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Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s exit from politics after nearly 40 years in the game is a stark reminder that too much of our political class is like her: Long-haul careerists who cling to the reins of power — while making bank off their positions.
On Thursday, the ex-speaker announced she won’t seek a 20th term; she thus avoids a potentially tough primary battle against former AOC Chief of Staff Saikat Chakrabarti.
She wasn’t eager to go: Until now, she’d been pointedly prepping for another run at age 85, defying younger members of her party (including, reportedly, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, 55) who wanted her to let someone born after World War II take over.
This reluctance to let a new generation step up is far from rare: Three others in the House are even older than her, and Congress held at least 20 octogenarians as of this past January.
We’re absolutely fine with older Americans serving in public office, especially those like Wisconsin’s Sen. Ron Johnson, who had a long, successful career in business before trying politics.
But it is problematic when the average age is about 58 for the House and 64 for the Senate — and so many electeds have never had a life outside of politics, giving them almost no insight into the real world.
Not to mention the numbers who blatantly cash in on their “public service.”
It’s true that most elected jobs don’t pay all that well, but that’s no excuse for informally boosting your pay (by seven figures, in some cases!) by, say, using inside information to guide your stock picks: Pelosi’s husband Paul’s years of suspiciously lucky trades have added millions to the couple’s net worth.
Dirty-dealing, palm-greasing and favor-trading all grow easier the longer a politician stays in office, a blatant incentive to stay in the game.
Longtime incumbents also get to play the insider game of influencing election laws and district-drawing to make their jobs even more secure.
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Meanwhile, it gets ever harder for non-hacks to even think about running: The campaign-finance system is stacked against newcomers, and rewards extreme rhetoric that pushes emotional buttons to open wallets.
And so we see genuine moderates like Maine Rep. Jared Golden, a 43-year-old moderate Democrat, stepping down after just eight years in the House, embittered by the rise in political violence and the left’s nonstop pressure for a “no-holds barred” approach to governance.
Reasonable, honest potential politicians who care about the nation’s future get pushed out of politics early, while their more unscrupulous peers stick around forever.
Pelosi finally may be on her way out, but the quality of Congress is more likely to get worse than improve.