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BrainStuff: Should There Be Age Limits on the U.S. Presidency?
To be eligible to be elected president of the United States, you have to be at least 35 years old. But why 35? And why is there no upper age limit? Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/us-millennials-under-35-age-limit-president.htm
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- Broadcast on:
- 24 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
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(upbeat music) - Hey, brain stuff, Lauren Volobon here. Politicians often act like children, whether it's calling each other names, getting into slap fights on the legislative floor, or simply taking their toys and stomping off to another sandbox. The way lawmakers act, you'd be surprised that they aren't still in preschool. The truth is that many countries around the globe require their elected officials to have some life experience under their belts. That includes the US, where you have to be at least 35 years old to be eligible to take the keys to the White House. For the article this episode is based on, how stuff works spoke with John Siri, a government and politics professor at Pomona College. He said, "A most advanced democracies "have an age requirement for the top executive office. "It's just a matter of where they set it." The US Constitution imposes three eligibility requirements on anyone thinking about running for president. In order to actually take the office, you have to be a natural born citizen of the US. You must have lived in the US for at least the last 14 years, and you have to be no less than 35 years old, all of which appear likely to remain the law of the land for the foreseeable future. But it has been a broadened question. Siri is the author of the book Too Young to Run, a proposal for an age amendment to the US Constitution. He argues that the age requirement is a remnant from the country's early days, in which American patriots were still just a little wary about finding themselves under the rule of a king or other dictatorship. And that's why we have term limits and elections every four years. But the age requirement was one way to safeguard what John Adams called our natural aristocracy, or one in which leaders rise on merit, not by birthright. Siri explained, monarchs often succeed to the throne at an early age. So if you make it old enough, the age minimum is one hedge against monarchs. In other words, modernly, we might be a bit obsessed with the British and Targaryen royal families, but we're still not keen to have one of our own. Still, it remains unclear where the Constitution's drafters pulled 35 as the appropriate age to become the country's chief executive. You might ask, wasn't that a bit old for the era? Didn't people back then come of age earlier than they do now and die earlier, too? It's true that the average life expectancy in late 1700s America was only 38 years of age. But remember that that's the average. It's skewed young because so many infants and children died before they reached adulthood affected by diseases that we have vaccines and antibiotics and other modern medicine to fix now. If you lived past even the age of five, your average life expectancy jumped to over 50 and people regularly lived into their 70s and beyond. A founding father Benjamin Franklin turned 70 the same year that he signed the Declaration of Independence. According to Siri, the founders who set the age requirement probably looked to the Roman Republic, which is served as a model for government for centuries. A Roman counselors were required to be at least 35 years old. So yes, the American presidential age minimum stems from a centuries old concern about kings and queens ruling from an iron throne and draws inspiration from millennia old bureaucrats who governed Rome. Maybe that's why some people say the rule should be changed and have even tried to officially petition the government. Now the arguments against the age limit are pretty straightforward. You can drive a car, be sent off to war, and vote in elections by the time you reach 18. You can be a state representative at 25 and a senator at 30. So at any of these points, why shouldn't you be able to sit at the grownup table and help make the big decisions? On the other hand, there's the wisdom that comes with experience and the knowledge that comes with learning over time. Biologically speaking, that pop science concept that our prefrontal courtesies finished developing in our mid 20s isn't really true, but our brains develop at different paces and research has shown that structural growth can continue into our 30s at least. But that's possibly even more evidence that the possessor of a slightly older brain might be a better choice for high office. Of course, there's always a stigma that younger generations are dumb and can't be trusted. After all, the country's youngest president, Theodore Roosevelt, was already 42 years old when he rose to the office after the assassination of William McKinley. But when you look back in history, think of someone like Alexander the Great, who conquered much of the known world and managed an empire all before dying at the age of 32. Maybe you were missing out on some upstart government whiz who could heal everything ailing old Uncle Sam. The LeBron James of politics could be sitting up there, just waiting for their chance to wipe out the country's debt and hunger and install teleporters nationwide. Instead, that person is probably coming up with a cool new app somewhere in Silicon Valley. Siri thinks that maybe we have the whole age thing upside down. He said, if you're going to have age restrictions, they should probably be against old daughtering people. Which is a strong statement. Although it is worth noting that throughout American history, about three quarters of our presidents have been between the ages of 50 and 65, and our candidates are getting older. In 1981, Reagan was the oldest president to ever come to office at age 69, until Trump and Biden recently followed at ages 70 and 78, respectively. It would take an amendment to the Constitution to change the age limit in either direction, which itself would require, by partisan action, the likes of which are rare in today's political environment. But as of 2023, a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that a whopping 80% of Americans think there should be an upper age limit on federal elected officials. So however strong Siri statement is, it seems that a lot of us agree with him. Today's episode is based on the article, "Should the US let people younger than 35 run for president on howstuffworks.com, written by Chris Oppfer? Brain stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with howstuffworks.com and is produced by Tyler Clang. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. (upbeat music) Are lingering depression symptoms affecting you? 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