February 2025
By Richard Fleming
Photo courtesy of Logan Weaver
As the U.S. seeks to find its way forward into the second quarter of the 21st Century, our journey as seniors is becoming more uncertain. Will our Social Security benefits continue at the same levels? What is going to happen to our health care? Will our Medicare and Medicaid benefits be restricted or require higher copays? How many of us risk losing insurance coverage altogether? Will our bucketloads of prescription drugs cost more? With regulations insuring minimum staffing levels at nursing homes gutted, what will life in those institutions look like? Immigrants make up a large proportion of the workers who provide care for us seniors, both in our homes and in long-term care facilities. Will we need to cope with a shortage of people willing and able to provide us the support we need as we grow ever older?
But I digress.
My intention in this post is to discuss the way old age limits us, cognitively and physically, and highlight what should be one of the important ramifications of this fact. To cut to the chase, I feel we need old age limits for elected office. Discussion of this subject is topical, should be non-partisan, and is long overdue.
Age limits for elected office were included in the U.S. Constitution when it was written in 1787. But they were only younger age limits. To run for president, a person had to be 35 at the time they took office. Senators had to be 30. And Representatives had to be 25. There were no older age limits.
So the founders acknowledged a person’s age should be a determinative factor in whether they were qualified for office. They understood that to govern effectively and well, a person needed a minimum level of life experience, wisdom, and judgment, qualities which young adults took time to acquire. And they knew the more responsibility the office carried, the more these qualities were needed.
Why didn’t the founders set upper age limits? One of the principal reasons was that few people in those years lived into old age, and the founders could not conceive of a 70-year-old president. (From this point on, I will focus on the presidency, though my observations apply to all elected offices.) Among our first eight presidents, six were under age 60 when they took office. The other two were 61. The physical and mental limitations that typically begin accumulating in people in their mid-60s and older were not viewed as relevant when the Constitution was being written.
Life expectancy now is much longer, and many people live into their 70s and beyond. The pool of old people potentially interested in the White House is vastly larger.
Four of our most recent eight presidents were 69 years or older when they assumed office. The “oldest presidents club” seems to be steadily gaining members. It would be easy to draw on their experiences to identify multiple problems in governance linked to their age. But I opt to take a different approach, since I truly do not see this issue as partisan. Instead I will look at my personal experience with aging to illustrate the risks of having old folks serve in the Oval Office.
* * *
I am a reasonably healthy 73-year-old. And there is no doubt my age limits me – physically and mentally – in myriad ways. Stamina-wise, I have less energy and reserve than ten years ago. These days, after a few hours babysitting our young grandchildren, I am worn out and need to sit down. For a good long time. Ten years ago, the same babysitting responsibility was no big deal. After a half day of charging around after the grandkids in our house, the yard, and the park, I felt fine. Energized. Ready for more.
Minor house projects take longer to complete. Decluttering even one room seems to take forever nowadays. When I was in my early 60s, I was quick and efficient with such tasks. If I don’t sleep well on a given night, I am more tired the next day than was the case previously. And good refreshing sleep is becoming harder to achieve on a consistent basis.
Mentally, I notice subtle (and some not-so-subtle) alterations compared to a decade ago. Like other Boomers, I forget names easily. I often don’t remember why I went to the next room. I still love reading books, but my reading speed has slowed. I have difficulty recalling the plot of a movie I saw on TV just one week ago.
I teach occasionally at a nearby medical school, which I continue doing for the mental stimulation and because it is fun to interact with young adults. But I find that preparing for these teaching sessions is more time-consuming. Medicine has advanced significantly since I left practice, and it is a bigger challenge now to learn new information. When I was in class a week ago leading a seminar on diabetes, the eight students knew their stuff. They were smart and well-prepared. But they had questions, and those questions were difficult. I needed to listen very carefully to be able to answer appropriately. Thank goodness I succeeded, for the most part. After completing three seminars in one day, I was exhausted, mentally and physically. When I was 60, I could work ten-hour days five days in a row and be only a bit tired when the weekend arrived. Those days are long gone.
I talk with my friends about their experiences with aging, and they are very similar to mine. I am more fortunate than many, but less fortunate than some. Overall I feel my personal experience of normal aging is typical.
And I know for a fact that at this stage of my life I should never serve in elected office. The challenges of even being a small-town mayor, much less a U.S. Senator, Congressperson, or President, are overwhelming. I have no doubt I could do some of the work. I could put on a good show. I could pass. But I would not be doing a good job. For people over age 65, there simply is not enough there there, in the brain or in the body. And the limits I am experiencing are shared to one degree or another by everyone in our age group. None of us are exempt.
I also feel we old folks need to move out of the way so that younger people can take on the responsibility and authority of government. The more that Boomers try to hog elected offices, the more that Gen X and Millenials are shut out of opportunities to serve. These younger generations are qualified, energetic, mentally sharp, and innovative. Our country would be better off turning the reins over to them.
* * *
To conclude, I propose we enact a law that people over age 70 are not allowed to serve in any elected office. We could call this the “Retirement Requirement Act” of 2025. Old people will be forced to start relaxing, enjoying their grandkids, throwing out their alarm clocks, and strolling through their neighborhoods. For those seniors still plagued with boundless energy, they can do volunteer work.
The time has come. We all know it. The limitations of age require age limits for elections.
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The Founding Fathers did a pretty good job with the Constitution, but they lived in 1776 . No assault weapons. The belief/assumption/lie that none other than white men with property could make good choices when it came to elections. On the age limited, the founding fathers must’ve known from all their friends kicking the bucket in their thirties that the average life expectancy for an American was 35. According to the CDC, that number is closer to 77 now.
“Good suggestion!” says this less active 88 yr old voter!
Thanks so much for your candor. Couldn’t agree with you more!
Upon retiring each of us should receive an operating manual for the elderly to instead of a gold watch.
With the myriad of symptoms it’s hard to know what requires medical attention and what will only annoy your poor primary care physician
Wholeheartedly agree.
Hear, hear!!!
Well said. I agree. I recently looked into estimates of median survival in 1800. I think it was 50 or so for men and years less for women!
As with so many of your comments, well reasoned and thoughfully presented. I would expand the requirement to judges, many of whom are not elected. Your arguments for a time-limited tenure (either an age limit or maximum time of appointment) apply to judges as well, who now may serve beyond their peak productive years. Let them pass on the task of rendering justice to the next generation and have some fun.
Agree !!!
Spot on. I too am a 73 year old retired physician. I spent the last 10 years of my career as a chief medical officer and retired at age 66, and it was time to step aside. You perfectly articulated where I am today mentally and physically and how it compares to 10 years ago. I’m in great mental and physical shape for my age, but no way should I be asked to face the challenges of any critically important, taxing job, nor do I want to. These jobs can and should be the responsibility of younger generations. It is their world. They should be the decision makers. Septuagenarians and octogenarians need to put their egos aside and step away. Enjoy the time we have left.
I resemble these remarks…
Fascinating post, Richard. And as always, thoughtful.
A political consultant friend of mine once explained to me that many politicians hang on for so long because being in office keeps them going: They fear they’ll fall apart and even die once they give up the power/ego/perks trip of elected office.
As for the substance of your suggestion…I’m ambivalent. I share your experience of gradual decline. But I look at Joe Biden as an argument both for and against an age limit.
On the one hand, his decades of experience stood him in very good stead during his first couple of years in office, in knowing so much about the federal government, the budget process, foreign affairs, etc. All that experience helped him get lots of good legislation past, lead the country out of Covid, and deal with the Ukraine war, trade disputes and myriad other overseas issues.
Also we do see lots of elected officials, not least Benicia’s own mayor, serving very capably into their 70s.
On the other hand, he clearly was not fit to run again when he famously flopped in his debate and had to be pressured to drop out of the race. And there’s a big case to be made to make way for younger folks in politics and government.
So…no firm opinion from me either way on this, but I appreciate your raising this important matter.
Excellent Richard! I wholeheartedly relate to teaching at the medical school where I started six years ago, but find with each year of teaching the same coursework, I need to put more and more hours in to refresh myself on the material. Perhaps our government could have an “adjunct” system to be a resource for newly elected congresspeople, presidents, judges, etc. That could be some of the volunteer work they do (Lord knows they don’t need the money) to keep busy and keep up on the issues without the 15+hr days and political demands. There are several politicians who come to mind that I think are “too old” in their execution of services but still have valuable insights and experience to offer. Of course, unlike the current kakistocracy we have, the adjuncts would need to be vetted for their qualifications and skills.
Beautifully articulated, as always.
Thank you for your wonderful insights.
I am 78 and wondering what I’m doing here!