Today's Democratic political elite is beginning to resemble the USSR Politburo in the 1970–'80s.  It is rapidly aging and becoming demented, which inevitably reflects not just its bizarre behavior, but, most importantly, the quality of strategic and tactical decision-making.  A degraded establishment that practiced socialism cost the Soviet empire its existence.  It will not end differently for the U.S. if it follows this path.

This path is personified by many prominent Democrats.

The most talked about right now is, naturally, Joe Biden, who is poised to secure his presidential nomination bid in August.  At the age of 77 and having had brain surgery, he constantly demonstrates signs of dementia, which is acknowledged by 38 percent of likely voters.  Sixty-one percent of them believe that it is important for Biden to address the dementia issue publicly, with 41 percent saying it is "very important," according to the Rasmussen Report.  At the same time, polls constantly reassure Democrats that their presumptive candidate beats his contender.  Senile and confused, Joe still could admit that he would be a one-term president if elected.  Among all "young, diverse, and ambitious" candidates, was he the best the Democrats could offer?  Given his age, record of failed policies, lies, racism, alleged but evident foreign corruption, even sexual misconduct?  Yes, he is, according to the media: "As a former vice president to Barack Obama and having served as a U.S. Senator for over 35 years, Biden is one of the most qualified people in American history to run for the presidency," goes a typical piece of praise, reminiscent, again, of the Soviet-style propaganda aimed to glorify general secretaries who could barely walk.

Interestingly, some of the closest of Biden's rivals for the nominee bid — Bernie Sanders (78), Elizabeth Warren (69), Michael Bloomberg (76) — were not youngsters, either.

Another symbolic figure for Democrats who got in a limelight ahead of this year's presidential election is the U.S. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a leftist superstar and increasingly frail octogenarian.  Right now, the Supreme Court's balance is hanging on her seemingly faltering health.  In her July 17 statement, she revealed that she had begun a course of chemotherapy to treat a recurrence of cancer in May following a biopsy that revealed lesions on her liver in February.  Why was the public unaware of it until now?  It is noted that the recent hospitalizations to remove gallstones and treat an infection were unrelated to this recurrence.  The statement ends with optimistic reassurance that Ginsburg is able to do her job "full steam."  As with any person battling cancer, Ginsburg's tenacity and strong spirit deserve nothing but respect.  As a U.S. Supreme Court justice, however, her power-clinging attitude exemplifies a gerontocratic trend within the Democratic party.

Let's look closer at the data demonstrating the correlation between age and party affiliation at the U.S. House of Representatives.  The media touted the "changing face of the Democratic party" after the 2018 midterm elections, which resulted in 19 Democratic members of Congress under the age of 40 taking office.  The bigger picture, however, shows more.

Why won't the media look at all current members of the U.S. House of Representatives and break them down by age category and party affiliation?  Because they would see that Democratic members are older and longer serving than Republican ones.  There are 56 Democrats and 22 Republicans currently serving in the House who are now older than 70 (2.5 to 1).

The data also reveal that older Democrats occupy their offices for longer terms than their Republican counterparts: Representatives who are 70-plus years old have 22 Democratic members who spent less than 20 years in office and 34 of them who spent between 20 and 39 years in office.  For the Republicans, these numbers are 17 with less than 20 and 5 with 20 or more years in office.

This trend reveals itself in the Senate composition, too: there are 15 Democrats plus two independents (Bernie Sanders and Angus King, who are leftists) — 17 in total versus 11 Republican elders (1.5 to 1).

We also analyzed members of Congress who have served at least 36 years since the beginning of American parliamentarism.  Seventy-eight of them were Democrats and 31 Republicans (2.5 to 1, just as it is today).  Out of these long-timers, 13 Democrats and 4 Republicans died in office (3 to 1).  Recently deceased congressman John Lewis, who passed in July at the age of 80 while still serving as a congressman, didn't quite make this list (he served only 34 years).  But it does include Joe Biden, who served 36 years and 12 days as a senator before being elected vice president.

Medical science is unequivocal: cognitive abilities (so critical for policymakers), including attention, memory, executive cognitive function, language, and visual-spatial abilities, have measurable decline with age.  Here's just one study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (which is a part of the United States National Library of Medicine, a branch of the National Institutes of Health) that proves our point.  Then there are numerous age-related diseases that hinder people from running their lives "full steam," as they once could.  Moreover, there is no shame in retiring, especially when you have something to show for your career and achievements to be proud of, giving a chance to your younger like-minded peers.  Just as RBG could have retired when Obama was still the president and could replace her with someone younger — but who could expect a "black swan" victory of Donald Trump in their leftist camp?

Power does corrupt, and power is intoxicating and addicting, but why do Democrats seem to get hooked on that drug, to the point of overdosing much more readily than Republicans?  Perhaps the answer lies within their worldview, in which leftists feel superior to others.  This kind of worldview was perfectly described by Friedrich Nietzsche: the superman (Ubermensch), a new kind of beyond-human, rejects traditional (Christian) moral values, is driven by "will to power" — an ultimate motivation — and "master morality" (vs. "slave morality") and stands "beyond good and evil" to transform society.  That is an exact portrait of the Democrats.  Narcissistic belief in self-exceptionalism and disdain for traditional Judeo-Christian values paired with arrogant contempt for "deplorables" force these junkies to increase the dose of power daily, at any price, till your or their last breath.

Veronika Kyrylenko, Ph.D. is a research analyst at GeoStrategic Analysis (Arlington, Va.).  Please follow on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Igor Kyrylenko is a president of Apriori, a data technology company.  His background includes working on Capitol Hill as a political technology professional, managing voter files for multiple U.S. and international political campaigns, and working with identity verification companies.  Igor Kyrylenko possesses a graduate degree in political science/international relations from the University of Akron.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.