Understandably, we don’t much like talking about death, and have an even stronger cultural distaste for criticizing the recently departed, or senior citizens for their declining health. But sometimes there are more pressing practical problems we have to confront. Many of us have been there at some point with our own aging relatives, and know how difficult it can be to take the necessary steps. But sometimes, it simply is necessary, and we are not doing anybody any favors by looking the other way.
America’s political gerontocracy is a genuine problem. It fuels dysfunction, distrust, and concrete negative policy consequences. We can’t sweep it under the rug any longer: too many of our high officeholders, including a disproportionate number of Democrats, are simply too old. It’s not unacceptable ageism to say so; it’s the cold, hard reality. And it’s time to confront it head on: we need a mandatory retirement age for politicians.
A big problem isn’t that they’re incapable, it’s that they won’t live to see the major effects of policies they’re implementing. Another issue is that they’re more likely to be out of touch with the issues the majority of their constituents are facing.
How many boomers have you heard say shit like, “When I was young I paid for college by working part time selling hotdogs over the summer.”
I mean I would call the latter as incapable for governing the present and future of a society. The first isn’t a problem if they still care about the well being of later generations. If they don’t care about anything they won’t live to see, then that falls under incapable too.
We should move to a system where the value of a person’s vote is weighted by their life expectancy. The older you are, the less your vote should count.