On gerontocracy - Samuel Moyn in NYT:

‘When the Constitution imposed an age minimum of 30 (and no maximum) on the Senate, that restriction alone excluded roughly three-quarters of the white population from serving. This set up the distant possibility of our present, in which Mr. Biden could become one of the youngest senators ever when he took his seat at age 30, while Dianne Feinstein (age 90), Robert Byrd (92) and Strom Thurmond (100) all either died in office or just months after retirement.
The Supreme Court is also an outpost of elder rule. The Constitution gives federal judges life tenure, so it is entirely up to them when they finally depart, alive or dead. And it is not surprising when they die in the midst of opining on the law: Ruth Bader Ginsburg at 87, William Rehnquist at 80 and Antonin Scalia at 79. At least five federal judges have passed 100 years of age while on the bench.’

(…)

‘The median age of members of Congress was about 53 from 1960 to 1990. In the three decades after, it jumped to nearly 60. While half of Americans are under 40, only 5 percent of Congress is, with almost a quarter of members 70 or older, and 21 over 80.’

(…)

‘Since a 1970 papal decree, certain Catholic cardinals are asked to submit their resignations at age 76 and all are barred from voting in papal elections at age 80. It is not a good look to be compared unfavorably to history’s most intransigent institution, but no limitations of service are awaiting Supreme Court justices. Another fix — no less utopian for the moment — is making the youth vote count for more, on the ground that the old will see fewer of the consequences of the choice.’

(…)

‘In a society in which elderly people are treated as irrelevant and are subject to neglect, those of them holding authority have no incentive to hand over the reins.
Along with the denial of mortality, this explains our unwillingness to age into obscurity, to live a final act different from our youth and our prime. Doing so would require not just Mr. Biden but everyone to acknowledge that our prime passes, and that politics is supposed to prioritize the collective future, rather the indefinite retention of power, which inevitably corrupts — more and more the longer it is enjoyed.’

Read the article here.

An age maximum would be a remedy, but some people age early.

And if elderly people are treated as irrelevant it’s only logical that quite a few hang on to their positions, in order to postpone the inevitable irrelevance.

The idea to give young voters, let’s say anybody under 30, two votes is also terrific. But I’m afraid that others voters will argue that the system is discriminating against the elderly and the middle-aged and the not so young.

The gerontocracy is alive and kicking. Just take a look at the birth rates, especially in the more prosperous part of the world.