Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by AtiRadeon9700 700 days ago
Quite right! We can only regret that similar minimum-age limits weren't put in place for other offices.

Here in ye olde Europe (and I believe the same for the U.S.), it is unfortunately common to see extremely young, as in literal college students, parliamentarians -- most of them handsome, well-spoken and opinionated; and some also coincidentally the children of famous politicians or businesspeople :-)
2 comments
jjk166 699 days ago
In the US there were similar minimum age limits for other offices. President was 35, upper chamber legislator 30, lower chamber legislator 25.
link
lupire 700 days ago
Why do you find it so offensive that people get to choose who they want to be their leader?
link
mdp2021 700 days ago
Because those "«people»" choose it for everybody else

I.e., your statement is translated to "that large masses of possibly unqualified people choose wrongly qualified people as having power over other people, with important regard to people in their right mind". It is not a value; it is a concern tackled in systemic planning.

link
vkou 700 days ago
All people in all countries choose who they want to be their leader. If Russians didn't like Putin, they'd string his entrails up from a lamp post.

All governments, democratic or despotic can only govern with the consent of their subjects.

It's thus reasonable to dislike the precise mechanisms by which that consent (explicit and implied) is achieved in any particular country.

link
beaglesss 700 days ago
They really only need consent of 2-3% of very violent people and for the rest to non-violently not consent.
link
vkou 700 days ago
Most people will become sufficiently violent if unhappy enough. The world's always three meals from anarchy.
link
beaglesss 699 days ago
Sometimes. On the other hand a surprisingly large number of women are raped and dont fight back because they are overwhelmed with various forceful factors. I imagine being raped feels quite unhappy, possibly even more so than missing 3 meals.

I'll have to look more into the 'seasoning' islands full of slaves in the Caribbean during the slave trade years. IIRC they were treated as bad as you can get, were the majority, and didn't consent yet practically didn't overthrow their dictator in most circumstances (Haiti might count as an exception).

link
rospaya 700 days ago
> All governments, democratic or despotic can only govern with the consent of their subjects.

That's the definition of a despotic government - ruling without consent. Any rule comes from the end of a gun.

link