The Boomer politicians who won't retire
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How old is Congress and why are people worried about a gerontocracy?
Considering the southern death of Lindsey Graham and whatever's going on currently with Mitch McConnell, it got me thinking, just how old is Congress? Let's do some research, shall we? 80% of voters think that term limits should be required. I want to say oligarchy, but with old, like the oldigarchy. At the start of this congressional term, the median age for a U.S. senator was 64, and the median age for a member of the House was 57. Let's look up the oldest members of Congress. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C. Steny Hoyer, the Maryland congressman, he's retiring. Maxine Waters, who is running for reelection, is 87 years old. We're now in the third oldest U.S. Congress in all of history, according to a recent analysis from NBC News.
But it's not like politics has ever been a young person's game. However, the problem is getting worse. There are 20 members of the House and Senate that are over 80 years old. Trump, after getting reelected, was the oldest president to take office. And of course, there was the whole Biden fiasco.
With the COVID, excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with COVID,
The gerontocracy feels like a huge problem in American politics. So why won't the boomers retire? I asked 17-term Congressman Jim Clyburn that exact question.
I gave serious consideration last year to not run again and made that very clear to quite a few friends. And I
kept being asked, how do you feel? Clyburn, who turned 86 just this week, is running for reelection in South Carolina again. And I kept answering, I feel fine. And they said, well then, why would you quit? This week on America Actually, Congressman Clyburn makes the case for experience and the establishment. Let's dig in.
On this show, we like to think about American politics beyond the question of the day-to-day administration. And a big thing that comes up in that lens is the generational gap that had been exposed in a lot of areas in our politics. There is a universal desire for generational change that we hear all the time. And I don't have to remind you that it's a big reason why President Biden was forced to abandon his reelection bid in 2024. Now, the generational gaps in our politics have only become more important in the age of AI and fast-moving technology. But it's a delicate issue, and you have to approach it carefully. So I wanted to start by asking you all, what's the best way to think about age in politics?
This is Joshua from Centralia, Washington. David, I'm from California. My name is Lily Green, and I'm 31 years old. My name is Alexandra. Hi, this is Kara from Idaho. I'm 74. I'm here with my annoying wife, Samantha Freeman.
So should we cap the age for holding office?
We don't think there should be an age limit necessarily. Just mental health tests. I do think term limits are more important than age limits. You don't want to be ageist, right? Some old people are really sharp. Ray Sanders is popping off and he's like, what, 2000s? At least. I'm so fed up with the fact that most of our lawmakers are so old. Yeah. 80 years old is probably the cat. of being way too old to be in Congress. I feel like 65 is a fair cutoff. We already have a little bit of an answer in some of the other aspects of public life. You can't be an air traffic controller past your 50s. You can't be a federal law enforcement officer past 57. You can't be an airline pilot past 65. An acknowledgment of our human biology would suggest a maximum age requirement
Of 70 years for all offices. And there's one aspect of concern about cognitive decline in health.
Yeah, you see people making the distinction between age and cognitive ability.
But then also how in or out of touch that person is and whether they can actually speak to their constituency. Anyone that still uses a printer consistently. I like a printer. Or can't. do an Excel spreadsheet or even knows what Google Drive is, shouldn't be president.
That's all I got to say. Bye. All right. It's one thing to ask voters, but I want to know what these older elected officials have to say for themselves.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
How old is Congress and why are people worried about a gerontocracy?
0:00–5:32
2
Why does Representative Jim Clyburn say he’s running again at 86?
5:32–10:13
3
Should we set age limits or cognitive tests for elected officials?
10:13–36:09
4
What did Clyburn say about Biden’s debate performance and party credibility?
36:09–38:26