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Ask HN: Should we have an age limit on running for office?

8 points by meowmeowmeowww ↗ HN
I’m all for people staying in the workforce as long as they want, but public office, especially the presidency or the senate, feels different. I can’t think of any major downsides. What am I missing?

14 comments

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James_Henry
I think that age and general health, especially mental acuity, should be considered when voting, but I don't feel like it would be wise to try and set an age limit. There are many old people who despite their frail state would be great presidents and I would gladly vote for them as long as their VP was in good health and younger.
Mountain_Skies
No. Candidate ages aren't secret and the voters have their chance to have their say when they vote. Age limits on lifetime appointments however would be a good idea as medical science keeps people living longer and often beyond the time of peak mental reasoning.
James_Henry
With this line of reasoning, would you be in favor of getting rid of the minimum age for running for office?
Mountain_Skies
As long as the candidate had reached the age of majority, yes, I'd be fine with the few minimum age restrictions that exist being removed. In the 18th century information spread slowly and very unevenly. If a 20 year old wants to run for the Senate and the people of their state want to be represented by a 20 year old, I'm fine with that. There's no hiding that a 20 year old is 20 years old.
meowmeowmeowww
I agree with this reasoning, but the two party system + our primary process means I have limited say in the options (and rarely like them).
smt88
The remedy for this is ranked-choice voting, not legislating against the types of candidates you dislike.
meowmeowmeowww
Totally agree. I guess I’m just feeling desperate b/c I don’t see a path out of our current political structure. Maybe liquid democracy could overcome the impasse?
smt88
One of he problems with getting out of our political structure is that most people are afraid of too much change at one time. That’s why Biden will have won the Democratic nomination despite being significantly to the right of his own party. Even good change can be scary when you have a lot to lose.
rolph
i wonder how constructive it would be to require a physical/psych exam, just like any other job that has the potential to do grevious harm, such as driving a big rig, or air traffic control etc.
paultz
An IQ test would be a good too, 50 should be the maximum age for a candidate,
aaron695
It's admitting democracy doesn't really work.

But it doesn't, so yes.

There are restrictions like citizenship which is required, so we already admit we don't trust the population to chose suitable candidates.

They are also head of the military, which has requirements I would think.

easytiger
Wanna ban Clint Eastwood from making movies too?
easytiger
Wanna ban Clint Eastwood from making movies too?

Also, creating an account to troll with this nonsense doesn't belong here

meowmeowmeowww
Wasn’t trying to troll, this was just my first time posting on HN. I was genuinely curious about the downsides, b/c of our 2020 presidential options.

Also, I said I’m all for peopling working as long as they want — I’m still bitter that my grandpa was age restricted out of being a pilot at 55.

It just seems like the presidency should have some standards and there’s already an age minimum.

I love Clint and hope he works until the bitter end :)