A country for old men

Good morning! The world’s biggest democracy by vintage, the United States of America, will vote to choose its 47th president next year. By the looks of it, Americans will have little choice but pick someone on the wrong side of at least the 70s. The country’s median age is 38.9. The same for the senate is 65.3 and the house of lawmakers is 57.9. Yet, former President Donald Trump, currently the leading candidate for the Republican nomination is 77, and sitting President and likely Democratic nominee Joe Biden is 80. Is it the rush of power or the lure of the perks of public office? This piece analyses why US politicians are old. Plus, our usual curation of the best reads.

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Mary Kate Cary 

When former President Bill Clinton showed up at the White House in early 2023, he was there to join President Joe Biden to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act. It was hard to avoid the fact that it had been three decades since Clinton was in office – yet at 77, he’s somehow three years younger than Biden.

Biden, now 80 years old, is the first octogenarian to occupy the Oval Office – and his main rival, former President Donald Trump, is 77. A Monmouth University poll taken in October 2023 showed that roughly three-quarters of voters think Biden is too old for office, and nearly half of voters think Trump is too old to serve.

My former boss, President George H.W. Bush, happily chose not to challenge Clinton again in the 1996 election. If he had run and won, he would have been 72 at the 1997 inauguration. Instead, he enjoyed a great second act filled with humanitarian causes, skydiving and grandchildren. Bush’s post-presidential life, and American ideals of retirement in general, raise the question of why these two men, Biden and Trump – who are more than a decade and a half beyond the average American retirement age – are stepping forward again for one of the hardest jobs in the world.

A trend toward older people

Trump and Biden are two of the three oldest men to ever serve as president. For 140 years, William Henry Harrison held the record as the oldest person ever elected president, until Ronald Reagan came along. Harrison was a relatively spry 68 when he took office in 1841, and Reagan was 69 at his first inauguration in 1981.

When Reagan left office at age 77, he was the oldest person ever to have served as president. Trump left office at age 74, making him the third-oldest to hold the office, behind Reagan and Biden.

According to the Census Bureau, the median age in America is 38.9 years old. But with the average ages in the House and Senate at 58 and 64, respectively, a word often used to describe the nation’s governing class is “gerontocracy.”

Teen Vogue, which recently published a story explaining the word to younger voters, defines the term as “government by the elderly.” Gerontocracies are more common among religious leadership such as the Vatican or the ayatollahs in Iran. They were also common in communist ruling committees such as the Soviet Politburo during the Cold War. In democracies, elderly leaders are less common.

Beyond the White House

Biden and Trump aren’t the only aging leaders in the U.S. It’s a bipartisan trend: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, is 72, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, is 81. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley was just reelected and has turned 90, with no plans to retire. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders is 81 and hasn’t mentioned retirement at all.

In the House, California Democrat and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at age 83, just announced she’s running for reelection for her 19th full term in office. Bill Pascrell Jr., a New Jersey Democrat, and Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who serves as the nonvoting delegate from Washington, D.C., are both 86. Kentucky Republican Harold Rogers and California Democrat Maxine Waters are both 85. Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer is 84. The list goes on, and none of these politicians has indicated they’re retiring.

A local pharmacist on Capitol Hill made headlines a few years ago when he revealed that he was filling Alzheimer’s medication prescriptions for members of Congress. Every one of the 20 oldest members of Congress is at least 80, and this is the third-oldest House and Senate since 1789.

Delayed retirement

What’s going on here?

Most baby boomers who delay retirement do so because they can’t afford to stop working, due to inflation or lack of savings. But all of these political leaders have plenty of money in the bank – many are millionaires. If they retired, they would enjoy government pensions and health care benefits in addition to Medicare. So for them, it’s not likely financial.

One theory is that it’s denial. No one likes to be reminded of their own mortality. I know people who equate retirement with death, often because of others they know who have passed away just after stepping down — which may explain why both Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stayed so long on the job, dying while still in office at age 90 and 87, respectively.

For others, it’s identity-driven. Many of the senior leaders I’ve seen have worked so hard for so long that their entire identity is tied to their jobs. Plus, years of hard work means they don’t have hobbies to enjoy in their remaining years.

Another theory is ego. Some lawmakers think they’re indispensable – that they’re the only ones who can possibly do the job. They’re not exactly humble.

In the political world, their interest is often about power as well. These are the types who think: Why wouldn’t I want to keep casting deciding votes in a closely divided House or Senate, or keep giving speeches and flying around on Air Force One as president, or telling myself I’m saving democracy?

It’s easy to see why so few of them want to walk away.

Age limits?

There have been calls to impose age limits for federal elected office. After all, federal law enforcement officers have mandatory retirement at 57. So do national park rangers. Yet the most stressful job in the world has no upper age limit.

For those who think mandatory retirement is ageist and arbitrary, there are other options: Republican candidate Nikki Haley has called for compulsory mental competency tests for elected leaders who are 75 and older, though she has said passing wouldn’t be a required qualification for office, and failing wouldn’t be cause for removal. A September 2023 poll shows huge majorities of Americans support competency testing. That way, the public would know who was sharp and who was not. Sounds like a fine idea to me.

So does having the generosity to step aside and think of others. And having the wisdom to realise that life is short and about more than just going to work. And having the grace to do what John F. Kennedy, the nation’s second-youngest president, once said: to pass the torch to a new generation of Americans.

My colleague professor Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, puts it well: “I’m 70, so I have great sympathy for these people: 80 is looking a lot younger than it used to, as far as I’m concerned. But no, it’s ridiculous. We’ve got to get back to electing people in their 50s and early 60s.” And the polling shows that most Americans would say, “Amen, brother.”

Mary Kate Cary is Adjunct Professor of Politics and Director of Think Again, University of Virginia.

This article is republished from https://theconversation.com under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article at https://theconversation.com/why-are-us-politicians-so-old-and-why-do-they-want-to-stay-in-office-217024 

ICYMI

Kit-kat break: Ever heard of melon flavoured Kit-Kats? How about matcha latte or daifuku mocha flavoured ones? These are just some of the novelty Kit-Kats that are sold exclusively in Japan. People in the US are shelling up to $250,000 to get their hands on a box of these. But that’s not the crazy part. What’s crazy is that these chocolates are becoming the targets of supply chain frauds. Scammers are running an intricate network of shell email accounts, phantom truckers, and committing identity theft to steal these precious Kit-Kats. The phenomenon has been dubbed as ‘strategic theft’ and has left cargo freight brokers scratching their heads. To get a full sense of the picture, go through this piece in The New York Times.

Earth, fire, wind, water, heart: Those who grew up in the ‘90s remember this as the summon for Captain Planet, the animated superhero in Captain Planet And The Planeteers. It’s also something I (Roshni) associate with Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a volcanologist and seismologist who went viral earlier this year after she identified seismic activity generated by Taylor Swift concerts in Seattle, US. That’s right: Swift and her fans caused a literal earthquake. But that’s not even the most wondrous revelation in this interview with Caplan-Auerbach. For instance, did you know that she—and other seismologists—can identify any song being played just from the seismic characteristics of rhythm and crowd behaviour? That each volcano, landslide, and earthquake has a distinct “dialect”, and that tsunamis can be triggered by gravity waves in the atmosphere? Caplan-Auerbach, who’s currently studying underwater volcanoes, is my favourite kind of scientist—one whose childlike sense of wonder hasn’t gone anywhere despite years of experience. As she puts it, “Science is fun. The fun part is saying: I don’t know, and how can I find out?”

The plan to never have peace: To Hamas, Gaza’s rising body count—now past 10,000—is an achievement. The more people die, the more distant peace will be, a key objective of the organisation whose stated purpose is to destroy Israel. Until the October 7 attack on Israel, Hamas was groping for identity and purpose. While it was governing Gaza, its original goal was war to the end. That is what its leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, set out to do. The possibility of a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia, Palestine’s richest well-wisher, and arch enemy Israel, was unthinkable. This longread in The New York Times pieces together Hamas’s long preparation, quietly gathering equipment, training stealthily and building a faux impression of war weariness, before striking with deadly force, catching Israel by surprise and plunging the world into another vortex of unthinkables.

Gaming the systumm: Elections are in the air and political hopefuls are on ground, trying every trick in the book to grab voter attention (and sympathy). They tend to do these rounds with local heroes, respected professionals, and when possible, film stars. But now, leaders of the ruling party are leaning on a whole new brand of celebrity: Elvish Yadav. The YouTuber first became famous for his ‘roasts’, rants, misogynistic videos, and sketches celebrating the ‘desi’ Haryanvi boy unit that won the inaugural season of reality show Bigg Boss OTT this year, cultivating a fan base so ardent it has turned into a meme. BJP leaders are courting Yadav in hopes of garnering young votes. So much so that he’s successfully avoided arrest despite being caught running rave parties with drugs and endangered snakes. This story in The Print details Yadav’s rise from the peak of Indian internet to the real money and power of politics. 

Building sand castles: What young man isn’t seduced by the promise of guns, cash, cars, and power? In Rajasthan, where job opportunities are few and caste anxieties drive a need for influence, young men are drawn to jobs in the state’s rapidly growing sand mining mafia. This longread in The Print details the origins of sand mining gangs in Rajasthan, back to a well-intentioned court ruling from 2012 that banned all sand mining from river beds in the state. Since then, sand gangs are growing in influence, making money for themselves and local authorities even as their leaders turn into local baahubalis or strongmen despite being embroiled in gang wars and murders. None of these risks deter Rajasthan’s young men though; they work hard to climb the ranks from driving earth movers to becoming gang leaders themselves. 

Mon dieu!: France and cricket don’t quite go together, but even then this is a rather shocking scandal. As the cricket World Cup enters its final phase in one part of the world, the International Cricket Council has been forced to investigate serious allegations of fraud and corruption levelled against France Cricket. An investigation by FRANCE24 revealed that the federation, which depends on the ICC for funds, has significantly exaggerated claims about hosting matches. It reportedly rubber-stamped some matches as having taken place and posted the results on its website. These matches never took place, according to FRANCE24’s investigation. France Cricket has also been accused of lying to access ICC funds and concealing how it spends them. It’s all in rather poor taste just months ahead of the Paris Olympics.