By Hannah Lynn, Staff Writer
During the recent years, the average age of the members the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branch of the Federal Government has become a concern to many Americans.
With the United States Constitution only establishing minimum age requirements for the Executive and Legislative Branch, this brings the question, “Should age limits be established for political office?”
“I believe that a lot of representatives are too old; however, I don’t agree with the usual side of adding term limits. Remarked Khristian Parrish, A senior Political Science Major at Saint Leo University.
While it is important for everyone’s voice to be heard, there are many important aspects that suggest maximum age limits should be adopted.
The position of government, particularly the federal one, is not one taken lightly. This is because there are many rules, regulations, and outside factors that need to be considered before making a decision that could, in essence, change the whole world.
With the normal aging process, it calls into question if older people could effectively keep up the high demand, stress, and mental processes that are needed for a position like this.
“Most voting age youth fail to take part in primary and local elections, which typically has more candidate options. If voters vote younger, they will get younger officials.”, said Parrish.
If a person is going to take on a governmental position, especially in the federal government, it is non-negotiable they need to have a greater developed mental capacity, which unfortunately many people who are in their 70’s and 80’s does not have due to the normal aging process.
According to the University Of California San Francisco Article, in general, our brain functions are at their best when a person is in their thirties.
As a person ages, many issues start to become prominent such as “slowness in thinking, sustaining attention, multitasking and holding information.”
There are many alternatives that do not involve running for such an important governmental office that people can use to voice their opinion, such as voting or joining a group of like-minded people.
It is important to consider the pros, cons, and alternatives before changing the constitution to add something drastic such as age limits for governmental positions.
Other than the issue of age decline, it brings up another question. Is someone in their 70’s to 80’s accurately able to represent a person who is in their 20’s? These ages have vastly different belief systems, life experiences and what they want the country to look like.
There are a few things that the Republican Party and the Democratic Party will agree on in terms of policy and how situations should be managed, but one major thing they do agree on is establishing age limits in government.
According to the Pew Research Article, “82% of Republicans and 76% of Democrats support putting a maximum age limit in place”
There is close agreement between the two political parties considering the issue of age limits for federal governmental officials, and with there are very little issues they agree on, it should be noticed.
Age limits would not serve to restrict people’s voices or take away any of their fundamental rights like many people think, instead, it would help to guarantee that The United States of America is in excellent standings in the global stage and as strong as it could be.
