Speaker 1: Is it good that many of the most powerful federal elected officials in the United
States are in their 80s or even close to their 90s in some cases? Now, let me set this up for
you. Last week, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley announced he's going to be running for reelection.
He is 88. Senate terms are six years long. We're talking 90s. If he wins, Joe Biden is almost 79.
Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House is 81. Steny Hoyer is 82. Jim Clyburn is 81. Those are the top
three Democrats in the House of Representatives. Over in the Senate, the Democratic leader,
Chuck Schumer, is only 70. Republican leader Mitch McConnell, 79 years old. Senator Dianne Feinstein,
88 years old. Bernie is 80 years old. Patrick Leahy is 81. Jim Inhofe is 86. I can give you
the list. Fine. This is not about ageism. Republicans have actually been using ageist
tropes against Joe Biden. Joe Biden's barely older than Donald Trump. They're big alpha boy,
strong hero. Joe Biden's barely older Republicans have been using a lot of ageist tropes against Joe
Biden. I have no interest in like just a generally ageist discussion. It's more about is this country
well represented if our elected officials skew so dramatically older than the average population?
Now, to some degree, it makes sense. Five year olds contribute to the average population,
but five year olds can't be senators. So like to some degree, it would make sense that our elected
officials are older than the average population, but we're talking about dramatically so. We've
also talked before about whether there should be an upper age limit for president. For example.
This isn't about, you know, imposing anything. Some people want an upper age limit. This is
more about whether it could be argued that the population of the United States overall
is well served and well represented by folks who skew dramatically older. There is a strong case to
be made that the answer is no. Now, at the same time, we want people who are more experienced.
Oftentimes people get good at their jobs after they've been in the job for a while. You can also
have corruption and rot, which sets in when people have been in their jobs for a while.
We want people who know how these legislative bodies work and know how to get things done. And
if you increase turnover dramatically in the House and Senate, you probably increase this
revolving door of lobbyists and a number of other problems. Now, aside from an age limit, you can
also look at term limits. But there's quite a bit of literature in terms of term limits, which says
term limits create corruption and they create incompetence because you force out lots of people
who could be doing their job really well. They force people out as they become more experienced
and you create the opportunity for moneyed interests to interfere and swoop in
write legislation. It's a complicated issue for sure. The idea of an age limit is not unheard of.
Many people don't know that Canada has a maximum age for senators. There's mandatory
retirement for Canadian senators at age seventy five. So then we get at the end
to turnout is really low in the United States without. Changing anything about the rules,
term limits, maximum age or any of this stuff, if more people wanted younger elected officials,
they could get out and vote for them, support them in primaries, and the problem would sort
of take care of itself. Now, many people would say, hey, there's too many 80 year olds and my
generation is not represented and I'm going to go out and vote. But a lot of the people who say that
don't actually go out and vote, does that make sense? No, but it's the situation that we have.
So do we really need age limits? Do we really need term limits or do we just need more voter
participation and higher turnout from younger people who are overwhelmingly underrepresented in
the electorate that chooses to vote? It would make sense. Like if you step back from all of this,
if older folks are more reliable voters, it makes sense that you might see
older folks also overrepresented in terms of who wins. So let me know your thoughts. Is this
question. One is, is this really an issue that elected representatives, particularly in the
Senate and in general and federal government, skew older? And if it is a problem, are we better off
leaning on a solution like a term limit or an age limit or this? Is this really just an issue of
apathy among those who casually would like younger representatives but are actually going
out and voting in significant numbers? Let me know your thoughts. Is it a problem? And what is the
solution of so you can find me on Twitter at David Pakman. Remember that The David Pakman Show does
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