Blogocentric Formulations

JAFBG Interlude

A third of the way into "The Soundtrack of Your Life" , I'm taking a little break from the music blogging to blog about something else. I pulled these prompts from last months current prompts over at "JAFBG" , so consider this a little JAFBG Interlude. I'm going to post some short responses to a few different prompts:


There has been talk recently about imposing upper age limits on political roles. Do you think there should be a maximum age limit for political positions?

I not only thing there should be a maximum age limit, I also think there should be term limits. I understand the arguments for having seasoned politicians in office who have a wealth of experience about how the system works, so I'm not advocating for one-and-done terms or anything... but I think it's far, far too easy for politicians to get complacent, for self-serving policies to take root, and for corruption when politicians are able to cement themselves into a political office and hold onto it for ten, twenty, thirty years.

If I could snap my fingers tomorrow and make changes, I would enforce a retirement age of 65 for elected officials, and term limits that cap out after 8-12 years or so. For things that are currently lifetime appointments like the Supreme Court and many federal judicial roles, it'd be one-and-done after a 12-18 year term or whenever you turn 65, whichever comes first. Stagger the elections, of course, so you have a mix of "experienced" politicians who are at the tail end of their careers in public service mixing with the newly elected.

That's not to say it should be enforced retirement... if you want to continue working into your twilight years in the fields of academia, the private sector, as a self-employed lobbyist/consultant, or whatever... more power to you. But you shouldn't be in your seventies or even eighties and still clinging onto a public office that you've refused to relinquish for decades.

A healthy representative government is dependent on elected officials that actually represent their constituents. The longer politicians are able to shroud themselves in power and solidify their positions against challengers, the further they get from their constituents. I'm all for age and term limits that refresh the pool of elected officials with some regularity, so that new voices can be heard and not drowned out by the voices of those who have entrenched their position and lost touch with their constituents.


What's something going on in the world or in your local community right now that you think people should be more aware of?

On an international level, I think it has to be climate change. And not just because I think we all need to be a little more wide-eyed about what our choices in the name of business growth and profits are doing to this planet, but because - like my response above - I think we've grown complacent with the way things are. I long for new innovations, for more announcements that someone has developed greater fuel-efficiency, or an alternative power source, or technology that's higher-quality, longer-lasting, and greener. I think ingenuity has taken a backseat to convenience and profitability, and if there's one cause that can rally everyone around this idea, it's the shared goal of making the one planet we all live on a better place to be. I think we all need to take a closer look at how the changing climate is affecting us in so many ways, and knowing those changes are coming, what we can do to innovate truly out-of-the-box solutions to these changes.

On a local/national level, I think people should be more aware of just how much corporate interests are pulling the strings. The money they dump into the political system for advantageous legislation (tax breaks, help with regulatory concerns, anti-unionization efforts, etc.), the way that people are pitted against one another, the lack of loyalty so many companies now show to their workforce. The corporate world has taken on a "profits and growth at all costs" business model (especially in the past 10-20 years), and I wish people would pay more attention to the ways our strings are getting pulled and our attention is being diverted while corporate interests manipulate the levers of power in the background.


What widely-accepted piece of advice is actually total bullshit?

"Write what you know." People have taken "write what you know" to mean that you should only write about topics that you're intimately familiar with. I suppose that's why so many writers try to write about writer characters writing things. If writers could only write what they already objectively know for certain, there would be no science fiction, or fantasy. There would be considerably fewer action/thrillers about spies and special forces soldiers, and there would sure as hell be fewer "billionaire bad boy" romance novels.

The piece of advice writers should instead be following is "know what you're writing about." You don't have to already be an expert in the topic. You don't have to only write about things that have happened to you. But you sure as hell need to know what you're doing and have an understanding of your subject matter. Know what you're writing about. And if you don't know about it already, start learning.