My latest column at America magazine is about the oldsters in American politics who won't leave:
Particularly in the Democratic Party, the seniority system has helped to preserve racial and gender diversity by applying the same criterion to everyone: If you do your job, you keep your job for as long as you want it. This is why so many have been uncomfortable with the suggestions that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg should have retired before her death at age 87; that it might have been time for Speaker Pelosi to give up the gavel four years ago, at age 78; or that California Sen. Dianne Feinstein may not be up to the job at age 88. (After all, Strom Thurmond, a man, served until he was 100!)
