Ask an extensive series of questions about new-fangled cellular devices. Take a leisurely walk around a local park. Serve as the commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces?
One of these tasks is not like the others.
The typical U.S. citizen in their 60s begins to make retirement plans, starting to enjoy a less strenuous existence. However, America has been led by someone who was at least 70 years old for the last eight years.
Joe Biden made history in 2020 by becoming America’s oldest President, entering office at the age of 78 and leaving at 82 years old. In this year’s 2024 presidential election, Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who is currently 60 years old, is facing off against Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who may potentially re-enter office at the same age as the record-holding Biden. Technically, he will be a few months older than him.
In comparison to other presidents, Trump and Biden are the only two who were in their 70s during their first inauguration, having an approximate 15-year age disparity from the median age of all other presidents during their first inauguration.
With these past two terms of Trump’s rantings and Biden’s unawareness considered, it may be time to implement an age maximum for presidential candidates.
Now, America was founded on principles of breaking down barriers for opportunity, and the constitutional requirements to run for president are purposely limited to prevent candidates from always belonging to certain social or economic classes.
So, will a maximum age limit the scope of who can run for President? Yes.
Doesn’t that encroach on constitutional rights and defy the principle that anyone should be allowed the opportunity to be president? From my view, not necessarily.
The three conditions to run for president in the United States are to have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years, to be a natural-born citizen and to be at least 35 years of age. Exclusion cannot be the basis of contention, as the natural-born requirement already excludes 13.8% of U.S. citizens. In addition, an age restriction has already been a part of the Constitution since its creation.
As a younger citizen who occasionally feels burdened by society’s seniority superiority, I genuinely see no problem with the minimum age requirement. The average person’s frontal lobe, the area in the brain most involved with impulse control and decision-making, does not fully develop until their mid to late 20s. Adding around 10 years of education and life experience to that age yields a perfectly reasonable minimum age for the leader of our nation.
Using similar reasoning, however, studies have shown that the volume of white matter, which is made up of the network of nerve fibers communicating within our brains, declines steadily after a person passes their 30s and significantly decreases for people once they pass 60.
Therefore, people past their 60s are more likely to have difficulty with cognitive abilities such as memory and problem-solving. Shouldn’t these facts be considered with the same standards?
Outside of scientific reasoning, younger voters are discouraged by Trump and Biden. Politicians of a certain age simply spent their formative years in a different time with wildly different societal standards. Their views are tinted by their age, thus, they have a smaller scope of how effectively they can serve the best interests of citizens under a certain age.
Politics has largely always been considered a ‘grown-up topic’ and only recently has the power of social media helped the younger generations interact with politics in a more familiar sense. However, this current age trend serves to hurt this youth involvement rather than help it, setting dangerous precedents for the future of politics.
In this current election, both candidates cannot be considered young by any means. However, Harris has 18 less years of biological deterioration than Trump, and that should hold some weight above simply siding with a party.
Above policies, controversies and mobilization, America needs a president who can make timely, tough decisions in a way that minimizes harm to the nation. We need someone who can function to the best of their abilities and understand the views of a variety of citizens, especially those who will soon be our future.
More than anything, we need drops of young blood in the presidential pool and the old water filtered out.
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