Will Senator Feinstein run for another term? Should she?

There is an op-ed piece in today's Los Angeles Times articulating the reasons that its author Harold Meyerson thinks Senator Feinstein should not seek reelection in November of next year.  One of those reasons is that at the age of 84, she is currently the eldest member of the United States Senate.

Donald Trump is 70 years of age.  Hillary Clinton was 69 years of age while running against him. Bernie Sanders was even older, and would have been 75 years of age when he took office had he won election.  Age was a minor issue during the election, and not much of one since there wasn't much of a disparity.  But imagine for a moment that one of the two candidates had been 84 years of age?  Then age would have been a major issue.

Did you know that there are currently eight U.S. Senators who are 80 years of age or older?  Unless the composition of the Senate changes before the end of the year, that number will increase to nine when Mississippi's senior Senator Thad Cochran turns 80 in December.  One of that group, Utah's Orrin Hatch has already announced that he will seek another term next November.  He announced his plans to seek another term one week before his 83rd birthday this past month.

We will almost certainly never see term limits at the federal level.  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that they are unconstitutional.  We will also never seen set-in-stone maximum ages for our elected leadership.  Consider that the two eldest members of the House of Representatives were both born prior to the Stock Market Crash of October, 1929.

If Senator Feinstein wants to run for another term, that is her choice and her right.  I will not vote for her in a primary or general election.  As Mr. Meyerson points out accurately in his op-ed piece, she has not changed with the party; and she is not going to be part of the process that brings about the required changes in party policy to energize the voters and help the #Resist movement to change the majority in the Congress.

I wouldn't vote for Orrin Hatch either but that's because he once said he "wouldn't want to see homosexuals teaching school anymore than I'd want to see members of the American Nazi Party teaching school."

There is no question that there are exceptions to the fact that for most, according to neurological research, cognitive function drops off sharply around the age of 70.  Many of those who roam the halls of Washington, D.C., who are far older still have very sharp minds.  Some of them have incredible stamina and energy levels.  

What do you think?