Althouse: “The same kinds of things they did in the 1870s to deny votes to African Americans is what they’re trying to do today.”

April 4, 2026

“The same kinds of things they did in the 1870s to deny votes to African Americans is what they’re trying to do today.”

“We have got to start concentrating on what we can do to stop this deterioration taking place in our society, and stop arguing about how old or how young somebody is. It’s just a little bit silly to me.”

Said Representative James E. Clyburn, quoted in “Some Voters Say Congress Is Too Old. These Black Democrats Aren’t Leaving/As older members of Congress head for the exits amid growing pressure for fresh faces in the Democratic Party, some of the most seasoned Black lawmakers are resisting retirement” (NYT).

42 comments:

bagoh20 said...: Republicans did that?; 4/4/26, 4:39 PM
n.n said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/4/26, 4:40 PM
narciso said...: Well he was never good at any age; 4/4/26, 4:42 PM
Aggie said...: Now that's funny right there, the guy's a million years old and has grifted many millions of dollars, but telling him to retire is racist. The gravy runs deep in this one.; 4/4/26, 4:43 PM
Ice Nine said...: You've always been just a little bit silly to us, Jim, so it all works out.; 4/4/26, 4:44 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: It’s racism and ageism! Even Hitler wasn’t that evil!; 4/4/26, 4:46 PM
Peachy said...: You can tell we are over the target because everything the collective liar left are saying is complete bullshit.

Why does the corrupt democratic party want illegals voting?
Why do they demand the ability to cheat?; 4/4/26, 4:47 PM
pious agnostic said...: Republicans committed the unpardonable sin of allowing Democrats to continue to rule in the South after the Civil War, instead of outlawing the party outright.; 4/4/26, 4:53 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: The United States isn’t a democracy. It’s a gerontocracy, starting with the President, right through the Senate.

The problem with Clyburn isn't just his age, although it is pretty ridiculous that he is running for re-election. Clyburn is Big Pharma's point man within the Democratic caucus and in recent election cycles he has teamed up with Trump donors to ensure that legalized corruption flows like honey.

I still remember too back in 2020, when a bunch of Democratic media pundits were praising Clyburn for helping to foist Joe Biden on America as the Democratic alternative to Trump (at a time when it looked like Bernie Sanders might be the party nominee).

Hopefully the voters send him into a long overdue retirement during the next primary.; 4/4/26, 5:03 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: In those days, James E. Clyburn recalls there was no television and teleprompters. A man had to say what was on his mind. There was no manosphere to tell nobody anything.; 4/4/26, 5:03 PM
Iman said...: Tired old arguments from a tired, old, race-baiting corksoaker.

Clyburn is a “clymer”; 4/4/26, 5:04 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Sorry. I don’t do a southern black accent as well as Hillary. 😉; 4/4/26, 5:09 PM
FullMoon said...: Spring chicken; 4/4/26, 5:13 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: The Constitution has a minimum age restriction, personally, I think we should add a maximum age restriction as well.

As far as term limits go, my big concern is that the incentive of a system with a truncated term of service is going to be even more pillaging by elected officials. The fact that people serve a long-time is not a problem in and of itself. There is value in having people with political experience and institutional knowledge. The bigger issue is the revolving door between public office and the private sector and the absurd amount of money that goes into buying elections, shaping policy outcomes, etc. Gotta fix that, if you want to fix the democracy.; 4/4/26, 5:29 PM
Quayle said...: The progressive party led by 80 year-olds. Ha!; 4/4/26, 5:30 PM
mccullough said...: Not giving up Insider Trading Privilege.

Black Leaders exploit as much as White Leaders have, even more at the local level. They skim way too high of a percentage. No sense of Noblesse Oblige by keeping the skim at 30%. They exceed 60%.; 4/4/26, 5:51 PM
Lazarus said...: “We have got to start concentrating on what we can do to stop this deterioration taking place in our society, and stop arguing about how old or how young somebody is. It’s just a little bit silly to me.”

That's certainly arrogant and self-serving. If voters think someone younger would be more competent and more responsive to their wishes, throw the guy out, but Clyburn is gambling on the fact that all politicians are mediocre and not much good, so the country might as well stick with the ones who have the seniority and know how to make deals, whether or not voters actually benefit from those deals.; 4/4/26, 6:16 PM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: Broadly speaking, by either median or average age in Congress, Democrats are an entire generation older than Republicans, and their bech for credible, non-crazy presidential candidates is almost empty.; 4/4/26, 6:24 PM
Dave Begley said...: Clyburn gave us Joe Biden. STFU.; 4/4/26, 6:29 PM
hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...: who is "they" in Clyburn world-view?; 4/4/26, 6:33 PM
gadfly said...: On the subect of gerontocracy, Wiki points out that Plato stated that "it is for the elder man to rule and for the younger to submit". An example of the ancient Greek gerontocracy can be seen in the city-state of Sparta, which was ruled by a Gerousia, a council made up of members who were at least 60 years old and who served for life.

As for our U.S. House members, 21 Dems and 36 from the GOP are headed for the door in retirement mode. That amounts to 13%.

So it isn't the paychecks so it must be selling votes to retain power that keeps them around.; 4/4/26, 6:39 PM
Enigma said...: This is a non sequitur worth of USSC Justice Jackson. He's implying that If he retires, his district will suddenly vote for a white male conservative?; 4/4/26, 6:40 PM
Steve Witherspoon said...: “The same kinds of things they did in the 1870s to deny votes to African Americans is what they’re trying to do today.”

That statement is a baldfaced lie regardless of where it came from.

I've been saying the following for over a decade now, and the political left just keeps piling on with more of their baldfaced lies and pure propaganda hogwash to support my statement.

“The political left has shown its pattern of propaganda lies within their narratives so many times that it’s beyond me why anyone would blindly accept any narrative that the political left, their lapdog Pravda-USA media, their woke consumed bureaucracy, or their activist supporters actively push?”; 4/4/26, 6:43 PM
Assistant Village Idiot said...: Whenever someone starts an assertion with "The same kinds of things..." or "The same people that..." they aren't the same things or the same people. Conservatives do it as well, but I am seeing it much more commonly from the left, from center- to radical-; 4/4/26, 7:14 PM
gilbar said...: i'm Sure, that LOTS of people here would agree,
that just because you're old and senile, doesn't mean you shouldn't be running the country. i mean, just because you're in your 70's, doesn't mean that you don't want to still be in control..
of the world, that is, not your bladders; 4/4/26, 7:33 PM
Temujin said...: To which I say, Term Limits. It's not that they're old. It's that they entered office when the DeSoto automobile was still being made.
These offices were never supposed to be lifetime awards.; 4/4/26, 7:38 PM
Mason G said...: "i mean, just because you're in your 70's, doesn't mean that you don't want to still be in control.."

This approach could be expanded. Like maybe...

"I mean, just because you're a fatty and weigh as much as two or three normal people, doesn't mean that you don't want to still be in control."; 4/4/26, 7:50 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT BE A CAREER!

If I were Emperor I'd put time limits on formal participation in government, of any form: appointed, elected, employed. All branches and agencies including military and science staff and the like. Something like 15-20 years, TOTAL including anything higher than municipal.; 4/4/26, 8:05 PM
bagoh20 said...: This guy thinks he's special.
If he thought that Guam could tip over, then yea, that would be a special hard to find person, but this guy can be replaced with an average Joe.; 4/4/26, 8:32 PM
Big Mike said...: It's not that they're old. It's that they entered office when the DeSoto automobile was still being made.

@Temujin, Clyburn thinks be entered office in the 1870s.; 4/4/26, 8:37 PM
gspencer said...: They may or may not leave.

It all depends on Depends.; 4/4/26, 8:49 PM
Alexisa said...: Can't really blame them. The chance to finally be represented in government by their own kind is probably fresh enough to be precious to them. My grandparents survived the Great Depression to become hoarders. Something similar might be im play here; 4/4/26, 11:50 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Fred Drinkwater,

I'd also institute some kind of residency requirement. Make people that want to represent a state or district actually be a boma fide resident of that state or district -- both for N years prior to taking office, and continuing while in office.; 4/5/26, 12:43 AM
JIM said...: When are Blacks going to realize they are being used by the Democrat party?
It's not difficult to obtain an ID or a birth certificate. SOOOO tired of wild, reckless rhetoric that accuses people of being racist because they want clean elections. Democrats deserve the likes of Newsom, Harris, and Biden. They don't provide leadership; they just throw poop.; 4/5/26, 1:23 AM
Saint Croix said...: The basic problem is the seniority system, which rewards staying in power for as long as possible. To vote in somebody new, you'd have to sacrifice whatever power your representative currently has. Jim Clyburn, for instance, forced Joe Biden to use affirmative action in his Supreme Court pick. You vote in a new guy, he starts at the bottom. So Congress gets older and older, richer and richer, more corrupt and more corrupt.

One of our two parties could make itself more responsive to the people, by doing something about this. For instance, putting newbies at the head of committees, and sending the old guard to the back of the gravy train. That would be impressive! I'd definitely vote for that. Two or three times. (Joke).; 4/5/26, 4:15 AM
Saint Croix said...: Imagine if the Republicans promised to put their newly elected representatives at the head of their committees in 2027. What kind of red wave would we see?; 4/5/26, 4:17 AM
john mosby said...: Dude just wrote a book about the black reconstruction era congressmen. He certainly knows that in the 1870s it was the GOP standing up for black voting rights.

And it still is. SAVE Act is just one person - one vote. Keeps both white and black vote counts undiluted. CC, JSM; 4/5/26, 5:42 AM
john mosby said...: And if blacks weren't gerrymandered, they could be king makers in multiracial districts, instead of just settling for safe seats. CC, JSM; 4/5/26, 5:44 AM
Enigma said...: @JIM: When are Blacks going to realize they are being used by the Democrat party?

The US left has always been split between elite oligarchs (e.g., FDR, Bill Gates, Pelosi's husband and the crew of self-enrichers) versus the dependent class. Back in the slavery era they were the literal slaves of the southern plantation owners. Follow LBJ's Great Society, the left bought the votes of the dependent class with bribes/handouts.

The US right involves a lot of DIY business operators, farmers, and accomplished "Kulaks" capable of getting ahead on their own -- they do not need patronage or handouts. They also have voluntary churches that mimic a government's structure. Still the US right is more to the left than they care to admit, per accepting FDR's Social Security, LBJ's Medicare, etc.

The dependent left are often weak competitors (e.g., anxious females; lack of ability; lack of motivation; lack of sanity, etc.) as much as being used. Manipulated yes, but still voluntarily dependent. DEI and equity logic gets dangerously close to admitting some groups will never competing others, and thereby accepting the conservatives position on merit.; 4/5/26, 6:08 AM
Dude1394 said...: Get this racist out of office.; 4/5/26, 7:33 AM
JAORE said...: Isn't this the guy that (nicely, gently) forced Biden to promise the VP to a black woman?

"They're gonna put y'all back in chains!"
It's Jim Crow 2.0 (maybe 2.6 by now).

Who buys this clap trap today except for the hopelessly brain washed?; 4/5/26, 10:19 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Slaves were not “The People of The United States”, and never should have been made citizens; 4/5/26, 3:50 PM