Better political future depends on electing leaders who will be around to see it
Mitch Mcconnell is 80. Joe Biden is 79. Nancy Pelosi is 82. Donald Trump is 76. Chuck Schumer is a youthful 71. The average age of Members of the House at the beginning of the 117th Congress was 58.4 years; of Senators, 64.3 years. If we want a better future for America, we should stop electing people who won’t be around to see it.
Before the claims of ageism reach a crescendo, follow the science and the facts. Age matters deeply to issues directly related to governing.
A 2015 study by Dr. Daniel Murman explored how age impacts cognitive abilities. Multiple cross-sectional studies demonstrated that crystallized cognitive capabilities improve until approximately age 60 and then essentially plateau until age
80. Fluid cognitive abilities steadily decline from about age 20 to age 80.
Put in common terms, the brain’s ability to retain general information and vocabulary maintains to advanced age, but the ability to focus on myriad issues, process that information, and make decisions declines consistently as we age.
As a voter, I don’t need President Biden to tell me stories about the past or wow me with his expertise in Trivial Pursuit. I do need him to quickly process multiple information streams and make an exceptionally reasoned decision about the best way to withdraw from Afghanistan. While it’s not fair to suggest that Biden has a cognitive disease like dementia without clear medical evidence, we have plenty of scientific data suggesting that his fluid cognitive abilities have declined precipitously from when he was a much younger politician.
That isn’t a partisan observation. It’s the same for Trump and Mcconnell. Aging takes both a physical and mental toll on all of us, and it’s perfectly fine to consider that when we select between candidates for office.
Life context also matters. In 2020, the average life expectancy in America is 77 years according to the CDC. While many of our politicians possess economic and health advantages indicating they’ll live beyond the median life expectancy in America, they’re shaping policies the rest of us must live with for decades.
Biden’s financial claims about the Inflation Reduction Act come from budget estimates covering the next ten years. For better or worse, Americans will feel the impacts of the new law well after Biden is gone. The median age in America is around 40 years old. We need representation that’s more mindful of the future than solely focused on the present. For example, much of our political class won’t be around to experience the crushing federal debt burden they’re passing forward to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
We’re electing the elderly mostly because they have the time and resources to run for office. It’s a catch-22 that working families need more representation in Washington, D.C., but we’re not willing to sacrifice our families on the altar of political service. One of the obvious answers is allowing the use of technology to facilitate votes and committee activities while keeping elected officials in their communities more often. Traveling to Washington to cast a vote which amounts to pressing a button or raising your hand is a little outdated, and we should want representation that spends more time with us than Dc-based lobbyists.
Older Americans also disproportionately consume cable news. The median age for consumers of Fox News and MSNBC was around 68 in 2021. Those figures have bounced around for years, but the consistency is that older Americans are cable news junkies. Think about that. We’re electing politicians heavily “informed” by feigned-outrage and political hot takes. What could go wrong?
Age limits in political life are nothing new, but most of them prescribe minimum ages before individuals may qualify to run for office. A Yougov poll from January of 2022 found that almost 60% of Americans welcome a maximum age limit for public service. There’s no difference in crafting a policy which says an individual is too young to run for office and one which considers someone too old.
I don’t want my 13-year-old son running for office because I understand the typical time frame of brain development. I don’t want my grandmother running for office because I similarly understand the toll age takes on the average person’s cognitive abilities. Neither perspective impacts my ability to love and respect either of them.
Not all elderly Americans are the same cognitively or physically. In the American workplace, employers can effectively evaluate whether an individual has the physical and mental capacity to effectively perform a job without relying on age as a proxy. That’s why we have the Age Discrimination in Employment Act which doesn’t permit age discrimination after age 40.
Politics is a different arena entirely. More often than not, voters don’t have the ability to evaluate a politician’s mental or physical capacity to govern. And if we base our votes solely upon job performance, we probably shouldn’t elect anyone currently in office.
Age isn’t just a number. Scientific research demonstrates as much. If we want a better path than we’re currently navigating, our policymakers should be more connected with the average American worker and family than they are to the opinions on cable news. For that to happen, we need to find and elect politicians who are literally decades younger.