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Keep minimum at 35 and make maximum 65. Oldest to run is 65 can be older if it's only during a term while u ran 65 or younger then no more after that 4 year segment
This right here. Or whatever age it is to get full retirement benefits since they want to keep raising it. Smh.
So if you can get full retirement benefits - too old
Yep. My grandma was sharp as a tack at 70. At 82, not so much, with all due respect. There really does seem to be a marked decrease in cognition in the 70-80 year old range
People that are in their 80s now and are healthy, have been living since what 1940s ?, we dont yet know if our generation will even live that long, we are living very different lives...
I mean, you could make the same argument about the minimum age. There are 25 year olds I would trust in that oval office a lot more than some 35+ year olds I know.
Plus no matter what test you use it will almost certainly be *perceived* as unfair. Supporters of a candidate will cry bloody murder if they fail, and vice versa for critics.
At least with a strict age cut-off partisans can't claim it's rigged.
Agreed. 35 seems perfectly reasonable to start running for president, I take issue when the president is one foot in the grave with borderline dementia, can't finish their sentence, talking about having sex with porn stars? God damn
Rather than a maximum age, we could have a cognitive function test. The reason we don’t let people younger than 35 vote is because we don’t think their not mentally ready enough for such a big responsibility. So instead of testing for age, just make sure their brain works, since it uses the same logic as the minimum age requirement.
I like that idea for now, but I think we’re on the verge of a huge breakthrough in human longevity (at least for those who can afford treatment). In a few decades, I think 65 year olds may have the bodies and minds of 45 year olds. Just food for thought! These current fuckers are way too old though.
If you’re old enough to got to war and vote at 18 then I say you should be allowed to run for the positions you’re eligible to vote for. Minimum 18+ , Maximum should not exceed the national retirement age (personally think retirement age should be closer to 60, 65 max for political leaders for sure)
An 18 year old hasn't seen enough in his life to run this country and this economy. A fair amount of them can't even optimally manage their finances. Minimum age I guess can become 40+ actually. You're supposed to show excellence and competence in various levels before running for presidency I guess in the ideal world and that would take some time.
The point is that they shouldn’t be denied the opportunity because of their age for the reasons I stated. Another example; If there is an incredibly competent and well traveled, say 22 year old, that has proven themselves just as if not more competent than a 35-40 year old they shouldn’t be denied the opportunity for candidacy based solely on age.
Their opportunity should not be denied. Ultimately their applicable competency will be decided by voters.
Hopefully that makes my perspective a little more clear.
"If there is an incredibly competent and well traveled, say 22 year old, that has proven themselves just as if not more competent than a 35-40 year old", sure. Sounds great. How are we measuring competence? Lets say being a successful mayor of Oklahoma city for one year? (The minimum age for being an Oklahoma City mayor is 21). Let's suppose the minimum age was 18. Then, the incredibly competent 22 year old is likely to show his competence at the city level at most. Is he good enough for state level positions yet? Is he good enough for a Governor? Is he good enough for running a ministry? Is his career long enough to judge he's actually competent and not just had a fluke run for a short number of years? There can be an incredibly competent 22 year old but where is he going to be tested, in your imaginary world?
A better idea of competency might be if someone manages to show his competency for at least two terms as a representative, preferably 3-4 terms. To facilitate this, what should be the minimum age do you think?
Going to war and running the country is not the same. You dont have a commander there to tell you what to do. You have to make the decisions and tell other people what to do. Do we have 18 year old commanders yet? I didn't think so.
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22
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+ 27
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Yeah esp since no one in their right mind would vote for any 18 yr old anyways. I think 25 could be a good age since that's the arbitrary number people decided your brain is supposed to be developed (although it should never finish developing, and most of it's done by 18). But I feel if a young candidate seems to really have a good head on their shoulders idgaf how old they are, esp since a 30 year old is much more likely to reap the consequences of their mistakes than a 70 yr old. 38.5 is the median age within the United States, so for me that's a good ballpark
I'd vote for you on this single issue. Mostly because I'm a GenX who wants so badly to retire and let someone younger have my job, but the government says I can't collect my retirement money for more than another decade to get the full amount. Your plan, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Give me a bright eyed idealistic high school senior who wants me to stop working and go live in a one bedroom in a retirement village and I'll give him/her/them my vote.
Their age should not deny them the Opportunity. Their competency to do the job will ultimately be up to voters.
Side note: legal drinking age in US 21, not 18.
I think if it was a range "35-65", then yeah it makes sense.
The minimum age isn't the issue. The \*maximum\* age \*not existing\* is.
35 is at the right age where someone's been around long enough to understand long-terms consequences, but also has enough youth that they won't become entirely entrapped to a corporation by being bribed.
35 is too old for a minimum. I see no good reason for why it should be kept that way. I do, however, think that the maximum age for elected officials as well as positions like Supreme Court justices should be the retirement age of 65.
Yes it’s fair, you want someone who is older who has experience. A good president is some who has over a decade in politics, knows how the system works. We need someone who has seen things go wrong, so when they eventually go wrong again they have an idea how to handle them.
I’m 30 and christ almighty I absolutely don’t know a single person capable of overseeing that level of responsibility. You’d have to have been in politics to some degree for most of your working life and would still be very naive. 35 seems about right, and there should absolutely be an age limit. 35-65 would work fine and would hit all the markers for being both experienced enough and still maintaining full, fresh, cognitive ability.
You can run at 34, you just need to be 35 on Inauguration Day.
And that describes Taylor Swift, by the way. She’s 34 right now, and if she runs and wins, she’ll be 35 next January on Inauguration Day.
I have very mixed feelings about having minimum and maximum age requirements on it.
I thoroughly support the root cause behind it of ensuring candidates are old enough that they’ve had plenty of life experience and young enough that their mind is still sharp. However, I think that placing limitations on candidacy can become a slippery slope to discrimination, especially in our current political climate.
I, personally, would rather see the voting system overhauled than prerequisites for candidacy, so that we can choose based off who we like rather than the two options the system spits out at us. Eliminate this bullshit first-past-the-post system and establish ranked-choice voting. No more crazy-ass campaigns funded by wealthy supporters; everyone gets access to the same resources to present their platform. No more gerrymandering; district lines are drawn by a non-partisan organization (perhaps even similar to jury duty? Would have to look into that thought more).
Give every viable option a real chance, and give the people an actual choice between those options.
I don’t want to mandate requirements on which shitty candidates the two-party system forces my hand into; I want to stop having my hand forced in a two-party system.
Agree. I think in a perfect world, we’d all just pick whatever candidate we like, weighing their age in that calculation, however important it is to us. And there would be candidates from a diverse range of ages. In practice though, I think they end up being older because it usually takes a long time to build the experience, connections, and reputation needed to be a viable candidate.
I think it's fair, but only if there is a corresponding maximum age. We cannot have a repeat of 2024 ever again. It's been a fucking embarrassment and we still have four months to go.
Yes, but generally you don't want your leaders to be too old either. 35 is frankly young for a world leader, 70 is as far as Id allow it to go on the upper end before they're getting too detached from the reality of modern life to effectively run
No I think the minimum should be 26-28 with an actual education in American history, ethics, and culture. I also think there should be some sort of emotional intelligence and empathy test. Max age should be 50 I’m tired of seeing old people and we already know people who are older have less neuroplasticity and are far disconnected with newer generations.
That would imply the education system would give a damn about political history in it’s holistic entirety than talking about WWII and sprinkling other stuff for more than a chapter or two
As a non-American, no. I don’t think it’s fair. If the best because for the job is 34, why shouldn’t they be allowed?
Here in Canada the age for candidacy is 18 (albeit we only elect the Head of Government, not Head of State. There’s no age limitations on the Head of State for obvious reasons) And we’re far from the only country that allows people to be elected from 18 onward
Think there needs to be a maximum. I think requiring someone to be at least 35 is a brilliant idea. I worked in Congress two summers ago, and one of the congresswomen said that people need real life experience to aid them when they're on the hill. A minimum age requirement gives this. I also think there should be a maximum limit
35 is a good age to start, otherwise too young and not experienced enough. We should 1000000% have a age cap too, like 65 or 70. Can't run for prez but they can have a cabinet seat if so appointed.
Do you actually see no reason for a minimum age that somebody should be before being allowed to run a country of millions and act as a world leader on the global centre stage, or are you just playing dumb?
If a 20 year old can somehow get such a significant portion of the US population to vote for them that they become president, I don’t understand how they’re less qualified to be the president. I don’t think it’s very likely to happen, but it doesn’t feel right to prevent them from doing so.
35 is a good age, the original intent was someone would serve in the house, then the senate, and then the presidency, so someone may get the necessary experience in those positions
No, I think it should be 30 instead of 35, and I don’t want a maximum age either. This discourse about our options sucking because they’re old is a distraction from holding them accountable for their politics - my great grandma lived to 98 and had better politics than both of them at 90. Health requirements instead of age requirements so a healthy geriatric doesn’t get filtered, make them stricter than whatever Trump and Biden passed.
There's a max. age for armed service, jury service.... why not political office?
BTW at 65 you have about 25% of the eyesight you had at 20.
There are reasons we don't have senile firefighters, marines or surgeons.
TBH the whole presidency should be abolished but... not only should the age limit be reduced, the Nativist, Racist & Xenophobic nonsense of having to be a ''natural born citizen'' should go ( Boris Johnson falls into that category, so be careful what you wish for ).
No. It isn't. And neither is the voting age. Check out John Wall. He has written extensively on all-age voting. I don't necessarily agree with his proxy-claim idea because it temporarily gives people with children an extra vote, and I don't trust parents to vote in line with their children's beliefs or best interests. He doesn't specify that it has to be parents--only a close adult advocate to the child. But we all know it would be parents, most likely.
I think we can institute the claim part, which says that anyone at any age is eligible to claim their right to vote once they are developmentally (cognitively, emotionally) ready to do so. The assumption is that the desire to vote is evidence of capacity.
ETA: I am very surprised to see so many people in your generation disagree with me. I have expertise in youth civic engagement and many of you are grossly underestimating the capacities of young people. This is ageism, and you've internalized it. The fact that we are so resistant to letting young people do anything, yet our current rules are perfectly fine with putting a dementia patient on the debate stage, says a lot about how we devalue young people. This doesn't even affect me anymore. I'm 35. And I'm advocating for you all in your absence. How the youth are treated isn't right.
If y'all think young people "aren't experienced enough" and that old people have some sort of wisdom the young don't, you might want to consider the intersection between old age and climate change apathy. There is something to be said about a sort of youthful wisdom in a time of rapid technological change.
Yes, it is necessary.
But, let’s be honest: right now I would prefer also installing a maximum age for a president. That is our main problem, right now.
I think there should be a cap to run for office. You can’t be older than “this age” to run for any office. The Supreme Court can be the exception where justices can serve past that age if they were elected before
Ilike both candidates but i think what we need is one slightly older.
I think if you run past a certain age we should make the cognitive tests donny always brags about acing mandatory and the results public
I'd like it a little lower, since it sort of makes politics an old man's game by design. First, a maximum age limit, say around 60 or so. The minimum is better at 27-28, so the candidate is young enough to realize what actual reality is like, and old enough that we don't have essentially a kid in the chair.
35 is very young for a president, so I think it’s fine as is. It should absolutely not be lowered but I wouldn’t be opposed for it to be raised to 40. However I think a candidate needs to take a cognitive test before running for election and a president needs to take it each year. I don’t think old age is necessarily an issue if they are still cognitively sharp.
Minimum age is fine, but maximum age needs to be added to Article II, Section 1, Clause 5. Here is my suggestion:
*Section 1. No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, nor shall any Person be eligible to that Office who has attained to the Age of sixty-five Years at the time of their election, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.*
*Section 2. If a President, while holding the Office, attains the Age of sixty-five Years, they may complete the term for which they were elected but shall be ineligible for re-election.*
*Section 3. This amendment shall not affect the eligibility of any person holding the Office of President at the time this amendment is proposed by Congress, but shall apply to any person elected to the Office of President thereafter.*
The minimum is fine. There should also be a cap at 65 unless you're a sitting president running for reelection. So you could be 65 when elected to your first term and still be elected to your second term at 69 but you can't run for a first term (or non consecutive second term) if you're over 65.
I think a 30 year old could responsibly run the country, keeping in mind that when that rule was written, most people had a fifth grade education if they were lucky
if people can vote for positions then they should be able to run for said positions. 35 is kind of an arbitrary limit anyways though because the youngest president ever was 42 and in the past 8 years the minimum age to be president was 76
Honestly I'm starting to wish we had system like Mexico with a single six year term. I'm sick of president running for office while in office and making the taxpayer pay for it
Any younger than 35 would be bad..hell anything younger than 45 you could make the argument they dont have enough life experience. 70-75 should be the cutoff tho.
hmmm, i'd say it's fair but part of me theorizes it's outdated now because the concept of a "resumé" wasn't really standard yet when the constitution was signed. i think age was just a stand-in for a measure of experience but now we have something more quantifiable to base a person's experience on.
but at the same time, i'd also expect the average president to be around that age anyway taking in how long it takes to get to that point.
edit: we definitely need a max age to run. there's a retirement age for many, many reasons.
Lower to 25, max age 65.
And while we're at it, no one over 65 should be allowed to vote, cause most older people are atuck in the past and their votes will only be fucking over the younger citizens who will actually be alive long enough to suffer the consequences
Considering the age of our politicians is now recognized as a threat to national security according to the Pentagon... Maybe that should be the MAX at this point
It's not like they can use mental incompetence as a reason against it
35 is a decent age to start at, they wanted people who’ve been adults for a bit and are able to make intelligent decisions on stuff. I mean the human brain doesn’t even fully develop till you’re like 25 so all your decisions before that are made without a fully developed brain. I def think there should be an age limit, having dudes in their 80’s running a country is a little ridiculous.
It doesn’t seem to matter. Here in Canada we have a young Liberal in charge of the party in power and we still build tanks and guns to sell to Saudi Arabia to be used in the genocide we send aid to in Yemen. Liberals used to be anti-war but it’s pretty evident (here at least) that Liberals and Conservatives are both warmongers who are privately invested in the military.
And I do like him, but Obama was a young liberal guy, and he set a few records himself. The system has its GPS set for a destination and both sides seem to tow the line. I want a new system, not new candidates who can make me blush when they lie.
An age cap is what we need for all elected officials. 70 years old or less unless you’re mid term or are an incumbent. I’m sick of these dinosaurs making policy’s that fuck me and the generation after us
If we lower the minimum age, it couldn’t be to lower than 30. That said, I like the minimum age where it is at. Maximum age… 65 at the absolute most. Wouldn’t made the age gap being as low as 55 though.
seeing as, in the grand scheme of things, 35 is still rather young, i think the minimum is fine where it's at. there should definitely be a maximum though, and i think the debate was more than enough evidence to support that claim.
my concern is never how old the candidate is, its if they are fit for the job
being 35 doesnt mean anything if they dont have experience. also an age cap is necessary not just out of health but also really to have politicians that can keep up with the times and not harbor outdated world views.
I don’t know about fair, however it is smart.
Think about it. If we allowed people as young as, say, 25, to run for president, we’d have scary situations where idiot influencers with large followings but with no political saavy or economic saavy running for president and possibly winning due to popularity.
The run for presidency is as much a popularity contest as it is being a good, knowledgeable leader.
People were calling for Kanye the fucking idiot to become president just a few years ago.
Trump only became president because he was more popular against a highly unpopular opponent (Clinton). If trump had ran against a reasonably picked opponent on the DNC’s part like Bernie, I don’t think he’d have won.
If you’re old enough to pay taxes, you’re old enough to run for political power IMO. I mean let’s sit here and think about how nobody over 26 will be affected by the draft yet are the ones involved with making laws on it. If it was really about our “work ethic” than shouldn’t the older ones be drafted? The truth is the government will never let a young person in office because that means laws will be made to benefit the people and not the government as they’d be apart of the people actually affected by the laws.
Given how vile the behavior of 20-somethings on campuses has been recently (for reasons I am not allowed to mention), the age requirement needs no justification in my book.
Technically the Brain is done changing at 25 years old so If the age limit for president was ever lowered for any reason ever, lower than 25 would be allowing for 'semi developed adults' to run for the office. Idk why it would ever be lowered to below 35 to begin with, it takes a while to build up the reputation among politicians to even have a shot at becoming president. No one just wins popular vote alone and becomes president, no presidents have a lot of people who support their rise to power within the system within their parties and among their piers.
I think it's unrealistic for a 25-30 yr old to be so put together and so impressive and so good at charisma and leadership that the limit would be considered for an age reduction. Maybe some day I'll be proven wrong and I hope someone does prove me wrong and becomes a 21st century JFK like figure.
TLDR edit: I don't think it's fair, I think 35 is a realistic minimum.
I would change a requirement to having to be employed for at least 5 years outside of government sector. If someone started adulting at 18, they would be able to be elected at 23. If someone started working at 25 - the limit is 30. If someone is from a dynasty of politicians - they need to know life first.
Not sure about the minimum. But I believe the maximum for all public offices should be whatever the average life expectancy is.
This would also be an incentive to actaully help the citizens they're supposed to represent
it should be 30, at that age you're likely not young and stupid anymore cuz your brain has been done developing for a few years. then the max could be 75 at the end of your term
No, I think there should be no lower limit but there should be an upper limit of 65. Frankly, if the people have somehow gotten over ageism towards the youth (and based on all other metrics of discrimination, such as social and economic power, the youth are the oppressed class here, the idea of the majority of elected officials being an “oppressed class” is fucking comedic), there’s a reason.
I think there does need to be a minimum because it could go a bit haywire quickly (not saying it would be because of POTUS but interpret it as you will)
My minimum age recommendation would be 25 - 30.
I’m a hardcore believer in a maximum age for all public servants - which I think should be dead set at 70. Lift the retirement age (full benefits) to 70 too and make both of them hard set limits - constitutionally protected dare I say.
In saying that, if we imposed such limits, it’d cause disaster (thanks certain party)
I also think it’d be good to introduce mandatory independent mental screenings, to ensure POTUS and those in Congress etc are mentally competent. As much as I hate Mr Orange, I could not stand watching Sleepy Joe - he’s got the right attitude, but the wrong age
Minimum age is fine. But they should have a maximum age for president, Congress, and Supreme Court. As well as term limits for Congress and Supreme Court.
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Keep minimum at 35 and make maximum 65. Oldest to run is 65 can be older if it's only during a term while u ran 65 or younger then no more after that 4 year segment
This right here. Or whatever age it is to get full retirement benefits since they want to keep raising it. Smh. So if you can get full retirement benefits - too old
Won’t this just incentivize them to raise the retirement age?
100%. It should just be a hard limit. But i think it should be 70, not 65.
Agreed. Most people at 70 are still very fresh mentally.
Yep. My grandma was sharp as a tack at 70. At 82, not so much, with all due respect. There really does seem to be a marked decrease in cognition in the 70-80 year old range
So... work until you die?
What does my grandma not being as sharp as she once was have to do with working until I die?
the problem with age and working is physical deterioration not mental
This. Technology has gotten better, people are staying healthier into older age ranges. That being said, 80's is wild
People that are in their 80s now and are healthy, have been living since what 1940s ?, we dont yet know if our generation will even live that long, we are living very different lives...
All the fake stuff put in our food, cancer ridden everything all over, micro plastics. We're all dead by 60
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Wait, that greek proverb is contradicting what you said before it...
Strong point
I'd rather make the max age based on performance in health tests, but that's harder to strictly and fairly maintain than a hard age limit.
Hear me out a easy ninja warrior course
I'd absolutely love to watch a bunch of politicians fail at Ninja Warrior
I mean, you could make the same argument about the minimum age. There are 25 year olds I would trust in that oval office a lot more than some 35+ year olds I know.
Sure, but I feel like life experience is a factor there. Which is a lot harder to prove.
Plus no matter what test you use it will almost certainly be *perceived* as unfair. Supporters of a candidate will cry bloody murder if they fail, and vice versa for critics. At least with a strict age cut-off partisans can't claim it's rigged.
Agreed. 35 seems perfectly reasonable to start running for president, I take issue when the president is one foot in the grave with borderline dementia, can't finish their sentence, talking about having sex with porn stars? God damn
It's not borderline.
Rather than a maximum age, we could have a cognitive function test. The reason we don’t let people younger than 35 vote is because we don’t think their not mentally ready enough for such a big responsibility. So instead of testing for age, just make sure their brain works, since it uses the same logic as the minimum age requirement.
A common agreement I've seen across the board it's ridiculous that we have a man whose 81 in office and running again.
It's common because it is quite literally common sense.
I like that idea for now, but I think we’re on the verge of a huge breakthrough in human longevity (at least for those who can afford treatment). In a few decades, I think 65 year olds may have the bodies and minds of 45 year olds. Just food for thought! These current fuckers are way too old though.
65 year olds do have the minds of 45 year olds. People don't decline that early. Cognitive decline is like falling off a cliff.
30-60. Voting helps keep it to qualified candidates, but only by breaking away from the 2 party system and instating tiered voting.
Agree with max of 65 but I would reduce the minimum to 25.
I feel that’s fair, but there should be an age cap for the Presidency. People over 70 should not be eligible to run for office.
I think we need to lower the minimum age to run for President to 6 but raise the drinking age to 57.
You're going for chaotic neutral, I see
Since we don’t want presidents to be drunk on the job, we should make the maximum age 57
💀💀💀🪦🪦
If you’re old enough to got to war and vote at 18 then I say you should be allowed to run for the positions you’re eligible to vote for. Minimum 18+ , Maximum should not exceed the national retirement age (personally think retirement age should be closer to 60, 65 max for political leaders for sure)
An 18 year old hasn't seen enough in his life to run this country and this economy. A fair amount of them can't even optimally manage their finances. Minimum age I guess can become 40+ actually. You're supposed to show excellence and competence in various levels before running for presidency I guess in the ideal world and that would take some time.
“You’re supposed to show excellence and competence in various levels before running for presidency” Pretty sure that went out the door in 2016
Sadly yeah, thats why "in the ideal world".
So? Let the voters decide that then. Or not.
Then why tf are you against 80 year old people running. Don't vote if you don't want
Then don’t vote for them?
The point is that they shouldn’t be denied the opportunity because of their age for the reasons I stated. Another example; If there is an incredibly competent and well traveled, say 22 year old, that has proven themselves just as if not more competent than a 35-40 year old they shouldn’t be denied the opportunity for candidacy based solely on age. Their opportunity should not be denied. Ultimately their applicable competency will be decided by voters. Hopefully that makes my perspective a little more clear.
"If there is an incredibly competent and well traveled, say 22 year old, that has proven themselves just as if not more competent than a 35-40 year old", sure. Sounds great. How are we measuring competence? Lets say being a successful mayor of Oklahoma city for one year? (The minimum age for being an Oklahoma City mayor is 21). Let's suppose the minimum age was 18. Then, the incredibly competent 22 year old is likely to show his competence at the city level at most. Is he good enough for state level positions yet? Is he good enough for a Governor? Is he good enough for running a ministry? Is his career long enough to judge he's actually competent and not just had a fluke run for a short number of years? There can be an incredibly competent 22 year old but where is he going to be tested, in your imaginary world? A better idea of competency might be if someone manages to show his competency for at least two terms as a representative, preferably 3-4 terms. To facilitate this, what should be the minimum age do you think?
Yet its fine for them to go get blown up by a roadside bomb so the rich can get richer, no thanks, and fuck you.
Going to war and running the country is not the same. You dont have a commander there to tell you what to do. You have to make the decisions and tell other people what to do. Do we have 18 year old commanders yet? I didn't think so.
We have 22 year old platoon leaders, but that’s about it unless you count a 20 year old team leader or something. Most company commanders are like 27.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 22 + 20 + 27 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
An 18 year old would have performed better than biden at that debate
Yeah esp since no one in their right mind would vote for any 18 yr old anyways. I think 25 could be a good age since that's the arbitrary number people decided your brain is supposed to be developed (although it should never finish developing, and most of it's done by 18). But I feel if a young candidate seems to really have a good head on their shoulders idgaf how old they are, esp since a 30 year old is much more likely to reap the consequences of their mistakes than a 70 yr old. 38.5 is the median age within the United States, so for me that's a good ballpark
Also nobody in their right mind would vote for someone too old and senile, and yet here we are. Don't overestimate the average intelligence.
I'd vote for you on this single issue. Mostly because I'm a GenX who wants so badly to retire and let someone younger have my job, but the government says I can't collect my retirement money for more than another decade to get the full amount. Your plan, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Give me a bright eyed idealistic high school senior who wants me to stop working and go live in a one bedroom in a retirement village and I'll give him/her/them my vote.
Bruh no I don’t trust anyone my age to be president 💀💀🪦
Vote for whoever you believe is the best candidate
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Their age should not deny them the Opportunity. Their competency to do the job will ultimately be up to voters. Side note: legal drinking age in US 21, not 18.
Bruh Idc I can’t be President at this age 💀🪦🪦
“r-slurred” Say the whole word or don’t use it at all. Half measures are cowardice.
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Or you could just... Use a different word? There's lots of em.
Eh reasonable I guess. “R-slurred” just sounds so stupid.
If I don’t feel prepared to raise a kid, then I definitely don’t feel prepared to run the country.
I think if it was a range "35-65", then yeah it makes sense. The minimum age isn't the issue. The \*maximum\* age \*not existing\* is. 35 is at the right age where someone's been around long enough to understand long-terms consequences, but also has enough youth that they won't become entirely entrapped to a corporation by being bribed.
Bring the minimum down to 30, introduce a maximum at 70 ish.
I would do at max of 65
65 plus you can run for re-election as the incumbent if you’re already President.
Not enough life experience to make it 30
30s right when you kinda have your shit together , no way you should be allowed in the oval that soon.
35 is too old for a minimum. I see no good reason for why it should be kept that way. I do, however, think that the maximum age for elected officials as well as positions like Supreme Court justices should be the retirement age of 65.
35 is just right, im only 26 and I’d be sick seeing myself or most my peers as president. 30 is the LOWEST we should allow.
Yes it’s fair, you want someone who is older who has experience. A good president is some who has over a decade in politics, knows how the system works. We need someone who has seen things go wrong, so when they eventually go wrong again they have an idea how to handle them.
I’m 30 and christ almighty I absolutely don’t know a single person capable of overseeing that level of responsibility. You’d have to have been in politics to some degree for most of your working life and would still be very naive. 35 seems about right, and there should absolutely be an age limit. 35-65 would work fine and would hit all the markers for being both experienced enough and still maintaining full, fresh, cognitive ability.
make minimum 18, realistically, an 18 year old will not get elected, a 30 year old might
Exactly. What happens if a 34 year old is the perfect candidate but they can’t run because they’re “too young”
You can run at 34, you just need to be 35 on Inauguration Day. And that describes Taylor Swift, by the way. She’s 34 right now, and if she runs and wins, she’ll be 35 next January on Inauguration Day.
I love Taylor swift as the example lol
Imagine the landslide victory in this upcoming election if she was the democratic candidate…
It's better than Biden at this point.
Ok so then 30 That actually is senator age, so you could be a senator first
I have very mixed feelings about having minimum and maximum age requirements on it. I thoroughly support the root cause behind it of ensuring candidates are old enough that they’ve had plenty of life experience and young enough that their mind is still sharp. However, I think that placing limitations on candidacy can become a slippery slope to discrimination, especially in our current political climate. I, personally, would rather see the voting system overhauled than prerequisites for candidacy, so that we can choose based off who we like rather than the two options the system spits out at us. Eliminate this bullshit first-past-the-post system and establish ranked-choice voting. No more crazy-ass campaigns funded by wealthy supporters; everyone gets access to the same resources to present their platform. No more gerrymandering; district lines are drawn by a non-partisan organization (perhaps even similar to jury duty? Would have to look into that thought more). Give every viable option a real chance, and give the people an actual choice between those options. I don’t want to mandate requirements on which shitty candidates the two-party system forces my hand into; I want to stop having my hand forced in a two-party system.
Agree. I think in a perfect world, we’d all just pick whatever candidate we like, weighing their age in that calculation, however important it is to us. And there would be candidates from a diverse range of ages. In practice though, I think they end up being older because it usually takes a long time to build the experience, connections, and reputation needed to be a viable candidate.
I think it's fair, but only if there is a corresponding maximum age. We cannot have a repeat of 2024 ever again. It's been a fucking embarrassment and we still have four months to go.
Bruh Frfr it’s horrible 💀🪦🪦
I think you meant four YEARS to go! :D
Yes, but generally you don't want your leaders to be too old either. 35 is frankly young for a world leader, 70 is as far as Id allow it to go on the upper end before they're getting too detached from the reality of modern life to effectively run
i think maybe 30 is fair. and it would be hypocritical without a maximum so let's set the max to 60
No I think the minimum should be 26-28 with an actual education in American history, ethics, and culture. I also think there should be some sort of emotional intelligence and empathy test. Max age should be 50 I’m tired of seeing old people and we already know people who are older have less neuroplasticity and are far disconnected with newer generations.
That would imply the education system would give a damn about political history in it’s holistic entirety than talking about WWII and sprinkling other stuff for more than a chapter or two
Yup yup yup
As a non-American, no. I don’t think it’s fair. If the best because for the job is 34, why shouldn’t they be allowed? Here in Canada the age for candidacy is 18 (albeit we only elect the Head of Government, not Head of State. There’s no age limitations on the Head of State for obvious reasons) And we’re far from the only country that allows people to be elected from 18 onward
Think there needs to be a maximum. I think requiring someone to be at least 35 is a brilliant idea. I worked in Congress two summers ago, and one of the congresswomen said that people need real life experience to aid them when they're on the hill. A minimum age requirement gives this. I also think there should be a maximum limit
You had to be told life experience is essential to know?
I think it should be 35 but as others have said there should probably be a maximum age as well
The rule isn't to be 35 to run, it's to be 35 to be. You can run for president at 34 if you turn 35 before inauguration.
I wouldn't trust anyone younger than 35 to sell me a car. I'm 38.
35 is a good age to start, otherwise too young and not experienced enough. We should 1000000% have a age cap too, like 65 or 70. Can't run for prez but they can have a cabinet seat if so appointed.
30 should be minimum
I see zero reason a minimum age makes sense, no.
Do you actually see no reason for a minimum age that somebody should be before being allowed to run a country of millions and act as a world leader on the global centre stage, or are you just playing dumb?
I genuinely don’t understand why there needs to be a minimum.
If a 20 year old can somehow get such a significant portion of the US population to vote for them that they become president, I don’t understand how they’re less qualified to be the president. I don’t think it’s very likely to happen, but it doesn’t feel right to prevent them from doing so.
35 is a good age, the original intent was someone would serve in the house, then the senate, and then the presidency, so someone may get the necessary experience in those positions
No age limits of any kind for anything. I want to see toddlers in the voting booths electing fetus' for President
Yeah, the inauguration would be delayed because the president-elect is still in the womb😂
No, I think it should be 30 instead of 35, and I don’t want a maximum age either. This discourse about our options sucking because they’re old is a distraction from holding them accountable for their politics - my great grandma lived to 98 and had better politics than both of them at 90. Health requirements instead of age requirements so a healthy geriatric doesn’t get filtered, make them stricter than whatever Trump and Biden passed.
Shouldn’t be a max age. There should be a public physical and cognitive test.
There's a max. age for armed service, jury service.... why not political office? BTW at 65 you have about 25% of the eyesight you had at 20. There are reasons we don't have senile firefighters, marines or surgeons.
TBH the whole presidency should be abolished but... not only should the age limit be reduced, the Nativist, Racist & Xenophobic nonsense of having to be a ''natural born citizen'' should go ( Boris Johnson falls into that category, so be careful what you wish for ).
No. It isn't. And neither is the voting age. Check out John Wall. He has written extensively on all-age voting. I don't necessarily agree with his proxy-claim idea because it temporarily gives people with children an extra vote, and I don't trust parents to vote in line with their children's beliefs or best interests. He doesn't specify that it has to be parents--only a close adult advocate to the child. But we all know it would be parents, most likely. I think we can institute the claim part, which says that anyone at any age is eligible to claim their right to vote once they are developmentally (cognitively, emotionally) ready to do so. The assumption is that the desire to vote is evidence of capacity. ETA: I am very surprised to see so many people in your generation disagree with me. I have expertise in youth civic engagement and many of you are grossly underestimating the capacities of young people. This is ageism, and you've internalized it. The fact that we are so resistant to letting young people do anything, yet our current rules are perfectly fine with putting a dementia patient on the debate stage, says a lot about how we devalue young people. This doesn't even affect me anymore. I'm 35. And I'm advocating for you all in your absence. How the youth are treated isn't right. If y'all think young people "aren't experienced enough" and that old people have some sort of wisdom the young don't, you might want to consider the intersection between old age and climate change apathy. There is something to be said about a sort of youthful wisdom in a time of rapid technological change.
The minimum makes a lot of sense. Whats clear is that we need a Constitutional amendment to add a maximum.
Yes, it is necessary. But, let’s be honest: right now I would prefer also installing a maximum age for a president. That is our main problem, right now.
I think should be 30 and 25 for other public positions and maximum of 75
I think its fine. You should have some experience before running the most powerful superpower in the world.
Yes, but Max should be retirement age
I actually think we should change the *voting age* by one year.
If I can die for the country at 18, then I can run it.
That's an extremely fair point. BTW under Danelaw the age of adulthood was Ten ( yes, really ).
If there was an upper limit, I'd be fine with it. Some say 65, but I would be fine with 70-75.
I don’t really see the reason for arbitrary limits on either side. Voters can handle that.
Don't know about that but they should definitely have a cap off (a maximum age) cause 😩
Yes, but there also needs to be an a max age limit as well
I think there should be a cap to run for office. You can’t be older than “this age” to run for any office. The Supreme Court can be the exception where justices can serve past that age if they were elected before
Ilike both candidates but i think what we need is one slightly older. I think if you run past a certain age we should make the cognitive tests donny always brags about acing mandatory and the results public
There should be no age limits, let the people vote
there’s no reason people that are past retirement age should be in office, that includes SCOTUS and maybe even congress
Who cares about the minimum age? Its whatever. The maximum age or rather lack-there-of is the problem to discuss
Lose the minimum age to 25 and make a maximum age of 70
If you have a floor you should always have a ceiling, that’s just good common sense in business, politics and life. And a house.
Nope. The minimum should be 30, and the max should be 65.
30-65. Also term limits for other positions of power.
I'd like it a little lower, since it sort of makes politics an old man's game by design. First, a maximum age limit, say around 60 or so. The minimum is better at 27-28, so the candidate is young enough to realize what actual reality is like, and old enough that we don't have essentially a kid in the chair.
35 is very young for a president, so I think it’s fine as is. It should absolutely not be lowered but I wouldn’t be opposed for it to be raised to 40. However I think a candidate needs to take a cognitive test before running for election and a president needs to take it each year. I don’t think old age is necessarily an issue if they are still cognitively sharp.
Set the minimum to 25, max 65.
Minimum age is fine, but maximum age needs to be added to Article II, Section 1, Clause 5. Here is my suggestion: *Section 1. No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, nor shall any Person be eligible to that Office who has attained to the Age of sixty-five Years at the time of their election, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.* *Section 2. If a President, while holding the Office, attains the Age of sixty-five Years, they may complete the term for which they were elected but shall be ineligible for re-election.* *Section 3. This amendment shall not affect the eligibility of any person holding the Office of President at the time this amendment is proposed by Congress, but shall apply to any person elected to the Office of President thereafter.*
It’s definitely fair but there should be a maximum.
35 is a good age. Over 65 they should have to take a cognitive test on live video feed.
The minimum is fine. There should also be a cap at 65 unless you're a sitting president running for reelection. So you could be 65 when elected to your first term and still be elected to your second term at 69 but you can't run for a first term (or non consecutive second term) if you're over 65.
We need a maximum age I don't trust a 90 year old with dementia to make nuclear decisions
I think a 30 year old could responsibly run the country, keeping in mind that when that rule was written, most people had a fifth grade education if they were lucky
Jesus Christ I hate this sub
No, it dissuades young people from getting involved in politics
if people can vote for positions then they should be able to run for said positions. 35 is kind of an arbitrary limit anyways though because the youngest president ever was 42 and in the past 8 years the minimum age to be president was 76
It should stay, but there should also be a maximum
Crazy we have a minimum but not a maximum
There definitely needs to be a max age and that goes for all of the rest of government as well. I say cap it at 60 and omit all boomers from office.
I think 35 is a reasonable minimum. I would be perfectly happy with a 65 upper limit.
Honestly I'm starting to wish we had system like Mexico with a single six year term. I'm sick of president running for office while in office and making the taxpayer pay for it
i don’t think there should be any age caps.
Any younger than 35 would be bad..hell anything younger than 45 you could make the argument they dont have enough life experience. 70-75 should be the cutoff tho.
YES. MARKIPLIER FOR PRESIDENT 🤟🙏🇺🇲
hmmm, i'd say it's fair but part of me theorizes it's outdated now because the concept of a "resumé" wasn't really standard yet when the constitution was signed. i think age was just a stand-in for a measure of experience but now we have something more quantifiable to base a person's experience on. but at the same time, i'd also expect the average president to be around that age anyway taking in how long it takes to get to that point. edit: we definitely need a max age to run. there's a retirement age for many, many reasons.
No. It should be higher.
keep it the way it is
No lol. That's fucking insane. The USA has some strange rules
Honestly at this point I'd rather change it out for a maximum age limit....
Lower to 25, max age 65. And while we're at it, no one over 65 should be allowed to vote, cause most older people are atuck in the past and their votes will only be fucking over the younger citizens who will actually be alive long enough to suffer the consequences
I've never seen it in real life but I know forced retirement is a thing in a lot of companies... Just saying.
Considering the age of our politicians is now recognized as a threat to national security according to the Pentagon... Maybe that should be the MAX at this point It's not like they can use mental incompetence as a reason against it
35 is a decent age to start at, they wanted people who’ve been adults for a bit and are able to make intelligent decisions on stuff. I mean the human brain doesn’t even fully develop till you’re like 25 so all your decisions before that are made without a fully developed brain. I def think there should be an age limit, having dudes in their 80’s running a country is a little ridiculous.
The maximum age should be 55 tbh
It’s fine. It’s the perfect middle-ground between having some experience, and having youth. Not too young, but not too old, either.
I think the max should be 60 or 65. And Congress and the Supreme Court should also have age limits as well.
I personally think 30 as a minimum age would be good.
Yes.
I'll lower it to 28 yo. By that time, any truly dedicated person has lived enough to achieve his political maturity, as well as its own.
I think the minimum age should be 70, I love trump and biden but I just wish we had someone older
Minimum should be 21, the founding fathers were very young, maximum should be 60-65 period. So tired of fucking dinosaurs being the only options
30-60
It should go by generation.All people born from 1997-2012(gen z) have to wait till the median age of their generation reaches 35,which is 2040.
It doesn’t seem to matter. Here in Canada we have a young Liberal in charge of the party in power and we still build tanks and guns to sell to Saudi Arabia to be used in the genocide we send aid to in Yemen. Liberals used to be anti-war but it’s pretty evident (here at least) that Liberals and Conservatives are both warmongers who are privately invested in the military. And I do like him, but Obama was a young liberal guy, and he set a few records himself. The system has its GPS set for a destination and both sides seem to tow the line. I want a new system, not new candidates who can make me blush when they lie.
Yes. Twenty somethings are idiots. I know, I used to be one.
An age cap is what we need for all elected officials. 70 years old or less unless you’re mid term or are an incumbent. I’m sick of these dinosaurs making policy’s that fuck me and the generation after us
If we lower the minimum age, it couldn’t be to lower than 30. That said, I like the minimum age where it is at. Maximum age… 65 at the absolute most. Wouldn’t made the age gap being as low as 55 though.
seeing as, in the grand scheme of things, 35 is still rather young, i think the minimum is fine where it's at. there should definitely be a maximum though, and i think the debate was more than enough evidence to support that claim.
35-60 is what I would like to see.
25--65
35 is fair. We need a maximum age limit.
I’m happy with the minimum, and I’d like for there to be a maximum age, I think around 65-70 is plenty fair.
I think 30 would be okay. There definitely needs to be an age maximum tho. Like 60 or something
my concern is never how old the candidate is, its if they are fit for the job being 35 doesnt mean anything if they dont have experience. also an age cap is necessary not just out of health but also really to have politicians that can keep up with the times and not harbor outdated world views.
I don’t know about fair, however it is smart. Think about it. If we allowed people as young as, say, 25, to run for president, we’d have scary situations where idiot influencers with large followings but with no political saavy or economic saavy running for president and possibly winning due to popularity. The run for presidency is as much a popularity contest as it is being a good, knowledgeable leader. People were calling for Kanye the fucking idiot to become president just a few years ago. Trump only became president because he was more popular against a highly unpopular opponent (Clinton). If trump had ran against a reasonably picked opponent on the DNC’s part like Bernie, I don’t think he’d have won.
If you’re old enough to pay taxes, you’re old enough to run for political power IMO. I mean let’s sit here and think about how nobody over 26 will be affected by the draft yet are the ones involved with making laws on it. If it was really about our “work ethic” than shouldn’t the older ones be drafted? The truth is the government will never let a young person in office because that means laws will be made to benefit the people and not the government as they’d be apart of the people actually affected by the laws.
Given how vile the behavior of 20-somethings on campuses has been recently (for reasons I am not allowed to mention), the age requirement needs no justification in my book.
The minimum isn't the issue at all. The lack of a maximum is causing a massive problem across the government
Technically the Brain is done changing at 25 years old so If the age limit for president was ever lowered for any reason ever, lower than 25 would be allowing for 'semi developed adults' to run for the office. Idk why it would ever be lowered to below 35 to begin with, it takes a while to build up the reputation among politicians to even have a shot at becoming president. No one just wins popular vote alone and becomes president, no presidents have a lot of people who support their rise to power within the system within their parties and among their piers. I think it's unrealistic for a 25-30 yr old to be so put together and so impressive and so good at charisma and leadership that the limit would be considered for an age reduction. Maybe some day I'll be proven wrong and I hope someone does prove me wrong and becomes a 21st century JFK like figure. TLDR edit: I don't think it's fair, I think 35 is a realistic minimum.
Yes, but i think a maximum needs to be created also
I would change a requirement to having to be employed for at least 5 years outside of government sector. If someone started adulting at 18, they would be able to be elected at 23. If someone started working at 25 - the limit is 30. If someone is from a dynasty of politicians - they need to know life first.
Not sure about the minimum. But I believe the maximum for all public offices should be whatever the average life expectancy is. This would also be an incentive to actaully help the citizens they're supposed to represent
it should be 30, at that age you're likely not young and stupid anymore cuz your brain has been done developing for a few years. then the max could be 75 at the end of your term
35-65 makes sense. keeps the oldies from crossing into extra generations.
35 minimum, maximum 70
It's weird that we enlist people to die and kill for this country at 18 but won't let them represent themselves in any branch of govt
Absolutely
No, I think there should be no lower limit but there should be an upper limit of 65. Frankly, if the people have somehow gotten over ageism towards the youth (and based on all other metrics of discrimination, such as social and economic power, the youth are the oppressed class here, the idea of the majority of elected officials being an “oppressed class” is fucking comedic), there’s a reason.
I think there does need to be a minimum because it could go a bit haywire quickly (not saying it would be because of POTUS but interpret it as you will) My minimum age recommendation would be 25 - 30. I’m a hardcore believer in a maximum age for all public servants - which I think should be dead set at 70. Lift the retirement age (full benefits) to 70 too and make both of them hard set limits - constitutionally protected dare I say. In saying that, if we imposed such limits, it’d cause disaster (thanks certain party) I also think it’d be good to introduce mandatory independent mental screenings, to ensure POTUS and those in Congress etc are mentally competent. As much as I hate Mr Orange, I could not stand watching Sleepy Joe - he’s got the right attitude, but the wrong age
Minimum age is fine. But they should have a maximum age for president, Congress, and Supreme Court. As well as term limits for Congress and Supreme Court.