Her “constituents in Texas Congressional District 12 have asked, ‘Where is Congresswoman Kay Granger?’
“Some Tarrant County residents,” The Dallas Express further reports, “have begun to speculate.”
“I’m hearing she’s in a memory care unit,” one posted on X.
Express reporter Carlos Turcios explains that “the Congresswoman has been residing at a local memory care and assisted living home for some time after having been found wandering, lost, and confused in her former Cultural District/West 7th neighborhood.”
Granger, 81, did not seek re-election last November after 28 years in Congress. Thankfully. She has not voted in Congress since July 24 of this year. Which, given the circumstances, is also a good thing.
Her son told the media she was suffering from dementia and had declined rapidly, but that could be a
Don’t condemn the congresswoman, argues former Texas legislator Jonathan Strickland. “Six years ago (as an elected official who worked regularly with/around her) it was obvious she had serious memory issues. She has had no idea what was going on for a while,” he explained, blaming “her friends, family, and staff” who “left her in office for their own benefit.”
The last six years in Congress … without … cognition. (Is that about par?)
Utah Senator Mike Lee, a fellow Republican, says Granger makes a “compelling case for term limits.” Yes. Sure. Of course.
Even if these over-the-top instances of incumbency running amok overtime weren’t spilling out so often, however, we would still need term limits.
The fact that things have gotten this bad is a sign we’ve needed term limits for a very long time.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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2 replies on “Missing in Congress”
While I very much agree that term-limits are desirable, and I also agree that term-limits would reduce the frequency with which sufferers of senile dementia would hold office, we must still be aware that term limits would be a very imperfect filter for impairment.
Nor do we want use of the meat-axe of age limits, given the large ranges over which impairment can set-in or excellent cognitive abilities maintained, and how the latter may be changed by advancement of medical technology.
Jonathan Strickland says that people around Granger kept her in office despite impairment that was obvious to him. We may ask what, pray tell, Mr Strickland did. Meanwhile, Joseph Biden was not blocked in 2020 by term limits, nor would Kamala Harris have been blocked in 2024 by plausible age limits, despite impairments obvious to nearly everyone. The underlying problem is that entirely too many people accept the idea of placing meat puppets in office and leaving real governance to those in the background.
Government gridlock is actually one of the best features.