{"id":2018109,"date":"2023-08-31T13:30:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T17:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/yes-washington-is-a-gerontocracy-no-we-dont-need-age-limits-here-is-a-better-plan\/"},"modified":"2023-08-31T13:31:59","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T17:31:59","slug":"yes-washington-is-a-gerontocracy-no-we-dont-need-age-limits-here-is-a-better-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/yes-washington-is-a-gerontocracy-no-we-dont-need-age-limits-here-is-a-better-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington is ruled by the elderly, but age limits are unnecessary. Here&#8217;s a superior solution."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fyes-washington-is-a-gerontocracy-no-we-dont-need-age-limits-here-is-a-better-plan%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2018109&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<div>\n<figure>\n    <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Age Limits\u200d for Politicians:\u200d A Flawed Solution<\/h2>\n<p>For the second time in recent months, Mitch McConnell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kK8BFbb5GIE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">froze<\/a> in\u200d the middle \u200bof a\u2063 press\u2062 conference, staring off\u200b in silence before being saved by an aide. The episode was widely covered by the\u200d establishment media \u2014 \u200band, fairly so, considering his position and power.<\/p>\n<p>It would \u2064be nice, and ethical,\u200d if \u200dthe same\u2064 level of\u200c scrutiny was\u200b applied \u2063to our cognitively <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/06\/20\/joe-biden-is-not-ok\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">compromised<\/a> president, who regularly wanders off to shake hands with invisible leprechauns, struggles to navigate stairs,\u2064 and forgets the name of \u200bhis cabinet members.<\/p>\n<p>In any event, it\u2019s understandable that people are getting annoyed\u2063 by the advanced age of our top leaders. Still, I don\u2019t think\u200d age limits, as some have suggested, would be very \u2064useful.<\/p>\n<p>For one thing, there is value in experience. There\u2019s little evidence that younger politicians \u2062are better equipped to govern. It\u2019s more likely, judging from recent events, that they\u2019re going to be just as injudicious, partisan, and perhaps less inclined to \u2064respect the constitutional order. Politicians \u2063aren\u2019t here\u200d to drive modernity \u2062or\u2064 bring us new technologies (or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sickening-video-shows-antifa-allegedly-stab-4-trump-supporters-in-washington-dc\/\" title=\"Sickening Video Shows Antifa Allegedly Stab 4 Trump Supporters in Washington DC\">social media accounts<\/a> with lots of followers), they are\u2063 here to (lightly) govern the nation\u200b within the\u2062 law. Is a\u2063 Senator AOC or \u200bMTG going to prove better stewards of those republican values? \u200bColor\u200d me skeptical.<\/p>\n<p>Now, there are\u2062 clear cases where\u200c age should be\u200b disqualifying. California\u2019s\u200b Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 90, has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/dianne-feinstein-power-of-attorney-what-it-means\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a> relinquished power of attorney \u2062to her daughter. If a person\u200d can\u2019t\u200b be trusted to legally handle\u2064 their own life decisions, how can they be entrusted with the power\u200d to make decisions over \u200dyour life? That seems like a reasonable standard to push \u200csomeone\u2062 out of office. Then again, even\u2062 a\u2063 person\u2063 in a \u200bcoma would be better for the country than Adam Schiff or Katie Porter, so \u2064you \u200csee the problem.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/yes-washington-is-a-gerontocracy-no-we-dont-need-age-limits-here-is-a-better-plan\/\" title=\"Washington is ruled by the elderly, but age limits are unnecessary. Here's a superior solution.\">mental acuity diminishes<\/a> with age, but\u2062 people don\u2019t die\u2064 in \u200bsequential order, \u2062and they don\u2019t mature in identical ways. There are plenty of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wold-economic-forum-deletes-latest-video-after-cheering-global-lockdowns-that-pushed-100-million-humans-into-extreme-poverty\/\" title=\"Wold Economic Forum Deletes Latest Video After Cheering Global Lockdowns that Pushed 100 Million Humans into Extreme Poverty\">80-year-olds<\/a> who are\u2062 sharp and plenty of \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pathologist-speaks-out-about-covid-jab-effects\/\" title=\"Pathologist Speaks Out About COVID Jab Effects\">60-year-olds<\/a> who already \u2064struggle. \u2064Age minimums for office, as Madison (probably) <a href=\"https:\/\/founders.archives.gov\/documents\/Hamilton\/01-04-02-0212\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argued<\/a>, make sense, because a person gains a \u201cgreater extent of information and stability \u2062of character\u201d as they age. \u2062Most 25-year-olds shouldn\u2019t \u2062even be voting. But a maximum cutoff age is completely arbitrary. It would make more sense to administer a cognitive \u2064test (maybe\u2062 throw in a civics test) \u2063than an age limit. I\u2019m sorry, \u2064no one is going to convince \u200bme that Chuck Grassley is less competent or knowledgeable at 89\u200c than, say, Chris Murphy at age 50.<\/p>\n<p>All \u2063of this is theoretical anyway, as it would take a\u2064 constitutional amendment to institute age\u2062 maximums.\u200b Because guess what? <em>A solution already exists.<\/em> Vote them out. We act as if these septuagenarians and octogenarians have been thrust\u2064 upon us by some unknown \u2064force. We put them there. If three-quarters of voters truly \u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/apnorc.org\/projects\/bidens-age-is-a-significant-concern-for-voters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">believed<\/a> Biden \u200dis \u2064too old\u200b for office, \u200dthey would find someone else to run. But Democrats\u200c would rather\u200c pretend that the president, not exactly Cicero in his best days, is an \u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/08\/29\/kjp-tapper-cnn-biden-age\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">intellectual<\/a> and physical dynamo because they want\u200b to hold onto power. Deep down \u2062they know no one in their right mind thinks \u200da\u2063 fresh-faced Mayor Pete is any better.<\/p>\n<p>The reality is that when \u2063it matters, voters across the country love \u200dthe old timers \u2014 perhaps because they are known quantities or maybe they bring home the money or \u2063maybe people \u200dgenuinely like them. If they didn\u2019t,\u2063 none of them\u2064 would be in Washington.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<div>\n<p>David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The \u200bFederalist, \u2062a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/abandoned-all-pretense-of-being-conservative-jonah-goldberg-joins-cnn-as-a-commentator-social-media-erupts\/\" title=\"\u2018Abandoned All Pretense Of Being Conservative\u2019: Jonah Goldberg Joins CNN As A Commentator, Social Media Erupts\">nationally syndicated columnist<\/a>, a\u200b Happy\u200d Warrior \u2063columnist at \u200dNational Review, \u200dand author\u2064 of five books\u2014the most recent,\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Eurotrash-America-Reject-Failed-Continent\/dp\/0063066017\/\">Eurotrash: \u2063Why America \u200cMust Reject the\u200b Failed Ideas of a\u200b Dying Continent<\/a>. Follow him on Twitter, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidharsanyi\/\">@davidharsanyi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>of coverage was given to other politicians who freeze or stumble during public appearances. Fair and unbiased reporting should extend to all, regardless of their political affiliation or influence. It is important to hold all public figures accountable and ensure equal scrutiny for the sake of transparency and democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":831,"featured_media":2018110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2018109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2018109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2018109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2018109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2018110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2018109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2018109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2018109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}