By: Frankely Ramirez
At a press event in Kentucky last Wednesday, 81 year old Senate minority leader from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, froze when a reporter asked if he would run for reelection in 2026. McConnell’s aides repeated the question to him and attempted to help the senator, but it took several seconds for him to recover. This is not his first time freezing in front of reporters asking him questions as Senator McConnell's first occurred during a press conference in Washington DC on July 26 2023, just a month ago. This has raised concerns from both parties if the US government should implement an age limit for senators and congressmen.
As Senator McConnell is the senate minority leader, and is considered one of the most powerful republicans in the country, most news sources are talking about his mishap; but they lack to shed light to other officials who have had similar effects due to their old age. Let's take the 90 year old Senator from California Dianne Feinstein for example. Earlier this year she took months off due to prolonged illness to the point where people started to question if she was still fit for the job. She then -though still not in healthy condition- returned to DC to resume her work. We can also look at 89 year old Senator from Iowa Chuck Grassley. At the end of his term he would be 95 years old. Due to his old age, his committee constantly has to redirect Grassley to remain on topic during debates, as he frequently goes on off topic tangents.
https://thehill.com/homenews/3873452-haleys-mental-competency-tests-could-rock-washington-but-would-be-hard-to-implement/
Photo by: Greg Nash
Many officials have defended these senators to their right to serve and that they are elected by the people for a reason. Officials have also argued with people calling for Senator Feinstein’s retirement as sexist, when it isn't the case at all.
At the end of the day the people who are being impacted the most out of these old senators who are incapable of doing their jobs are the 39 million Californians, 4.5 million Kentuckians, and 3 million Iowans.
The most ironic part of it all is that there is an age minimum to be an elected official in government as a person needs to be at least 35 years old to be president, 25 years old to serve in the House of Representatives, and 30 years old to the Senate, but there is no age limit. Though one can say that creating an age limit is ageist, it is undeniably the right thing to do as older officials are the most out of touch to the people they are representing and are more prone to health problems.
Americans have started to become more open in implementing an age limit shown in a 2022 YouGov poll which reported that 58% of Americans want a maximum age for politicians and that politicians holding office should be no more than 70 years old which would take out around 71% of current U.S. senators who are in office right now.
https://www.chronicleonline.com/opinion/columnists/there-s-no-age-limit-for-politicians-as-people-live-longer-should-that-change/article_d375b395-9ce5-557e-b823-d83b21bbfbb6.html#:~:text=A%20person%20must%20be%20at,for%20serving%20in%20the%20Senate.
Photo by: AP photo
Though implementing it at the federal level will be a hassle, state governments have started to propose limit terms for legislators because of age concerns. Age limits are under consideration in South Dakota, which will vote in 2024 to establish an age limit of 80 years for congressional candidates.
Other factors that could take people out, who might not be able to fully represent people, are mental competency tests. This test was proposed by Republican presidential candidate nominee Nikki Haley who said it should be used for politicians 75 years or older. This solution is a bit more tricky as no one knows how to operationally define if someone is mentally competent to be a governmental official, but it is definitely a step towards taking people who can't do their job of representing millions.
For now, the average age for senators is 65 years old, which only represents around 16% of the whole United States population. The remaining 84% are left to be represented by these far older officials who don't seem to align with most of the population's newer viewpoints. If we want true representation in government, our first goal is to start taking age into consideration when we elect our officials, and ultimately voting for younger candidates.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66665682
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/mitch-mcconnell-freezing-incident-falling-rcna96626
https://www.chronicleonline.com/opinion/columnists/there-s-no-age-limit-for-politicians-as-people-live-longer-should-that-change/article_d375b395-9ce5-557e-b823-d83b21bbfbb6.html#:~:text=A%20person%20must%20be%20at,for%20serving%20in%20the%20Senate.
https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/01/19/elected-officials-maximum-age-limit-poll
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senates-mcconnell-freezes-up-second-time-public-appearance-2023-08-30/
https://theconversation.com/theres-no-age-limit-for-politicians-as-people-live-longer-should-that-change-211318
https://thehill.com/homenews/3873452-haleys-mental-competency-tests-could-rock-washington-but-would-be-hard-to-implement/
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/05/2020-census-united-states-older-population-grew.html
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