Should there be presidential age limits?

[hobbsyoyo]

Or more broadly, when is it appropriate to enforce age limits (either young or old) in society?

We accept that kids can't be held responsible for some actions and therefore are restricted from participating in some activities or jobs, but should that also be true of the elderly? And in particular, if a 34 year old is considered too young to be the president, can't we also say 85 is too old? We have upper age limits for some professions like pilots, should those be extended to political offices and judges? Are there other areas that should have an age limit like driver's licenses or practicing medicine?




NOTE: Do not turn the topic onto the subject of sex at all. This isn't the thread for discussing that and I'll report it or have the thread shut down if that's where the conversation goes.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Driver license for older people require medical checkup before being issued already here in Australia
For other professions instead of baring on age there should be some test to continue working.

If the US wants to elect a Moron into President it should be allowed
Theres the 25th as a final safe guard

 

[AdamCrock]

I can see why 34 is too young. I am 34 and all I can say still a bit young ... but suit Yourself, You're the superpower , You set the rules. Just don't blame me after the great Rome Washington fire

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Driver license for older people require medical checkup before being issued already here in Australia

I'm not sure if any states here require a medical checkup. Many states do require you to take a driving test every other year or once a year when you've reached a certain age though. And you have to pass a vision test as well.

My great grandmother refused to give up her license and my family got pretty upset with her because she didn't really drive that much and when she did, she was a hazard to everyone on the road. They finally reached out to the DMV to ask them if they could revoke her license and while they said they couldn't, they assured them that they could make sure she didn't pass the test if she was dangerous. She did not pass the test.

 

[Patine]

Or more broadly, when is it appropriate to enforce age limits (either young or old) in society?

We accept that kids can't be held responsible for some actions and therefore are restricted from participating in some activities or jobs, but should that also be true of the elderly? And in particular, if a 34 year old is considered too young to be the president, can't we also say 85 is too old? We have upper age limits for some professions like pilots, should those be extended to political offices and judges? Are there other areas that should have an age limit like driver's licenses or practicing medicine?




NOTE: Do not turn the topic onto the subject of sex at all. This isn't the thread for discussing that and I'll report it or have the thread shut down if that's where the conversation goes.

West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, the oldest elected world leader in a free-and-fair, contested as of his first election (73, I think), was elected to four terms (dying into the fourth), and didn't do THAT bad, all things considered. But he may have been a notable exception to the rule.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The tricky part for an upper age limit is that unlike with the lower age limit, everyone is different. It takes everyone roughly the same amount of time to reach a level of maturity to function independently in society and while the age where we make them legal is a bit arbitrary, it's more or less correct. I don't think that statistically there will be enough 15 year olds capable of being responsible for themselves or 21 year olds incapable of the same to justify moving the designation of 18 as the year you are legally an adult.

The same can't be said about the elderly - clearly there can be 65 year olds who shouldn't have their fingers on the nuclear button due to infirmity of various sorts while there are also 75 year olds who are just fine.

 

[Synobun]

Minimum age should be dropped by 5 years.

I don't know if setting an upper limit is needed. I think the US could just use an attitude adjustment regarding age in politics. You guys skew super old for all the positions of note, and this is actively harmful in a globalized/fast-moving society. Most of the people in charge are dealing with policies about things they've never heard of or have actively dismissed as "things those young folks get up to." Other countries have the same thing going on, but in the US it seems like you guys take it to an extreme.

Being old isn't by itself a malus. But with how much things have changed, there's a pretty big difference between the generations of those 50+ and those below 40. A lot of older people adapted well. Others... didn't.

And honestly it kind of seems like the older people who don't adapt well to change are also the people who don't care about what happens after they're gone, so that's kind of a double whammy.

If it's brain health we're concerned about, it seems the answer there is to just invest a whole lot more money into research and then develop a way to screen and treat those neurological conditions. No need to add a "presidenting while old" meme to the repertoire if we can help it.

 

[AdamCrock]

Young people vs. the old people let's see... Alexander the Great was like what ... 16 when he took over ? Was that good ? And what of people like Stalin, took over when he was like ? 44 ? - thug Georgian life , a thug for life - was he good ? I don't think that age is a solemn "good" thing in this equation

 

[Patine]

Minimum age should be dropped by 5 years.

I don't know if setting an upper limit is needed. I think the US could just use an attitude adjustment regarding age in politics. You guys skew super old for all the positions of note, and this is actively harmful in a globalized/fast-moving society. Most of the people in charge are dealing with policies about things they've never heard of or have actively dismissed as "things those young folks get up to." Other countries have the same thing going on, but in the US it seems like you guys take it to an extreme.

Being old isn't by itself a malus. But with how much things have changed, there's a pretty big difference between the generations of those 50+ and those below 40. A lot of older people adapted well. Others... didn't.

And honestly it kind of seems like the older people who don't adapt well to change are also the people who don't care about what happens after they're gone, so that's kind of a double whammy.

If it's brain health we're concerned about, it seems the answer there is to just invest a whole lot more money into research and then develop a way to screen and treat those neurological conditions. No need to add a "presidenting while old" meme to the repertoire if we can help it.

The USSR and China suffered from the "geriatric hegemony" problem, too - and Japan still does...

 

[Moriarte]

I think it’s safe to say that beyond 85 years old, 99% of your respondents will be unfit to hold office, given the diversity of work and general energy requirements, like meeting dozens of people every day, giving speeches and holding a thousand little things in your head.. Hence, it could be a decent upper limit to be elected at. Then again, you will see more and more active 85 y olds as time goes by, and QoL rises across developed countries. Then there are different types of presidents.. representative ones and the ones like Trump: with substantial power. Or are we only discussing the latter?

 

[mitsho]

It's not restricted to office holders, it should be a general rule. But I don't think it should be a fixed rule. It takes courage to tell grandpa that maybe he shouldn't do this or that. I do believe that following generations are much more attuned to that thought than the current 70-80 year olds. So, it gets better, but it shouldn't be a hard rule. Medical examinations are tricky, you can do it rather easily for driving licenses, but even there they are not at all liked by those that say "but I'm not one of those elderlies" at age 93... And of course you can do multiple medical exams. So no, I don't think that's the way to go. We simply need to muster the courage and give grandpa something else to run, a charity or something.

 

[Patine]

It's not restricted to office holders, it should be a general rule. But I don't think it should be a fixed rule. It takes courage to tell grandpa that maybe he shouldn't do this or that. I do believe that following generations are much more attuned to that thought than the current 70-80 year olds. So, it gets better, but it shouldn't be a hard rule. Medical examinations are tricky, you can do it rather easily for driving licenses, but even there they are not at all liked by those that say "but I'm not one of those elderlies" at age 93... And of course you can do multiple medical exams. So no, I don't think that's the way to go. We simply need to muster the courage and give grandpa something else to run, a charity or something.

There are, of course, stories in other endeavours of researchers, technicians, and scientists who want to finish their "last breakthrough," or novelists, poets, playwrights, movie makers, or visual artists wanting to finish their last work (as cliched as that sounds) before retirement, or the head of a family business who knows a vicious succession battle or even ruination of what they've built will occur when their heirs get full control, and they can't bear to see it while they're alive, and a few other things - albeit often corner cases.

 

[rah]

Any position that is served for life should have an age limit. (specifically looking at the SC)
The pope too. (if anyone actually gives a crap)

 

[EgonSpengler]

Or more broadly, when is it appropriate to enforce age limits (either young or old) in society?

Personally, I think minimum age requirements fall into the realm of "we can't think of anything better." I mean, I've known adults who shouldn't be allowed to vote or serve on a jury, and there might be 16-year-olds who would do fine. Maximum age limits are even trickier because you're taking something from someone who already has it.

There's talk of term limits on Supreme Court justices, but I haven't decided how I feel about that. And as worried as people might be about Ruth Bader Ginsberg's age, it isn't because of her mental acuity or her ability to stay current with the law.

As to an age limit specifically for elected offices, I kind of feel like that's edging towards declaring that the American people aren't able to determine who should lead them. And because of things like the Electoral College, gerrymandering, foreign meddling in our elections, campaign finance, voter suppression, etc, etc, etc, it may actually be that we aren't. But I don't think any of that has anything to do with the candidate's age. Likewise, if we're worried that the American electorate can't tell who's qualified and who isn't, that's not really about age, either, and is also burdened by all of the crap I cited (and let's face it, the American people didn't elect either Donald Trump or George W. Bush, and it didn't nominate Hillary Clinton in 2016, the American election system did all of that, the people be damned).

 

[schlaufuchs]

Put frankly: no. It's undemocratic. And arguments for it miss the whole point of democracy in advocating for it. To me it's of a kind with government knowledge/literacy tests or poll taxes (or citizenship, tbh) as a precondition for voting. If the point of voting is to arrive at a presupposed "correct" policy prescription, then why bother having voting in the first place? Let's just do away with the charade and bring back the aristocratic technocracy of the late Ancien Régime that the educated white liberals who propose such policies seem to want so badly.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I would support: At age 75 you have to stop working in any capacity in the federal government system.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

I can't see it as being good policy, much less humane. Even a more passive age cut off (80? which is about the average lifespan for a dude) means Bernie is donezo. There are better ways to address the age disparity in politics. Getting rid of college debt, making running for office involve public funding, and bringing pack political culture into high schools and afterschool activities that fosters participation, like that during the time of the Wide Awakes. Right now politics is just too expensive, time consuming, and young adults have so much debt as to make it meaningless. Both running and participating. There are ways to fix representation without using a cudgel on age.

For the record, the age block on those under 35 for president is total bs too.

 

[innonimatu]

Voters should be the judge of whether each candidate is too old or not. Or indeed too young either.

 

[Berzerker]

no limits, if people want a wise old fart or a genius teenager they should be able to vote for them

 

[Commodore]

If you are old enough to collect social security, you are too old to be president. Or to hold any public office for that matter.

So I think the minimum age should be kept where it is for president. That would put my ideal age range for president at 35 to 64.

EDIT: That 64 would be a hard limit too. Once you turn 65, you will be obligated to resign and turn the office over to your VP, unless they are 65 as well. At which point you just keep going down the line of succession until you get someone young enough.