Abraham Yeung - Q2 Blog # 7 - "Ok, Boomer"
The median age of the senate is now 64.7 years old.
64.7? 64.7? A few more years and that’s the age of our grandparents! Our grandparents! The same grandparents that can’t figure out how to open an iPad, the same grandparents that can’t tell the 400 pound tabby built like a cement truck bowling through a house is an AI generated video!
Our politicians are getting too old, and it's starting to show.
Now obviously, there is some experience that comes with age. A twenty-something college graduate is naturally not going to have anywhere close to the necessary level of “reading the room” that politics require. But there’s got to be a line where that experience gets overridden by the fact that these politicians’ bodies are just collapsing on themselves.
Historically, most of our presidents have been around their mid-fifties. Except for the recent two. I mean, look at them. Donald Trump and Joe Biden are both nearing their eighties, and it’s showing. Biden literally had to drop out of the presidential race because he was deemed “too senile.” And quite frankly, I don’t even know what Trump is even doing at this point.
Now, obviously replacing all these “boomer” politicians with younger people isn’t going to work. But some level of change needs to occur. Such change will not happen with voting for the same people, and certainly will not occur with poor speakers. Not the repetitive, boring mess that was Kamala. Certainly not the bigoted, outdated rhetoric of Trump. We need more competent people to emerge and actually advocate for the things that we need.
We as a society are progressing; not just with technology, but with ideals too. Politicians from both parties need to stop worrying about lining their pockets and picking hissy fights with each other and figure out what the people actually want.
Hi Abraham! I have a lot of opinions on the topic of our government turning into a nursing home. I am not a fan, so I agree with your stance.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very interesting to see why all of our politicians are baby boomers. I actually watched a video by Hank Green that dives into this topic! It is called “ Why Was Every President Born in the Same Year,” and I think that you would enjoy this watch.
The general consensus to why our government is filled with older people is due to older folks showing out more on election days– but people fail to realize that they show up due to the two opposing sides still shelling out boomers for candidates. I mean, why would I want to vote for someone who doesn’t understand modern-day problems?
These boomer politicians also still seem to believe in the America they grew up in (eg, Cold War and Pre-9/11), but it’s unrealistic because that is not the America we live in anymore; but that is the America they profited from since they are the richest generation.
I can understand your frustration with the failure of boomer politicians in recent years, and while getting rid of them completely won't help, I definitely see your view of supporting and voting for younger politicians as a good starting point.
Abraham, I completely agree with you that the age of 64.7 years old is a bit much to be the median for the representatives of the people of our country, when the median age of the US is about 38, nearly half that of the Senate. When the founding fathers wrote the Constitution and aimed for the Senate to be the more mature branch of the two in Congress, I’m sure they didn’t intend for there to be a 30 year gap between the median ages of the Senate and the people. Take other developed nations, for example: Emmanuel Macron became President of France at the age of 39, and Keir Starmer is currently Prime Minister of the UK at the age of 63, much less than Trump’s 79. You’d think that politicians become more serious with age, but when one sees Trump’s AI generated posts of him playing football with Ronaldo in the White House, this theory also becomes pretty questionable. In your writing, I think your use of repetition is a fantastic way of getting your indignation across, and your use of colloquial language such as “‘boomer’” and “boring mess” really help draw the audience into your important points. Thank you for an amazing piece!
ReplyDeleteHi Abraham, as a fan of politics myself I like to keep myself updated on the goings on of the United States government and as such I completely agree with your stance. The government is old. We are in a very delicate period of time where a lot of rhetoric, ideals, values, perspectives, and trends are changing, but the government is deeply rooted in the past and that is dangerous. The problem is the richest men and women who operate in the country rely on these older politicians to maintain their wealth and even grow it. It is why politicians such as Zoharan Mamdani were viewed as detrimental for the top 1 percent of New Yorkers. He’s a socialist who had no issues going after their money and is open about it and the same story with Bernie Sanders. The main reason Bernie Sanders was never elected for President even though he had all the qualifications and characteristics to make a good president is because of his stance against billionaires. That scares them and that is why they manipulate politics to install a government that would work in their favor without thinking of the consequences. Hopefully time runs its course and eventually there is a shift that occurs in politics and those in positions of power start to make their way out and newer, younger generations of politicians make their ways in, unscathed by the fangs of greedy billionaires. Nobody really understands what Trump is doing these days, not even his closest advisors and that is scary to think about. While age is certainly a factor, once combined with his lifestyle (his diet to name one) it raises questions regarding his sanity and the trust that the American people should place in him. As much as his doctors can say about his prime health condition and astonishing anti-aging, they cannot outrun time which eventually catches up to everyone. Hopefully, and not only for Trump, time waits just long enough for a transition of government and a reduction in the median age of our politicians, otherwise the American people will feel those repercussions for generations to come. Thank you for a very enjoyable read this week Abraham, I love to read and learn more about politics!
ReplyDelete