I just have to say this on AKV, because anywhere else it would probably be a little off-color, but...
Could any Alaskan be surprised that an 82-year-old politician would insist on staying in office?
I am not comparing Alaskan politicians to Egypt's oppressive president, but I think that there is something to be said for men who grow ancient while holding power.
My suggestion for the United States is this: (obviously Egypt has more important things to worry about right now)
A U.S. Senator is required to be at least 30 years old - a full 12 years after the age of adulthood.
Overall life expectancy at birth in the U.S. is about 78 years. How about we take those 12 years of age qualification and go backwards as well? I propose that in order to run for U.S. Senate, a person must be between the ages of 30 and 66. (And to run for House, since the current restriction is to be 25, the upper age limit would be 71.)
Call me ageist, but doesn't anyone else think this makes sense?
Poll (Click to toggle)
How long do you think politicians should be able to hold an office?
Competency is far more important than age. It doesn't matter if you're 30 years old or 80, if you don't know what the fuck you're doing you should not be in office. Age really only matters if there's a high chance of death while in office, in that case it would be time to start looking for someone new to take over.
Well there is something to be said for the argument that age doesn't matter and that anyone from 18 to 100 could be competent enough to hold office. Part of me really wants to agree with that.
The only problem is that competent people are not always elected, and I think the risk is that, with a candidate younger than a certain age or older than a certain age, it is far more likely that they will be incompetent.
Unless the incompetent person is placed in office with no choice from the people, then it's the peoples fault and they will have to learn from the mistake that they made.
Poll (Click to toggle)
Login to post a comment...
3 Comments
Statistics
Recent Activity
Minecraft! (87 day)
