The older I
grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom
H.L. Mencken
Native
Americans still venerate their elders, and that is amiable; at the same time,
white people worry: What are we going to do with grandma?
When society
and technology moved at a snail’s pace, the wisdom of oldsters and their reminiscence
of things past had relevance. However, as technology constantly evolves almost
daily, it is increasingly challenging for older people to keep pace.
It is a fact
that we all lose a step as we age.
Things are harder to recall, our physical abilities decline, our health
becomes a concern, and we find we live more in the past than the present.
At a time
when humans are capable of world annihilation, it might be an advantage to have
a stable, older person with life experience at the helm, making decisions – but
that would depend on the individual.
However,
there comes a time when most older people are not equipped for that level of responsibility.
Strom
Thermond, the Senator from South Carolina, died in office at age 100. That is ridiculous.
It is not ageism
when I suggest that an age limit for public service, in all capacities, should
be set at seventy-five years of age. No politician's
or judge's term should extend beyond their eightieth birthday.
Of course,
this leaves me beyond my sell-by date – and rightly so.
the very old Ol'Buzzard
In Canada, judges must retire at 75. We have no set mandatory requirement age for workers or politicians, but some point workers could be fired for cause if no longer able to do the job or let go without cause but with severance. Canadians don't tend to elect elderly politicians if they are in a critical role of power. But a beloved backbencher who's simply there to vote and represent the constituency may, in practice, be re-elected into their old age, if they remain competent.
ReplyDeleteI thought Hillary was too old when she ran in 2016. I'm about six months younger than she is, and I knew what my energy levels and cognitive skills were like as a (at that time) 68-year-old woman. I'd love to see a mandatory retirement age for lawmakers, no more barely breathing nonagenarians going through the motions while their staff does the actual work and decision making (I, too, remember Strom being wheeled around while everyone pretended he wasn't one step above a turnip mentally). 75 strikes me as reasonable. I'd love term limits for SCOTUS, too. It could be a long one, maybe 20 years, but no more lifetime appointments with zero accountability.
ReplyDeleteThere should be Term Limits on all of these Positions of Power with no exceptions and you're being very gracious setting it at 75. My Suggestion would be earlier, people with very little to no Future shouldn't be making decisions that will impact the Future for those who still have one.
ReplyDelete