Healthcare shouldn't be this complicated.
You feel sick? Go to the hospital. Have someone take care of you. Add on the complexities of insurance, the lack of good-faith instilled in doctors on hour 40 of their shift, and suddenly you have a stay that turns into a nightmare you can't escape from.
They only get worse from here.
Reddit user, emeraldthemnstr, wanted to hear your healing horror stories when they asked:
What's the worst hospital experience you've ever had?
A visit to the ER shouldn't be like rolling the dice to decide how you're going to be, but sometimes it's like placing your health in the hands of fate.
Except fate is a jerk.
You Never Know How Your Body Is Going To React
"The day after I graduated from college I began having intense stomach pains that kept me awake for almost three days straight. Went to my doctor and they sent me over the ER to get a CT scan immediately. Found out I had a pretty significant intestinal blockage."
"Anyway my first night in the hospital I was finally able to get kind of comfortable but the nurses were insistent that I take Ambien to sleep. I told them that I hadn't slept in 3 days and that I was going to pass out any minute. Well they kept pushing, and like an idiot, I took the pill. Fast forward to the next morning where I wake up with dried blood all over my arm and I generally hurt all over. It turns out I got really messed up on the Ambien. I stripped naked, ripped out all my IVs, and ran down to the nurse station while babbling nonsense."
"To this day I've never seen my mom as mad as she was when she found out what happened."
Tcraw487
One Diagnosis Is Not Like The Other
"I fell over on a night out, not drunk, and hit my head. Only 6 months before I'd had brain surgery for a tumour."
"Scooped up by an ambulance, dumped in A&E, treated like a drunk student. My friends kept telling them that I wasn't drunk, I'd had surgery etc. but they left me in a corridor and ignored me."
"After 3 or 4 hours on a bed in a corridor with no attention, I decided I was fine and checked myself out. It was ridiculous. I felt a bit woozy but recovered fully the next day."
"They should have taken me a bit more seriously, not treated me like a drunk, just because it happened on a Saturday night."
shinyhappycat
There's nothing worse than telling a doctor what you know for sure in your heart is wrong and they don't listen to you.
Makes You Wonder Who's A Professional And Who Isn't
"I was 16 and I had horrible stomach pains for about a week and just chalked it up to the flu going around school but it didnt go away it continued for another week and I lost about 12 pounds and started throwing up after almost every meal my dad was sufficiently freaked and took me to the ER and the doctor was convinced I was pregnant."
"She kept badgering me about even though I repeatedly said there was absolutely no way I could be pregnant unless I was the second coming of the virgin mary, I was on the verge of tears when she went so far as to tell my dad to leave the room so I could "admit the truth" she finally made me pee in a cup and SURPRISE! no baby."
"Then after just pushing really hard on my stomach and asking me if it hurt she said it must be my kidneys and wanted to start me on meds but warned that if it wasnt actually my kidneys that the medication could cause serious damage."
"It was at this point my usually very calm and reasonable dad completely lost his mind and asked the woman if she had actually gone to med school and pulled me out of there."
"We went to another hospital where I found out I needed an appendectomy immediately. Screw that dumb doctor not every teen girl with stomach pains is pregnant."
Cactusjacks22
It Is What We Thought It Was
"I got a call from my mother that my sister had been taken out of her apartment in an ambulance because she was in so much pain she couldn't walk- I lived about 40 minutes away but I was the closest so I went running."
"She's in crazy pain but they're basically ignoring her. Not appendicitis based on the initial exam, but in that general area. They're giving her the good drugs and asking her constantly if she's on her period or pregnant but do nothing else to actually check on her. Eventually (hours later) we're taken into an exam room (that fully isn't cleaned, they put a puppy pad over some blood on the step up to the chair) and they do an internal sonogram on her and say "Honey you need to pee, there's something in the way" she does and they still say "well something is in the way but it's so big that we know it couldn't be torsion which is what we're worried about- take some drugs and go home it's probably just cramps or a cyst that burst. Nothing to do."
"She goes to her gyno in the morning and is then rushed into surgery at a different (better) hospital. She had a grapefruit sized dermoid on her ovary, that did in fact cause ovarian torsion, and she lost her ovary as a result."
curlsandcollege
Strap Yourselves In, People
"I was in a car accident, and T-boned by someone going 65 MPH. My hand was caught in-between the collapsing car and the steering wheel."
"When I popped my hand out, I felt the bone break and it hurt like hell."
"Amazingly enough, I had no other injuries. But the EMT's were taking no chances, and thinking I was in shock, they strapped me onto a backboard and hauled me off to the ER. While in the ER, I was asked several times if I was injured anywhere, and I repeatedly said "My hand is broken, it hurts real bad. BTW - this backboard is hurting the hell out of the back of my head, can I get off of it, please? Also, can you please call my mother?" (FYI - I was 19)"
"2 hours later, I was still on the backboard, and I had lost count of how many people had asked me where my injuries were and me repeating "my left hand is broken...." but that was when I was finally taken down to the X-ray dept. There, they X-ray'd every bone in my body..... but my left hand."
"I am wheeled back to the ER, still on that goddamn backboard. By this time, I have a horrendous headache from where my head is resting on that 2x4, and I sit for another couple of hours. During that time I was able to talk a nurse into bringing me a bedpan so I could relieve myself, and that is when the cop came in, opened the curtains so everyone could see me, and give me a ticket."
"Finally, after having been in the ER for 6 hours, I've FINALLY talked someone into calling my mother to come pick me up, the doctor had FINALLY said I could get off of the backboard and when my mom got there (I'm not sure how many traffic laws she broke to get there as fast as she did), he let me know I had no injuries."
"Yes, I do. My hand is broken."
"Young lady, I'm the doctor, I tell you when your hand is broken."
"That was when I grabbed my ring finger on my left hand and pulled it out, and the break became visible through the skin."
"My hand is f-cking broken."
"Mom, being an attorney, just looked at the doctor and said "Does the word 'malpractice' mean anything to you?""
"Back down to the X-ray dept I went, and lo & behold, my damn hand was broken, but the Doctor was all how it was well hidden and that's why they missed it the first time (no, you missed it the first time because NO ONE X-RAY'D IT)."
"A couple of days later when I went to an ortho doctor to get my hand rebroken and the bone set (OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW) I pulled out the X-ray to take a look to see the break and how "hidden" it really was."
"Goddamn if you couldn't see that break right there in the middle of the bone plain as day."
"It's 20+ years later, the bone never did set correctly, and I'm starting to get arthritis in it. I can tell you when the weather is going to change based on how badly my hand is hurting."
bored-now
Both of my stories are with the same doctors, at the same hospital, having two different c sections. Fool me once and all that right?
For my first son, I was enduced and in labor for over 24 hours. My epidural had worn off. All of a sudden 4 doctors and 2 nurses rush into the room. 3 of the doctors just stick their hands in me at the same time and are frantic. One nurse is by the monitor. Finally she tells me that I'm having a 6 minute contraction and my son isn't breathing.
She gives me a shot to stop the contraction and my son starts breathing again. I am having a panic attack, and she tells me to calm down, and it's a side effect of the shot. Never mind that I'm freaking out because I'm worried about my son.
Good Lord...
"They say I need an emergency c section, though they don't take me back for another hour. My doctor was eating dinner. So even though it was an emergency, we had to wait."
"Also, the nurse never told my doctor that my son had swallowed his poop, so he was never properly cleaned out when he was born. He ended up having to stay a week because he got a lung infection from it."
"For my second son, I had a scheduled c section."
"The anesthesiologist had an intern with him, and said she will be putting in the epidural (I believe that's still what it is when you have a c section)."
"Those of you who don't know, they have to put this needle in your spine, and God help you if you move too much or they make a mistake."
"This girl put the needle in, and was moving it around. She couldn't find the right spot. It was beyond painful, and so hard to keep still. I could still feel my upper abdomen, which I don't think is normal, but since they were cutting my lower abdomen, I didn't say much."
"The doctor had 2 nurses lay their full body weight on both of my ribs to try to push the baby down. I told my anesthesiologist that they are hurting me and to make them stop. After a few minutes they did and my son was out."
"As soon as he was out, I felt EVERYTHING. I was breathing heavily, trying not to scream. The anesthesiologist gave me about 5 more doses over about 7 minutes before he told me he couldn't do any more. It didn't work. I could feel things ripping inside of me."
"It sounded and felt kind of like when you are ripping the guts out of a pumpkin with your bear hands."
"The doctor asked why I was breathing so heavily. The anesthesiologist told her I was in pain and could feel what she was doing. Her exact words: "well tell her to stop, I need to get her uterus back in."
"She didn't care how much pain I was in, and she acted like I couldn't hear her."
"Afterwards, the anesthesiologist was very apologetic. He said they have to go by certain guidelines. I was more understanding because the medicine finally kicked in, I was holding my son, and just happy it was over."
"I ended up opening my scar during my stay because the next 2 days, I felt absolutely no pain. My son was choking on throw up and the nurse left him at the foot of my bed, so I jumped across my bed to help him."
"I'm glad I no longer go to that doctor.'
jennyv753
Maybe just sleep it off the next time you're feeling under the weather?
Serious Bad Luck
"I went in to a minor surgery to remove a lip cyst and woke up 8 days later with my right leg amputated above the knee. Bad reaction to anesthesia caused heart failure. I was 23 at the time and 24 now. I’m one of those people with chronic bad luck."
F-ckmerit
It's Just A Spinal Tap
"More the doctor's office that screwed up than the hospital, but the resulting hospital visit wasn't fun."
"Went to college health center with classic mono symptoms (didn't find out it was mono until 8 months of symptoms later). They had me take a nap, then woke me up suddenly, in a dark room, half an hour after they closed, to inform me that I was being quarantined for meningitis and had to go to the hospital. I didn't want to take a $1000 ambulance ride, but they refused to let me drive myself or have a friend drive, so my options were "either take an ambulance or stay here all night."
"After three hours in the ER, the doc showed up and got all ready with his gloves, mask, etc. since I was "contagious." Then he took one look, ripped the mask off, and said "you look way too healthy to have meningitis, but since they brought it up I have to do a spinal tap anyway." Then he proceeded to stick a needle in my spinal cord while muttering angrily about how foolish of a diagnosis it was."
"tldr - paid a lot of money and got a needle in my spine because college docs insisted i had meningitis instead of mono"
jmacey72
Never forget, if you don't feel safe, just leave. No law saying you have to stay and receive treatment from people who you feel don't have your own interests at heart.
- People Who Had A Near Death Experience Share Their Stories ... ›
- Doctors Share Their 'This Just Got Really Serious' Patient Experiences ›
- People Break Down Their Worst Online Dating Experiences ... ›
It's amazing to think how, as times change, so do the quality of products.
But this also includes items that were once considered commonplace that are now seen as vintage or even luxury.
For those who were around at the time when an item was first introduced, it can be surprising to see how the availability of that item changes over time, and even frustrating when it becomes increasingly expensive.
Redditor zombiem00se asked:
"What was normal 20 or 30 years ago, but is considered a luxury now?"
Quality Furniture
"New furniture made out of real wood."
- Juls7243
"It's legit why I started woodworking. Even my s**tty projects that I'm unhappy with are infinitely better than the junk in stores."
- leap3
Software Ownership
"I hate that everything is a subscription now. I miss being able to just straight up buy Microsoft Office. Now you need a subscription."
"There's a hidden way to buy a license, but it has very basic functionality and limited apps, so it's kinda useless."
"Even my printer needs a d**n subscription to use the ink that came with it (which I hadn't realized or I wouldn't have bought it)."
- SolusLega
Income-Rent Ratio
"The days of paying no more than 30% of your income in rent."
- newsaggregateftw
"I lived in poverty housing and this was how they determined our rent. It was 30% of mom's income, regardless of how much she was making."
"That was 20 years ago, not sure what starving kids do today."
- DaughterEarth
Constant Availability
"Not being expected to be reachable 24/7."
- Siukslinis_acc
"Yes, f**k this. I hate being bothered about work when I'm off work. I used to have a boss that expected me to answer when I wasn't at work so he would b***h and moan about it. Then I became known as the one who never answers."
- Capt_Skyhawk
Affordable Concerts
"Concert Ticket prices."
- Quality_Street_1
"Sure does seem like ticket prices went from $50 to $200 really f**king fast."
- 7eregrine
Faithful Cookware
"Household products that didn't break within the first few years of use. My grandma had the same fridge from 1993 for a good while before deciding to switch to a newer, bigger option two years ago. Yes, it broke within those two years. My mom's wedding cookware is still going strong 25 years later, but whenever she needs new pans, they start flaking Teflon into the food within a few months."
- parangolecomuna
Retirement Funds
"Retirement plan built-in to your job."
- SuvenPan
"Or just retiring in general, lol (laughing out loud)."
- Joaham1
Farmer's Markets
"Farmer's markets. You used to be able to go down and get fruit and vegetables cheaper than the grocery store. Now it seems like they charge three times more than stores do."
- jrhawk42
Available Repairs
"Being able to get things repaired instead of buying new."
- einRoboter
Right to Privacy
"Privacy used to be implicit. It was just there. You didn't have to think about it."
"Now it's explicit. You have to seek it out and take steps to ensure it remains in force."
- dsac
The Good Ole Days
"Being left the f**k alone."
"Buying something and just like, owning it."
"Playing a video game without an internet connection."
"Not having to provide your email address for every single f**king thing you do."
- El_Mariachi_Vive
Just Gaming
"I still miss the days of just putting a game in, turning it on and you go right into playing it. The game alone was the sole focus and purpose of the console. The GameCube is the last system I remember playing that had this."
- __M_E_O_W__
Bins of Photo Albums Under the Bed
"Photographs on actual photographic paper. I know it's still possible but oh so rare."
- audiofankk
High-Quality Clothing
"Good quality fabric in clothing. I have clothes from the 90s (and 80s from my mother) that still hold up today. These days, I'm lucky if my shirt isn't saggy and misshapen within a year."
- TheMadLaboratorian
FriYay and TGIF
"Being able to go out every Friday after work and being able to afford it."
- M-the-music-guy
We're always moving forward and looking forward to future advancements, but sometimes, it's nice to look back on where we've been and what we miss about the old days. Sometimes, it may even be a little sad to think of what's not available anymore, but at least we got to experience it.
Dating can be pretty fun, but like anything else, there are going to be some bad or weird dates.
But sometimes the person we think we're really into will do something so repulsive, we know instantly that relationship is over.
Redditor th3dankmemer asked:
"Redditors, have you ever gotten the 'ick' from a potential partner or love interest that instantly killed your attraction to them?"
"If so, what happened?"
Uninterested in Them
"We were talking about our interests, and after I listened to him blab about his ''lawn-scaping business,' I went to talk about my interests. He interrupted me to say, 'Wow, you really have nothing interesting to say, do you?'"
- youraveragebrat
Interrogating Them
"I went out with a guy who would not stop grilling me, and I couldn't get him to actually answer any questions about himself."
"I finally just said, 'Look, it's cool that you're so interested in getting to know me, but I'd like to hear about you too. What do you do in your free time?'"
"He sat there and stared for a bit then started listing off TV shows, asking if I'd seen them."
"I had not."
"Finally, he got to 'The Wire,' which I'd seen a few episodes of, and because that was the only one I had any experience with, apparently that meant I needed a 20-minute monologue about what the show was about. I literally checked the clock when he started, and it was a full 20 minutes."
"When he finally petered out, we just sat in silence for a second before he stood up, shook my hand, and left without another word."
- TheDogWhistle
No Personal Space
"He grabbed me by the face on the first date, 'stroked' under my eyes, and said, 'You need to take better care of yourself.'"
"Sir, I’m a divorced 37-year-old woman with kids, and those under-eye circles were passed down from my grandmother. They’re family heirlooms."
"And get your hands off my face. We just met, and this is not a Nicholas Sparks movie."
- IgnoreThisIAmStupid
Victimizing Themselves
"Literally every single problem she had was someone else’s fault. Even when there was proof it was her fault, she would argue nonstop that it was someone else’s."
"She got in a car wreck and called insurance over and over again to tell them that it was the other person’s fault. They checked the computer in her car because it saved the speed she was going right before the wreck. It told them everything they needed to know, and she STILL denied it."
- ctrlALTdeleted716
Bully Behavior
"He bullied someone in front of me. Instant disgust."
- noteveni
Absolute Nose Blindness
"I had a guy once whose car smelled so bad, I had to try not to throw up while sticking my head out the window."
"He couldn't smell it. I thought I was going to die."
"It turns out he forgot about a double cheeseburger in the back of his car for over two weeks in the hot sun."
"I don't know what bothered me more. The smell or the fact that it didn't bother him."
- yuyufan43
Mom the Third Wheel
"I found out the reason he rented the house next door to his parents was so his mom would make his meals, wash his clothes, etc. He had the audacity to say, 'Let me call my mom,' when I mentioned I was a little hungry."
"She was a big enabler, and she was part of the reason I ended the relationship. I don’t need to be coached on 'how to please her baby boy.'"
- SpeechDistinct8793
The Two-Faced Partner
"She was 'best friends' with another girl who she constantly spoke s**t about when said friend wasn't around."
- 11_Jay
"Ooh, I had an ex who did that."
"She got SUPER MAD at her 'best friend' for wanting to go out for sushi a week before her birthday when she wanted sushi! It was totally on purpose just to steal her idea of getting sushi. Because you obviously couldn't go out and get sushi two weekends in a row."
"A couple of weeks later, they were best friends again. A couple of weeks after that, I got ghosted and realized I was better off."
- mdp300
Imaginary Friends
"In college, I was seeing a girl who lived in a student residence with me but on another floor. She would always talk about how another guy, Tom, on her floor was obsessed with her and would show me texts between them. She said she only talked to him because he’s harmless and that they’re friends. I never met him."
"After a week, her ex-friend from high school pulled me aside and told me not to trust her. She said that the girl I was seeing is a notorious liar and that Tom doesn’t exist. That she added her own number in her phone as 'Tom,' would text herself, and then delete the sent messages."
"The only reason her ex-friend knew is that she saw the text message exchange happen in the reflection of a mirror when they were in the same room."
"I was close with the front desk and asked if they could look up the names from that floor. They said yes, and told me that there was no guy named Tom on her floor. I noped out of that real quick."
- GetInMyBellyButton
Reciprocation Matters
"My brief girlfriend bought me some hair care products before she came over because it was right by her house. In return, I said I would go grocery shopping and make her a nice dinner. I thought this to be an even exchange."
"That night I found her looking through my trash for the receipt for the groceries to make sure that the 30 dollars she spent on me was equal to the amount I spent on her dinner."
"Just to clarity, I saw her parents do this to her. It was her upbringing. She did this in every aspect of her life which gave me the ick but she did not have very good role models."
- lookssharp
Conspiracy Theorist
"I dated a guy who seemed chill but kept talking about social media and how people and his exes were scheming against him."
"I believed him at first until it got to a point where he thought things like a photo someone put up was an indicator that they were ‘getting him back’ when these people were literally just doing normal things and posting normal stuff."
"I think he was schizophrenic, but it was really unsettling. Months later, he rang me out of the blue to ask me about a link between his ex, myself, and a friend. The link was butterflies, and because of this link, he thought we were conspiring against him."
- BangGrenade
Constant Assumptions
"He kept making assumptions about me on the first date, like 'I suppose someone like you...' or, 'A girl like you wouldn't understand...'"
"I am literally right here, ask me. Don't tell me what my life is or is like."
"Anyway, eventually I got up and left. They messaged me and asked what my problem was, so I wrote back something to the effect of, 'A boy like you wouldn't understand even if I told you.'"
- Kixion
Faking Seizures
"I realized he was faking seizures our entire relationship to get out of helping me do chores or cook meals."
"We dated for less than a year. I found out from his friends and family he never had a seizure in front of them."
"I came home one night after working a double, and I asked him to please try to make dinner."
"The next night, I found him asleep and woke him up to let him know I was home and where was dinner?"
"He said he had a seizure. This caused an argument where he admitted he faked it. He said his seizures were caused by flashing lights."
"I took him to countless doctors and no one could replicate what I saw all the time. After he admitted it, it finally clicked. He’d been faking it the whole time."
- helloyellowfellow1
Weirder and Weirder
"I went on a date with a guy I met at a party. He made me prove that I liked 'Lord of the Rings' by answering who said what when he quoted someone."
"He pulled out a notebook of really poorly drawn anime characters and asked me if he could draw me."
"He was a lot shorter than me and asked if it bothered me. I said no, then he said, 'Good, I like Amazonian goddesses.'"
"He kept trying to put his jewelry onto me despite my protests. He asked what I wanted to order for food, and then ignored me and ordered me something else and got frustrated I didn't eat it all."
"He referenced being arrested, made me guess what for, and when I refused to guess for not knowing him well enough, he said GBH (Grievous Bodily Harm)."
"He was a trainee doctor and asked if I'd ever broken any bones. When I replied yes, he said that he was going to look up my X-rays."
"And the icing on the cake... When I wanted to leave, he got my knee-high boots, slipped them onto my feet, zipped them up, and said, 'You should always be treated like a goddess... My Morticia Addams.'"
"ALL ONE DATE."
- choccymilkaddict
Saving Marriages One Story at a Time
"This thread is saving my marriage."
- letsjakeonit
"No kidding!"
"My parents love to say that after going out in public, there’s no one else they’d rather go home with."
- Tup1000
We've all met some unusual people in our lives, but it's especially strange when we're dating them and make unexpected discoveries about them.
At least a relationship doesn't have to last forever unless it's meant to.
This November, Puerto Ricans can vote on one of three options–including becoming the 51st state in the U.S.
The U.S. House of Representatives introduced the Puerto Rico Status Act last December.
The bill would grant the island commonwealth either U.S. statehood, independence, or independence while retaining some U.S. affiliations.
"Americans, how do you feel about Puerto Rico possibly becoming the 51st state?"
People weighed in with their thoughts.
From A Resident's Perspective
"I'm Puerto Rican and I can tell you that support for statehood and the commonwealth is almost evenly split. Practically nobody supports independence."
– _kevx_91
Not Ideal
"This is not a good deal for most Puerto Ricans. They also don't get the same benefits that citizens in states are entitled to despite paying federal payroll taxes for some of these benefits, like Social Security and Medicaid."
"The territory has a median household income of $21,000, so over half of households would not be required to file federal taxes anyway. Of those that would be required to file, the vast majority will be paying less than 15% of income, less with deductions. This is a pretty awful tradeoff for the (again, largely poor) residents to be ineligible for SSI and the territory receiving only a fraction of the Medicaid funding that it would as a state."
– Noodleboom
The Impacts
"If Puerto Rico becomes a state, it will get more congressmen and thus more influence to negotiate more subsidies from the federal government, as well as repeal some of the extractive policies the US imposes on Puerto Rico. These benefits will likely outweigh the increase in taxes."
– squashgermany
Contrary To Popular Belief
"It’s so funny because I see mainland Puerto Ricans who are like 'independence is the only thing we want' and it’s like, you aren’t living there, why are you choosing for your people. I’m not Puerto Rican but I see this and get confused, especially because I see people in PR who don’t want independence."
– ariana61104
How The Government Might Handle Things
"The way a Puerto Rican friend in PR has explained it to me: it’s not so much that people don’t want independence, it’s that they know their government won’t handle it well and they’ll crumble the second they get it. Obviously that’s just one Puerto Rican and he doesn’t speak for all. I just hope that they are the ones who get to choose in the end and the result is one that ends up working for everyone."
– evil-rick
PR Nightmare
"Considering the political class we would inherit, the terrible geography, being in the direct path of so many hurricanes, losing access to a $26t economy and billions in annual stimulus, I’d say it’s a very risky bet."
"And our closest analogs are Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti. DR is fine, but a clear downgrade in prosperity. And Cuba/Haiti are collapsing. Puerto Ricans can see this which is why only 5% of the state legislature is pro-independence."
"I know many Puerto Ricans in Virginia or in metro Orlando making six figures and buying two-story houses. By all accounts Puerto Ricans who move to the mainland do incredibly well."
"So why would you give that access away when the alternative is Cuba or Haiti (at worst) or DR at best (which is stable, but still far poorer than Puerto Rico). The next time Hurricane Maria hits, who is going to cut us a $15 billion check? Independence is simply impractical."
– _kevx_91
People were talking numbers.
Making It Count
"My only objection is that 50 is a nice round number. Merge the Dakotas and I'm in."
– kjm16216
The Perfect Number
"All I ask is that we find two other states to add as well. Make it 53."
"Truly a nation indivisible."
– rabluv
Keeping It 50
"We should stick with 50 states. And since Puerto Rico has more people than several states, we should make it a state and combine the 2 Dakota's into one state."
– AgentElman
Some people were indifferent.
Supporting Their Decision
"As far as I can tell PR citizens are still split inside their nation about joining the union. I kinda feel like they should be on the same page first. That said, I would support them if it was a question of my support."
– sephstorm
A Strange Situation
"Anyone born in Puerto Rico after 1952 is an American citizen. They are already technically in the union but, due to slightly more complicated reasons do not have equal representation in Congress. They aren’t a protectorate and are technically classified as a territory of the US. It’s a very strange situation to me"
– Dr_Terry_Hesticles
The Neutralist
"I have no strong feelings one way or the other."
– Kgby13
Two hundred and thirty-three members of the US House of Representatives voted for statehood while 191 were opposed.
The bill providing Puerto Ricans a binding referendum awaits passage in the Senate–where at least 60 "yes" votes are required from the 100-member chamber.
A similar referendum procedure occurred in the 1950s when Hawaiians and Alaskans voted for or against U.S. statehood.
When Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away in the fall of 2020, the United States panicked.
Namely, democrats and liberals were terrified by the prospect of another conservative judge on the United States Supreme Court, which already had a two-seat majority.
Then of course, there was the ongoing debate as to whether or not then-sitting president Donald Trump was entitled to pick another Supreme Court judge, as the 2020 presidential election was only weeks away.
Barack Obama was famously banned from appointing Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court owing to the fact that it was an election year, even though President Obama still had eight months left in his presidency.
Of course, RBG's death at age 87 also brought to the forefront an ongoing debate about whether there should be age limits for Supreme Court Justices.
"Would you support a mandatory retirement age of 75 for US House, US Senate & US Supreme Court Justices and if not why?"
If There Are Minimums, There Should Be Maximums
"Yes."
"We have age minimums."
"We need maximum age limits these people are making decisions for a future they won't be involved in."- mattjf22
Age Doesn't Always Equal Wisdom...
"I am 82 years old."
"Personally, I feel that anyone my age who still gets off on power needs to be kept away from normal people."
"But to the point of this post, the world has been run by old people since the beginning of our species, and just look at the place!"
"Yes, if you were intelligent to begin with your wisdom and common sense will increase with age, but so will your cynicism."
"If you were a young jacka**, you will become an old jacka** — and a hide-bound prejudiced old jackass at that."
"Give them a nice pension at 70, with the condition that if they mess with politics or government again they lose the pension."- SemichiSam
Would Have Greatly Affected The Last Two Elections
"70 and as for president no one can run over 65."
"FFS get with the program folks just retire."- Upstairs-Bid6513
Age Limits Are Only The Beginning
"Age requirement of 65, 2 term limit, Congress people serve 4 year instead of 2 year terms, and no campaigning more than 60 days before the election."- Deedoodleday
Term Limits First
"I feel like if we were to attach an age to it, it should be the age of retirement, but I feel like it would be more important to have term limits."
"Limits would fix almost all the same issues and address more, without arbitrarily deciding someone is too old to serve the state."- Askmyrkr
"Term limit is the way to go."- bob2235
Not Where Our Concerns Should Be...
"No, the problem isn't age, it's our election system."
"Politicians get old in office because it's so f*cking hard to vote them out!"
"End legal bribery, end FPTP, and we'll see a much healthier turnover in our political processes."- FountainsOfFluids
What Matters Is Their Qualifications And Abilities
"I'll be the contrarian."
"If you're good, you're good, regardless of age."
"I'll take a 75-year-old who is smarter, savvier, and better representative of my values than a 35-year-old."
"If you don't like them because they're senile, don't vote for them, that's all."
"Honestly, I feel the same about lower-age limits that aren't just the age of majority."- walkerintheworld
75 Is still Too Old...
"I would go even younger at 70."
"Sure that may mean we would lose Bernie, we would also be ditching McConnell, Pelosi, and the other fossils in office who refuse to address the problems we face."- Daryno90
Wrong Priorities
"Would rather see mandatory voting like Australia."- szthesquid
Wouldn't Change Anything
"No."
"Making politicians retire at some arbitrary age would not address the underlying problems our system has."- giope_1995
"What problem are you trying to solve by doing this?"
"Apparently, people want to be represented by ancient dinosaurs."- SideShow117
Defeats The Point Of Democracy
"No, absolutely not."
"Nor should there be a minimum age (apart from 18)."
"The point of a representative democracy is that the people vote for whom they want."
"Putting restrictions on who can run serves no purpose other than invalidating the votes of people you disagree with."
"It's not up to you or me to decide who is 'valid' as a candidate."
"That's the entire point of democracy."
"And to those of you that are convinced that if all the old people were just gone, then everyone would agree with you, you're ironically the exact kind of uninformed voter that you claim to be trying to prevent."- scottevil110
"No, because if there was a 76-year-old candidate I liked I would want the freedom to vote for them."
"Supporting things like this is so short-sighted."- tedesco455
In the heat of the moment, it's easy to make rash decisions about government and democracy.
Frustrating though it may be, it's important to remember progress is a slow, steady stream and doesn't come easily.
Also worth remembering, there are indeed two sides to most arguments, and far more can be resolved in a discussion than in an attack.