As we have contented here repeatedly, the Western bourgeoisie has a problem extending its hegemony over the Third World (or the emerging markets, as it is euphemistically called). Despite the evident faults, flaws and fallacies of brutal autocracies, from China and Russia to Turkey and Iran, it is equally evident that their populations are unwilling to marry the Western degeneracy (it is emphatically not "culture") that our bourgeoisies wish to impose on them - for the simple incontrovertible and unassailable reason that they can see for themselves the deleterious destructive effects that bourgeois degeneracy wreaks on our lives and on our nationhoods.
The Western capitalist bourgeoisie is caught between a rock and a hard place: on one hand, it needs to destroy its working class by exporting production to autocratic nations whilst distracting its constituencies with "culture wars" and identity politics. On the other hand, by so doing, it empowers these inimical autocracies and, at the same time, it has to try hypocritically to export its socially divisive identity politics to national populations that simply refuse to countenance them - precisely because they can witness their destructive degenerate effects in the West!
Below are two instances or examples, taken from today's Washington Post, of this senescent degeneracy that is leading our Western societies to the edge of the abyss. Read and reflect!
Opinion Want a reliable senior community? Retire to the U.S. Senate!
Consider ... retiring to the United States Senate.
The world’s greatest deliberative body might seem a counterintuitive place to retire, but consider all the things that make it an appealing place to grow old.
Here at the Senate, there’s no shame in being senior! Indeed, our senior members are the most important. We make a point of it: We have a minimum age but no maximum. Our members’ average age is 64.3 — more than 25 years older than the U.S. median age!
Worried that you will slow things down or that your absence could grind things to a halt? Don’t be. Go as fast or as slow as you’d like — the Senate will be there, waiting. That is how the system is designed.
There’s so much to do here for members of all ages! We have a gym, a library and groups called committees for members who share a common interest — Appropriations, Budget, Judiciary, Foreign Relations and more. We also have a floor for votes! You can pass real, binding legislation! Laws that people have to live by — even decades into the future!
Want to learn more about technology? Hold a hearing! Worried you don’t understand the latest technology? Simply ban it!
Our historic facility boasts marble hallways and manicured grounds. We don’t offer golf on-site, but it is very easy to have a lobbyist take you!
There’s a constant stream of visitors, so you’ll never be bored. Tourists. Activists. Student groups. They’ll ask questions about the past, about their future. Feel free to answer as brusquely as you’d like — or not at all. This isn’t about them. It’s about you. Remember, the less you think about the consequences your presence here has for other people, the more worry-free your tenure can be!
Here, activities include running (only every six years), voting, fundraising (this can be as onerous as you make it), making phone calls and dodging (reporter questions, calls to resign).
To enter, you’ll have to pick a team, but don’t worry: The longer you stay, the less it will matter. You’ll start to feel a bond with your fellow members that transcends any so-called party allegiance.
And in the Senate, there is no such thing as too old! Strom Thurmond stayed nearly until he died, at age 100. You, too, can stay that long — or even longer.
No worries, either, about overstaying your welcome. Jane Mayer of the New Yorker wrote that, “Strom Thurmond, of South Carolina, and Robert Byrd, of West Virginia, were widely known by the end of their careers to be non-compos mentis.” Your constituents might mind, but the Senate will gladly accommodate you.
What if you reach a point when it becomes difficult to function? Simply assume that will not be a problem!
In the Senate, we believe that you’re never too seasoned to participate! What’s more, we insist on it — from approving judicial nominees (some for life!) to shaping legislation that will determine how much carbon dioxide our nation releases for the next few decades! Don’t worry if you’re not knowledgeable about some issues; just mess around. The next generation will sort things out!
Don’t wait! Save your seat in the Senate today!
Some fine print: Yes, you are technically representing a state full of people and making policy decisions for the country as a whole. The ramifications of these policy decisions will last for years, maybe generations. If you enter with strong principles and a clear sense of mission, it is still possible that simply by remaining in the Senate you can jeopardize everything you’ve worked so hard to build.
But don’t let these details stand in the way of a wonderful Senate retirement. Be like Strom Thurmond! That’s a sentence everybody loves to hear.
And, if the Senate’s not for you, consider … retiring to the White House!
America’s gerontocracy is getting too old
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) recently returned to the Senate after a 2½-month medical leave necessitated by a shingles infection. The oldest current-serving member of Congress, Feinstein, 89, entered the chamber looking weak and diminished, presumably from the painful effects of the virus. She was in town to resume work, she said, while also saying she’d been at work all along, as though she’d never left.
Opinion America’s gerontocracy is getting too old
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) recently returned to the Senate after a 2½-month medical leave necessitated by a shingles infection. The oldest current-serving member of Congress, Feinstein, 89, entered the chamber looking weak and diminished, presumably from the painful effects of the virus. She was in town to resume work, she said, while also saying she’d been at work all along, as though she’d never left.
When a reporter asked whether she meant she had been working from home, Feinstein said, “No, I’ve been here. I’ve been voting. Please — You either know or don’t know.”
True enough. Feinstein already announced she won’t run for reelection in 2024, when she will be 91. This followed reports of her mental decline by several colleagues, including three Democratic senators, three former staffers and a Democratic House member from California. They agreed that her memory deterioration meant she couldn’t do her job even with help from her staff.
In fact, Feinstein voted this week and attended a Judiciary Committee hearing to approve nominations which had been stalled by her absence. Otherwise, she’s keeping a light schedule on doctor’s orders and getting around in a wheelchair. Unsurprisingly, 83-year-old Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has called reports about Feinstein’s mental diminishment “ridiculous attacks that are beneath the dignity in which she has led and the esteem in which she is held.”
Commentary about someone’s age and related issues is painful to write and painful to read. At best, it seems disrespectful. But public life carries a duty to be honest with oneself while self-awareness is still possible.
Which brings us, inevitably, to President Biden. At times I think, oh, whew, he got through that speech pretty well. I’m always pulling for him because he’s our president. I want him to be strong; I wish him good health and strong knees. But at other times, his speech is so muddled, I have no idea what he’s saying, and it seems he doesn’t either.
I hate saying this, but Biden is too old to serve another four years, not least because, should he become debilitated by illness or injury, we’ll be saddled with one of the least-popular Democratic candidates from the 2020 primary campaign: Vice President Harris. Her word salads make Biden seem like Demosthenes. Ninety percent of the time, I have no idea what she’s talking about. Or why she’s laughing.
Here is Harris addressing climate change: “We will work together, and continue to work together, to address these issues … and to work together as we continue to work, operating from the new norms, rules, and agreements, that we will convene to work together ... we will work on this together.”
And she’s only 58.
Lest my observations seem partisan, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, 89, has served as one of Iowa’s senators since 1981. That’s eight terms for Grassley, who, by the way, is fit as a fiddle. Just ask him. He described his daily routine to a group of Iowa radio reporters last fall: “I go to bed at 9. Get up at 4. [Run] two miles in morning. Get to the office before 6. Usually in the office until 6:30, quarter ’til 7. I have a full schedule when I’m in the office — you know, committee meetings, caucuses, interviews like this that I do 52 times a year.”
Grassley forgot to mention that he’ll drop to the floor and do push-ups for no reason whatsoever, and has the best Senate attendance record, according to one of his ads.
No one has challenged Grassley’s mental acuity, though the Iowan will be 95 at the end of his term. I suppose he, like many men, worries that retirement means imminent death. But can’t a case be made for going home as a gesture of good manners and fair play — to give someone else a turn at the wheel? Surely, some younger version of Grassley can vote for what Iowans want.
I’m guessing not many women are busting their bustles to challenge another older woman, who, the same week Feinstein rolled back into the Capitol, was flashing leg on the cover of the 2023 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Martha Stewart just can’t quit herself. For just $15.99 plus $4 shipping, you can view the 81-year-old vixen posing in a variety of bathing suits, including a white bikini. In one photo, she’s lying on a beach, leaning on one arm and looking a little sleepy, as a young dude in jeans-no-shirt rides a stallion through the shallows, dragging two more horses behind him.
To each her own — and heaven forbid anyone should judge any woman’s decision about her body — but note to self: To all things there is a season. Martha looks fine from what I’ve seen online, but I’d buy the magazine only for her beauty Rolodex — names, numbers and none of this nonsense about drugstore body glow.
She has no plans to retire, but you knew that. The woman who is about to publish her 100th book is in an important way different from the rest: No one can replace Martha.
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