Age continues to be something that the American public worries about. Booth Primary presidential candidates are over the age of 75 Donald Trump is 77 years old and Joe Biden is 81 years old. The American voting populace has become increasingly concerned about the increasing age that comes with the POTUS position. The question seems to be: are our leaders getting too old to lead this nation? Additionally, there may also be concerned about the elder generations hogging political power away from younger generations
Biden’s Performance Issues
Joe Biden has been having age related gafs during speeches, communications on live television, and in general. It is important to know that Joe Biden has always had trouble with speech, as he has suffered through a life long speech impediment. However, these events don’t seem to look like speech impediment problems. Joe Biden may be fiery during speeches, but speeches are practiced. America has an 81 year old president that will likely be running for reelection.
American Constituency
America isn’t too confident about the current POTUS situation. “About one-third of Democrats said they’re not very or not at all confident in Biden’s mental capability in the new survey, up from 14% in January 2022. Only 40% of Democrats said they’re extremely or very confident in Biden’s mental abilities, with approximately 3 in 10 saying they’re “somewhat” confident.” according to AP News.
Maybe it’s time to reevaluate the place of people older than 70 in American politics. The solution may not need to be completely wiping them away. A good example of a competent elder politician is Bernie sanders. He is older than Joe Biden, and seems to still have the mental capability to do his job well. There have been calls for him to retire. However, these are related to the fact that he has been doing the job his entire life and should rest from his life long service. Maybe a complete wipe of the elders is the wrong choice. However, there should be something done about this.
Modern Problems Require Modern Solutions
There could be a law that suggested that whenever there is an elder politician that doesn’t seem to be all there, there should be an investigation. After said investigation there should be a clear analysis on whether or not this is political name calling or a legitimate case. Once identified that it is a legitimate case, a number of options should appear.
One could be extra assistance, though that person would probably be receiving extra assistance by that point. Another could be a secondary person for their position . That way they get to keep the position, but someone more competent shares the load. The final option should obviously be removal. However, it should be up to their constituency who replaces the elder politician. If it is to the politicians, there will be a bipartisan war for the spot.
American Incompetence
In conclusion, America deserves a competent and mentally aware president. If either Joe Biden or Donald Trump are capable of fitting that description , then they should be able to run for president. However, if they are not, then they shouldn’t be allowed to run for president. Representative politics is supposed to work a certain way. People are represented by people that understand them and are looking out for their best interests.
However, this doesn’t work when the representative doesn’t have it in them anymore to do the job. People deserve proper representation as citizens within representative democracy. The more powerful the position , the competency of the person matters even more. This isn’t an age issue, but rather a question of whether or not someone can properly do a job. No one would ask a 4”11 12 year old girl to play Lebron James in a basketball game for the fate of the American economy. No matter how good that 12 year old girl is at basketball, she isn’t going to beat Lebron James. We shouldn’t ask those incapable of doing something to do the highest position of the thing they can’t do anymore.
Written by Kenneth Mazerat
Sources
APNews: 6 in 10 US adults doubt mental capability of Biden and Trump, AP-NORC poll finds BY JOSH BOAK AND AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX
TheTimesofIndia: More than 6 in 10 US adults doubts Biden’s mental capability for second term
Independent: More than 60% of Americans doubt both Biden and Trump’s mental capabilities, new poll finds by Graig Graziosi
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
First Inset Image Courtesy of Michael Vadon’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
