Is 67 Too Old To Be Vice President? No!
In the wake of Joe Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race, we need to keep our ageist prejudices in check
Chris Cilizza, one of my favorite political journalists, wrote a short piece, vetting potential Kamala Harris running mates. I recommend it and all of Chris’s writing and videos highly.
One of the potential candidates on Chris’s list of seven is 67 year olds. Chris thinks it’s possible voters will now think that’s too old for national office.
This is precisely the kind of idea I was loathe to think would develop with Joe Biden's withdrawal.
There's been a ton of ageism vented regarding both Biden and Trump. But people age differently and we must be careful not to fall into the trap of swinging full tilt toward youthfulness, assuming that because someone is younger, they're not risky choices.
Joe Biden's conduct raised legitimate questions about his fitness for another four years in office and his refusal to submit to independent neurological testing only fueled people's concerns. People have similar concerns about Donald Trump for a variety of reasons.
But there should be no automatic questioning about someone's fitness for the presidency when they haven't yet reached the age of 70! The latest data is that Americans have a life expectancy of 79.25 years. Anecdotally, I can say that when my father lost his life to COVID-19, he was still sharp, coherent, and capable of decision-making at age 91. I’ve known other people who were much younger who were not, perhaps, in dementia, but were not as highly functioning neurologically.
Just as those who are older need to refrain from automatically dismissing the young, the younger should similarly refrain from dismissing those who are older. I'm 70, retired seven months, and keeping a busy schedule, serving as dean of our church's mission district, preaching at various churches, doing a weekly podcast, and working out at the gym. I'm working every bit as much as I did before retiring, DON'T THINK I'M CRAZY OR OUT OF IT, and perfectly confident that others my age or older could handle being vice president or president.
I'm not accusing Chris Cilizza of ageism. He’s simply acknowledging its presence among us, something probably exacerbated by the recent Biden experience.
Ageism is one of those prejudices that is almost accepted without question, starting with restaurant servers who call people like me, "Honey." When they do that, I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "The only one who can call me honey is my wife."
As I say, there were good reasons to question Joe Biden about neurological function: the slow speech and movement, the halting debate performance, and so on. There are some, with reason, who question Mr. Tump’s mental and physical acuity also. But that doesn't mean that a 67-year-old or a 77-year-old is automatically unfit for the nation's highest offices. Wisdom does often come with age.
[Note: These are just observations and not an endorsement of any party or candidate. As a pastor, I do not believe that I should publicly express political opinions. I’m analyzing a particular human sin, ageism.]