One of the problems with #American pseudo-democracy is that it's a #gerontocracy - rule by the old. The average #Congresscritter is late-middle-age, and the average #Senator is dead. Young people are frustrated at their lack of voice.
#Canada isn't nearly as bad, but I fear it could trend in the same direction, so I've been thinking about solutions to the problem. I think I've got one that's better than the oft-floated fix of just imposing term limits on #elected office, because you'll probably still be first electing middle-aged people.
Instead, for each chamber, set a ceiling *average* age for members of that chamber. Maybe for the Canadian House of #Commons and the US House of #Representatives you want something like 40, while permitting the #Senate of each to be the "older, wiser house of sober second thought" by setting a number like 50.
Each day, the system automatically calculates the average age of members in that class, to account for birthdays etc. If birthday(s) suddenly push that average above the ceiling value, the oldest person in that class is automatically dismissed, leaving the position vacant to be filled by by-election / special election. Repeat until ceiling value achieved.
Here's the important bit: anyone turfed automatically this way does not receive a pension or other benefits; they're just gone. This gives them the incentive to resign before automatic expulsion; otherwise there's no reason for them to do so.
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