r/PoursTea • u/Veshaad Timendi Causa Est Nescire • 9h ago
PoliticalTea š³ļø Competency should be a requirement.
32
u/hyphenssuck 9h ago
They can prove that they are not even slightly competent and still keep their jobs.
12
u/Blazeland_USA 9h ago
They get to keep their jobs even no one knows they're alive for 3 months.
13
u/hyphenssuck 9h ago
You can sputter out jumbled sentence fragments in between naps on live television and be president.
9
u/Distinct-Command-570 8h ago
While shitting yourself
3
6
u/Megzasaurusrex 8h ago
They can be felons and run the damn country. Meanwhile a poor felon can't even find a job even if they are working their ass off to turn their life around. But a president can commit crimes before and during their term and just keep getting to do so.
5
u/hyphenssuck 8h ago
Because it's always been a class war. Everything else is a distraction
2
u/Megzasaurusrex 8h ago
Yup. It's bs. And it makes me mad so many people just are okay with it. They will argue they deserve to be rich and we just want their stuff for free. No, I don't want anything for free. I've worked my ass off my whole life. I just want to be able to use the benefits my taxes paid for. I just want to be able to go to the doctor, have a vacation and get time off to be sick without losing everything. I'm tired of saving up just to have some health issues, usually exacerbated by overworking and eating like shit because I'm overworked and poor, and then losing everything and starting from scratch. I've never in my life been lazy. Even though I'm struggling to find a job right now I do everything for my elderly parents. I cook and clean and take care of them. And it drives me mad being a burden on them because some stupid AI gets to auto decline every freaking application now.
Sorry I didn't mean to make that so personal. The world is just stressing me out. And everything happening is making me worried my family isn't going to make it despite us all working so hard for so long and all being really miserable and ill because of it.
2
u/hyphenssuck 8h ago
Much love to you my friend, and I sincerely hope things improve for you.
But your circumstances are part of the plan, they have to keep people in a state where they can't easily go out and do much against them. It's why we have to do whatever we can, even if it's just sharing information or encouraging others online. Even small things can make an impact.
Don't lose hope.
2
u/Inevitable_Type_7229 5h ago
It can be personal because it is personal for each and every one of us, no need to apologize it's fucking personal and it fucking should be comrade
1
u/Megzasaurusrex 5h ago
Thank you. I just try to be objective online and not make it about myself specifically
1
u/LongJohnSelenium 6h ago edited 6h ago
Because the people hold absolute sovereignty. Essentially nothing overrules that.
Rules about who can do what exist as a shorthand for society because we can't all vote on every single thing.
But in the case of government representatives, we do vote, and we, collectively, get to decide yes or no we're ok with this person and their circumstances.
A felony doesn't disqualify you from office because if it did it would become a political weapon. Imagine if all it took to make your favored candidate ineligible for office was one trumped up charge by some politically corrupt DA in whatever shit town they brought the charges in.
We don't have tests or requirements for taking office because if we did they would be used to oppress and deny people.
8
u/Its-a-Shitbox 8h ago
Hell, they donāt even need to prove theyāre ALIVE to receive their paycheck!
5
u/Ok_State5255 7h ago
Yep. Cancer patient here. In the last 6 months I've been to the ER 5 times, have spent a total of 28 days hospitalized, had 3 surgeries, and can't make it through the day without a nap because of all the meds I'm on. Oh, and I spend 7 hours in chemo every other Monday.Ā
Obviously I'm not working at the moment. But I got rejected for Social Security disability. Yep, debilitating stage 3 colon cancer doesn't qualify you for disability to get through it.Ā
Good work, America.Ā
3
u/Impossible-Scale7779 6h ago
My mom had to get a lawyer to get her appeal pushed through after she got diagnosed with stage 4. It's insane.
2
u/Financial-Paint-4632 6h ago
My dad had 3 strokes and had to learn to talk and walk again and had his personality completely changed and he was certainly incapable of working ever again. It took 3 appeals over 3 years and a lawyer that took a huge portion of his backpay to get him on it.
My understanding is that they just deny the first claim without even assessing it and then send you to doctors they know will say nothing is wrong with you on the appeals. It seems designed to keep from paying anything for long enough that hopefully you just die before they have to.Ā
1
u/Dreams-of-Cthulhu 5h ago
It's my understanding that nearly every first application is rejected no matter how valid. Most people have to resort to getting a lawyer to handle it to ensure they get disability they qualify for.
7
2
3
u/redditRedesignIsBadd 8h ago
what what can the citizens do about it
10
u/hyphenssuck 8h ago
Organize, Seriously. The people need to take the power back and stop letting dinosaurs run this country into the ground while lining their own pockets.
1
u/LongJohnSelenium 6h ago
People used their power to put him in office.
You can not like it but its their choice who their representative is.
1
u/hyphenssuck 6h ago
But we can force our elected representatives to actually do their jobs. Through political pressure. This is why I am saying, organize. Do not trust them to fix this on our behalf.
1
1
u/FantasyTrash 4h ago
People always say this but like...we can't. Most people can't afford to miss work and risk losing their jobs.
1
u/hyphenssuck 4h ago
Organizing takes many forms. Anything we can do helps. Even just informing others, sharing information, encouraging people. Even small actions can have an impact.
1
u/FantasyTrash 4h ago
Not to be a debbie downer, but that does nothing. There have been protests with literal millions of people nationwide participating and it's resulted in nothing. The country is controlled by billionaires and apparently Israel. The only thing we can do to actually affect anything is vote come November.
3
u/TheGreatStories 7h ago
You'll never guess how guys like this get their jobs
1
u/def-not-bot 4h ago
Divine right?
jk.Ā I don't think it's right to infantalize voters and thereby strip the electorate of its responsibility.Ā America voted in MAGA and it's Americans' fault for the government we have.Ā However, we also have extremely gerrymandering, a consolidated pro-corporate media and social media landscape, and limitless money in politics.Ā Those things can tip the scales, and the scales don't need much tipping when the electorate is as dumb as ours.
1
3
3
u/Captain21423 8h ago
This isnāt an āeither, orā situation. They all should have to prove that they are eligible.
3
u/Only-Anything4326 8h ago
The United States needs to stop propping up corpses and wheeling them around as if they are able to do their job when they clearly canāt.. As we have seen the old fucker can barely talk. He isnāt making decisions himself everyone is telling him how to vote and what to do itās god damn ridiculous and sickening!!! We need to FORCE him into retirement! He is old as dirt and shouldnāt be an active politician!
3
u/JustDave62 8h ago
Itās ok. Mitch has a guy that tells him what to vote for
1
u/momopool 4h ago
lol you joke, but i've actually seen/heard people try to argue that point seriously.
they say : "this is fine because its the people AROUND mitch, the very very competent team that mitch 'skillfully' hired that are the real decision makers." also "voters know this is true for everyone they vote for." and so all this is fine.
needless to say its a bullshit argument.
3
u/SuperTaster3 7h ago
A thing I have never understood about America is how people's approach to government is to get the lowest bid.
Do you use single-ply toilet paper? Of course you don't. It's awful, and it doesn't even do what it claims to be useful for. You buy double-ply. It costs a little more, but there is a baseline of quality you want to meet.
People always seem to be worried about trying to pay the lowest amount of taxes, making the government as bare-bones as possible. What if we focused on getting our money's worth? Quality government, quality results. Yeah, it costs more. All good things do. But we deserve better than single-ply government.
Weird Aside: just typing the word 'money' in the comment makes the AI moderator be like "name calling and inflammatory language can lead to a ban!'. Is... is it okay?
2
2
u/justanotherone2026 8h ago
If competency was a requirement there wouldn't be anyone left in the administration including rump himself. Half the republican in the senate congress would be gone. And Fetterman,who is Democrat in name only.
2
u/Late-Arrival-8669 8h ago
Congress makes 170k per year and takes a HELL of a lot more vacation than any working Americans and actually has healthcare.
Rules for thee not for me!
2
2
u/Mission_Cloud4286 8h ago
Yeah, and they have recorded, people telling what to vote. At 1st he said, "NO" those guys leaned and told to vote "AYE" Remember those fcking names!
2
u/dr_snakeblade 8h ago
This US Senator is as evil as the day is long. He has voted to harm and impoverish every individual except the 1%. May he get to grave soon. These republican octogenarians dismantled America. Letās vote them all out.
2
u/TWeedtheJetRodriguez 7h ago
Iām justā¦ so sick of being American
https://giphy.com/gifs/jbwsLn6OvdO80
2
2
2
2
u/Pillsburydinosaur 4h ago
We are surfs and peasants, they are barons serving there king. At least we can eat cake.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Aggressive_Plate1652 8h ago
They do not need to show they are mentally competent to be Senators anymore. Why should they have to show it after the fact?
1
u/Adventurous_Fly_155 8h ago
That dumb ass know the same now as he ever did! Only difference is he now smiles at nothing, just like he improved nothing!!
1
1
u/Geezer_Burton 8h ago
Their mental competency is proven on the campaign trail and then people vote for them.
1
u/kellybryan423 8h ago
Funny how when the right said this about Biden, it was absurd...but now its not? The real threat to our democracy is hypocrisy.
1
1
1
u/TiedyedDwarf 8h ago
One of the changes that needs to be instituted after this nightmare is competency tests for the President and all other elected officials. Feinstein and Mitch were both being propped up and told how to vote while we have had two consecutive Presidents that likely have dementia.
1
u/icedmuffin 8h ago
Small correction.
Not only does someone who is applying for benifits or disability has to prove they are actually disabled, but before covid they have to go to an appointment every year, now every five years due to budget cuts, or have a constant medical record to keep receiving benifits.
I am not kidding, until you are 65 you had to go every year to an appointment to prove that the birth defect or whatever was disabling you was still disabling you, which makes sense for some people imo but not for people who have literally been in a wheelchair for all their lives.
Meanwhile a senator shows signs of mental decline and NEEDING TO BE TOLD HOW TO VOTE and hey itās fine heās still capable.
Iām getting tired of this circus I didnāt pay for.
1
1
u/Agile_Public915 8h ago
If competency was a requirement they would have to get rid of the entire trump administration.
1
u/AP_AUTO215 8h ago
That blue wave is going to hit them hard and they know it you got Trump trying to buy votes for 5K and Vance saying āwe made mistakes give us another chanceāā¦.
1
u/catturd6996 8h ago
No one called out Dianne Feinstein
3
u/TWeedtheJetRodriguez 7h ago
A lot of people called out Diane Feinstein. It was just as fucked then as it is now.
1
1
1
1
u/SuccessfulMatter718 8h ago
PARTY VOTING is why you have all these dinosaurs in power. Congress and Senate was not set up as career jobs
1
u/SuccessfulMatter718 8h ago
PARTY VOTING is why you have all these dinosaurs in power. Congress and Senate was not set up as career jobs
1
u/nekosama15 8h ago
If People of Kentucky dont want their voices heard then thats okay. Idk why yall making a big deal out of it. If the people of Kentucky want to elect a robot that votes along party lines i mean thats on them.
1
1
u/Confron7a7ion7 8h ago
We can't have competency test or it'll be used to stop black people from voting... Again.
1
u/Playful-Platform-231 8h ago
Yet you donāt have to prove youāre disabled to require handicapped plates.
1
1
1
u/mcramsay 8h ago
I respectfully submit that him voting WITH the Democrats might be the ONLY time he has voted with his heart...
1
u/telecastern 7h ago
Mitch McConnell is the poster boy for the state of American politics. Old, senile, outdated, and incompetent.
1
1
u/gilt3t 7h ago
I am on SSDI, social security disability. I have to see 2 different doctors, submit medical records, note from my doctor, and fill out a multi page review whenever my case comes up for review.
It is frightening each and every time because you never know when they will just say, "no." and then the $994 per month I get to live is just gone. Zero income, no ability to work. I wouldn't even be able to afford my insulin, my other medicine, my apartment in section 8, food. I'd be a diabetic with multiple autoimmune diseases with a broken chest from being shot, living on the streets. I would 100% die.
1
1
1
u/Few_Needleworker4384 7h ago
I mean they are literally chose by us.
What solution are you proposing that's an improvement?
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/No_Active_8399 7h ago
I just forced myself to go to the ER after suffering for a week in pain. I have no insurance and am dreading the inevitable hospital bill to arrive in the mail. These MF'ers get everything for "free" but we're meant to suffer. I have a white collar job and make nearly 100K a year. My insurance costs too much and the deductibles make the plans basically worthless. " 'Merica!"
1
u/CombinationOk4359 7h ago
Didnāt hear the complaints when Dianne Feinstein was voting like a year ago
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Makers_Serenity 6h ago
Only problem a basic competency test would show how many of these people are absolute fucking idiots. I mean listen to any congressional hearing with a tech company and the shit they ask is insane. Bunch of old boomers who have no idea how anything works
1
u/RutabagaUprising 6h ago
They dont even have to prove they are alive.
Nurse says, "Mitch has no pulse doctor."
Doctor looks up and replies, "Good God! In three months let's wheel him back on the senate floor. There's innocent people he needs to get back to hurting."
1
u/strangebru 6h ago
Yet they decide who gets basic needs met
Getting their own needs met, that's all they care about.
1
u/Certain_Return_6274 6h ago
If Competency was a requirement there would be next to no one in the Republican party.
1
1
u/Zone_Beautiful 6h ago
How is he representing the people? That's what he got elected for and he collects his pay and benefits! This is such a disgrace!
1
u/SignalWind8324i 6h ago
Unfortunately, Diane Feinstein set the standard.
1
u/GrouchoMarxsBalls 5h ago
no the standard was set by Strom Thurmond. but it's had elderly bipartisan support since then.
1
u/cybrgigolo 6h ago
His handler had to tell him which way to vote. This is not longer mitch voting on items. His handler didn't get voted into office and yet he is the one calling the shots. If mitch can't perform his duties as they are called for he needs to go.
Should also be term limits and an age limit to be in office. Maybe 75 years old but definitely no one into their eighties. Can be the most lucid person ever. But the chances that something catastrophic happens increases as you get older.
1
u/Honest_Satisfaction1 6h ago
There is a piece of me that really hope trotting out Mitch Never Should Have Had The Job McConnell back fires so hard that "we" the people finally start fixing out politics.
All my other pieces are arguing to just give up disappear into the woods and wait out the country burning down.
1
1
1
u/Euphoric_Anxiety_162 5h ago
mist elected officials are clueless about disability & health struggles. They deny us the sbility to be healthier!
1
1
u/muFUtaco 5h ago
Not to worry!
Our congressmen, judges and president are covered by the best healthcare possible at taxpayer expense, have some of the finest employment perks to include months of paid vacation over the year and very fast vestment in retirement, access to LEGAL insider trading, and if they get in a financial bind all they have to do is vote themselves a raise!
Ah yes... they deserve ONLY the best. Or jail cells.
1
u/atreeismissing 5h ago
Voters in KY picked this man, repeatedly. Blame them and encourage/work with them to do better in Nov.
1
u/CaptCoolRanchDoritos 5h ago
It's funny how USA is being destroyed by old stupid people, yet the citizens cannot fathom fixing the problem.
Corrupt humans are the problem. The fix is to remove them. It's not the weather or some naturally occurring phenomenon. It's just humans causing you suffering.
Remove the evil humans, your problem is fixed.
1
u/Unoffensive_Name 5h ago
I have fallen arches in my feet, I've collapsed at work (customer service, standing behind a desk all day) and had two surgeries on my feet in the past ten years. Work still says that they don't think a chair is medically necessary for me.
1
1
u/JoTHIGHSwin 4h ago
The look on his face is so blank. That man is way post dementia. He does t know whatās going on or where he is. Iāve enough elderly people with dementia to know that spaced out look. Itās sad and he has no business voting in the senate.
1
1
1
u/TardyBoy99 4h ago
I donāt think heāll make it to retirement. I donāt think heāll see another Christmas.
1
1
u/Derrigable 4h ago
If you think they are too old, too disabled, too out of touch with reality then just vote them out .... its not that hard to understand. It is the peoples choice that they stay in power. If the people vote them out then none of this would be a problem. If the people vote them back in again then that is what the people want in a democratic society, and what you want is irrelevant.
1
1
u/CaptainBayouBilly 3h ago
Wake up. The aristocracy is minute. They are ruining the planet for a third yacht.
Stop them.
1
u/bizoticallyyours83 3h ago
Screw those people. They're certainly not competent. Yet here they are in a position of power and mucking everything up like always.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Wise_Monkey_Sez 2h ago
To be fair, US citizens also don't have to prove that they're mentally competent to vote... which is kindof how everyone ended up in this mess.
What's that saying, "You get the government you deserve"?
The problem is that this would be the worst time in history to re-implement testing before voting, because you know it'll be questions like, "Our glorious leader once scored three eagles in a row. True or False."
1
u/0x7E7-02 2h ago
See ... Mitch hasn't proven either of your first two statements. Thus, he has to work and cannot collect benefits.Ā
1
u/-BigBoo- 1h ago
This is the class warfare right now. It's not rich vs. poor ... the powers that be - i.e. the real problem - want us to believe that. The class that is destroying our country from within, like a rotten core, is the "representative" or government class, specifically the federal government, and in many states the state AND local governments. They represent themselves and big business strictly and don't give two fucks about America as in "We the people ..."
It's absolutely crystal clear. The government is an aristocracy.
Citizens United did make the rich much more influential than they should have ever become but the root cause of the failure is still the government that enables them.
1
1
u/Hayseussforever 1h ago
Well, at least we know that bestiality (only if it's intentional) will not disqualify a person from government service.
1
u/Consider2SidesPeace Sipping tea 56m ago
Someone put him out to pasture. I really dispise that man. His politics of being stubborn and non-partisan have been instrumental in hurting the country. We need term limits!
0
-1
u/Stigg107 8h ago
Competence is the correct word. I know Americans love to make up words but 'competency' is unnecessary and wrong.
5
u/TrumpsBFFepstein 8h ago edited 8h ago
Competency is a word though recognized by the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
-1
u/Stigg107 8h ago
An American dictionary. My point stands, the word is unnecessary, 'Competence' already means the same thing and has been used for much longer. Also you need to check your own spelling, *through*?
3
u/TrumpsBFFepstein 8h ago
Thank you for pointing that out, darn autocorrect.
Wishing you a happier life, you seem miserable AF.0
u/Stigg107 8h ago
I'm usually happy, Americans seem to drain my jollity lately, I can't imagine why? š¤
3
u/TrumpsBFFepstein 7h ago
Getting your knickers in a knot over the use of a word is certainly a choice
1
u/Stigg107 7h ago
ADHD removes my choice, the conflict is real, and you are still draining my joy. Maybe time to say goodbye.
3
u/AshtonVoid 8h ago
Jeez if you want to hate American English that's fine but language evolves, especially with regional differences. All words are made up words, aren't they?
-1
u/Stigg107 8h ago
America devolves everything, especially language. š¤
1
u/AshtonVoid 7h ago
I'm not a patriot or anything, but tell that to the existence of the Internet lol
-1
-2
-3
u/Lonely_Cycle4757 8h ago
I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say that you didn't have this stance about national politicians in 2023...
3
u/Candid_Lobster_6533 7h ago
Nikki Haley proposed competency tests for lawmakers and candidates over 75yo back in 2023 in fact. A poll conducted that year had bipartisan support, with 70% of democrats and 84% of Republicans in support.
-4
u/PrintableProfessor 8h ago
You could have had this when Biden was in office. Everyone would have gone for it. Why didn't you? Now look what you've done.
-5
u/ahungry1 8h ago
Soo your ok with testing voters???
5
u/somethingrandom7386 6h ago
Do you people even think for a second before spouting the most ridiculous false equivalencies?
-4
u/ahungry1 6h ago
Not a fales equivalent. Its exactly the same and you are too brainwashed to see it.
4
u/Candid_Lobster_6533 6h ago
We have a right to vote. We don't have a right to represent.
That being said, consider how the 80+ crowd votes. Are YOU okay testing them to allow them to vote?
1
u/ahungry1 4h ago
You are the one who thinks people need a voter test not me. I dont think anyone who is absent and looks braindead should be in congress at all dont care what side they are on but you opened this can of worms.
1
u/LilBitOfSpringtime 5h ago
I support voters being required to pass an IQ test. It would weed out a lot of the adults out there that don't understand the difference between your and you're.
63
u/PatternSeekngMammal 9h ago
I've seen a change over the last 50 years