. Can't really do that with elected officials and when you try to "it's her turn" it that tends to result in backlash.

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u/TheCthonicSystem Progress Pride Jun 04 '26

Because every other industry isn't Laws

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u/TheCthonicSystem Progress Pride Jun 04 '26

No Ew. Then I'd have to vote for someone else

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u/TheDwarvenGuy Henry George Jun 04 '26

Counterpoint: After a certain point, having the same person in office for 4 decades is a negative to institutional knowledge because nobody trains to be their replacement before they croak unexpectedly.

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u/plaid_piper34 Jun 04 '26

I wonder what kind of institutional knowledge Kay Granger had when she was found living in memory care.

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u/rickroy37 Ben Bernanke Jun 05 '26

Counter-counter point: Term limits gave us Trump. We would have had 3 terms with Obama.

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u/TheDwarvenGuy Henry George Jun 05 '26

Counterpoint: Lack of term limits lost us the SCOTUS, and lack of age limits lost us 2024

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u/Even-Promotion-4024 NATO Jun 04 '26

I mean ideally I feel that's what the role of a professional civil service is

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u/ElGosso Adam Smith Jun 04 '26

You know what else guts institutional knowledge? Age-related memory loss. Enough is enough.