Old Farts vs Youngsters
How does America solve the issue of older generations continually hogging positions of power within the halls of government? America’s founders desired that each generation would be free to practice self-determination. Thomas Paine who traveled, lived, and wrote some of the most influential works in both America and France during their respective revolutionary periods, simplified the rational and justness of each fight so that every person could understand the cause, and rebutted those that would seek to crush these revolutions. Through his works of Common Sense and Rights of Man, Thomas Paine laid out that every generation should be independent of its predecessors, so that every generation can create a society and government most conducive to its beliefs. Generational self- determination is still relevant today, so why don’t we use it to create a better world by putting an age limit on serving civically?
An age limit on civic service may seem controversial, but it doesn’t have to be. We already have limits on when a person can start to vote (18), serve on juries (18), join the Armed Forces (18), use tobacco and alcohol (21), run for various political offices (25 for US House of Representatives, 30 for US Senate, 35 for US President), when you can retire (67 for Social Security), and many more arbitrary ages for certain life events. The United States should create a “discerning adult age”, at which all civic benefits and privileges are eligible at the lower limit. The upper limit would be the age at which persons could no longer serve in public office, juries, or other governmental or civic positions. The age could easily be set at 18 through 70 years of age. With the average lifespan in the US currently near 79 years old, this would ensure most people would be within the discerning adult age for most of their lives.
The limiting of the power of one generation over another meshes nicely with the founding father’s ideals of utilizing frequent revolutions to correct the missteps of the government. Thomas Paine drew on the philosophy of John Locke and the founders such as Thomas Jefferson when he claimed in Rights of Man that “Man has no property in man; neither has any generation a property in the generation which are to follow… It is the living, and not the dead, that are to be accommodated.” Wow, what a statement! As an abolitionist, Mr. Paine despised the concept of one person having any rights over another that the person did not agree to relinquish. While he does not call for a revolution every generation in order for a new government to be established, he did acknowledge that each generation must have the opportunity to either keep laws enforced or to repeal them. Within the rationale that each generation must be allowed to create and approve its own system of government, having a discerning adult age will make this easier.
With a discerning adult age, the population of the US Congress would more closely reflect the age of the population. The age of the average US House of Representative member is 58 years old, while the average age of a US Senator is 62 years old. This is vastly different compared to the median age in the US (38 years old) or the 72% of the total population that is below the average age of a US Representative. With this vast age disparity between the majority of the population and the age of those that are supposed to represent them, is it no wonder that there is such virulent upheaval between elected officials and the everyday Americans? By limiting the age that Representatives and Senators can serve, that will in effect lower the average age to ensure it closely mirrors the age of the populace. Also, it would be a mechanism to ensure politicians are cycled out of government in such a way that it would decrease the appetite of lobbyists to cozy up to them.
Another stipulation could be that every law that is passed must have an expiration date, or must be re-approved once 50 percent of the representatives who passed the law are no longer serving as representatives. This may fit in closer with the founder’s ideal of each generation creating a government which is representative of their ideals and beliefs than limiting the age someone can serve their nation. Either way, as people continue to live longer and longer, now is the time to discuss at what age should people step aside and let a younger generation lead? Setting an age in which a person is considered a discerning adult, which bestows certain privileges, would go a long way to ensuring that representatives are truly representative of those they serve.
Term limits is another to limit the time politicians serve, but the nation would have to enact term limits at every level. The great thing about a discerning adult age requirement is that it could be applied to so much more just elected positions. Appointed Cabinet positions and Government service bureaucratic jobs could also be captured under this rule, ensuring that fresh thoughts and faces are brought into departments in order to ensure that the part of the government that is typically most involved in the day-to-day lives of the citizens is also staffed by a more accurate representation of the society.
And think about the effect that a discerning adult age would have on judges, juries, and the outcomes of criminal and civil trials. The wonder of America’s common law system is that the judge and jury create or affirm the law with every case that is tried before them. Common law relies on precedent, but precedent can be changed and tweaked through the decisions of judges and juries. By ensuring those wielding the power of life and death over others reflect the morals and beliefs of the current generation and not those of the past, imagine the ease in which changes could occur. Issues such as qualified immunity could possibly be overturned within the court system because the judges and juries are not afraid to buck precedent and create new exceptions within that precedent.
Within this federal republic system that is the United States, all that a person wants from their government is to have elected officials who truly represent that person’s beliefs and values. While limiting the age that a person can participate in an official capacity in the government may be one of the best answers. This is truly what America was founded upon and what philosopher’s dream of, a society where each generation can continue to grow upon the developments of past generations while being able to determine for themselves what they want their current and future society to achieve.