In the United States, the country’s top politicians are really old.
Incumbent president Joe Biden is 80 years old and nominated for a further term. His most likely challenger is the 77-year-old Donald Trump.
Those who held the office of president at the turn of the millennium Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are both younger than Biden and Trump.
On the Congress side, the situation is not much different in the Senate. The oldest senator in the Senate is a Democratic senator, 90 years old Dianne Feinstein. The oldest Republican senator is Chuck Grassleywho turns 90 in a couple of weeks.
Retired politicians are no exception. US Senators median age is 65 years old. The median divides the group in half, meaning that half of the senators are over 65 years old.
The average age of Finnish MPs is 47 years. The oldest member of Parliament is 72 years old Kimmo Kiljunen (sd.).
The aging of the American political leadership does not reflect the demographic structure of the country, as the population of the United States is younger than the vast majority of Western countries. The population pyramid of the United States is especially balanced by the large number of immigrants.
According to monitoring by the website Worldometer, the median age of the United States is almost five years younger than Finland.
Europe: 42.2 years
Finland: 42.8 years
United States: 38.1 years
World: 30.5 years
Source: Worldometer 7/2023
However, youth does not carry to the top of politics, which became news again yesterday, when the Republican leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell completely froze in the middle of the press conference.
McConnell, 81, was asked if he plans to run for another term in the 2026 election.
McConnell did not seem to understand the question and was unable to answer it. He was eventually escorted out of the briefing by an aide to the Republican leader.
Watch the video to see how McConnell froze in the middle of the press conference
It was the second time that McConnell’s apparent health problems were revealed in front of the cameras. Most recently, in July, McConnell froze in the middle of a similar press conference. Yesterday’s incident showed that it was not an isolated incident.
Similar embarrassing incidents have also happened to the Democrats. President Biden’s campaigning ability is one of the question marks of the election year. Last summer, Biden fell while riding a bike, and this summer, on the podium.
The political system is skewed in favor of sitting politicians
Professor at the John Morton Center of the University of Turku Benita Heiskanen says there is no quick rejuvenation surgery for the US political elite in sight.
– The US political system is such that hundreds of millions of dollars can go into one senatorial election race. There has to be really strong financial support in order to run for office at all, says Heiskanen.
Senior politicians defending their positions in elections usually have established interest groups behind them, who take care of the necessary fundraising. Fresh candidates always go to the election race as if they were away.
– When you are a sitting senator, you have to do a lot of work so that you don’t get another term, Heiskanen describes.
According to Heiskanen, the bias of the system is accentuated on the side of the Senate. In the second hall of Congress, the House of Representatives, some examples of youth marches have also been seen.
The House of Representatives is a hall slightly younger than the Senate, with an average age of 58. The current Speaker of the House of Representatives, a Republican Kevin McCarthy is 58 years old, but until the beginning of the year it was the 83-year-old Democrat who led the speech Nancy Pelosi.
According to Heiskanen, due to the realities of the political system, the younger generations have started to engage in politics more and more in new forums, such as activism on social media, instead of the congress hall.
– We do not agree to be dependent on the mainstream media anymore, and we do not agree to be dependent on traditional political forums anymore.
In Congress, several politicians seem to want to work almost until their graves. Heiskanen believes that millennials and representatives of Generation X will be able to catch up to the seats in the hall at the latest through natural exit.
– There will be vacancies there in the next ten years.
The age limit for politicians is not realism
The American people would not be able to wait for the generation of politicians to change, but would like to change their leaders in one fell swoop to younger ones.
Last week, the news agency AP published a survey in which 77 percent of the people answered that President Biden is too old to properly survive the second term.
In last year’s news channel CBS News in the survey, on the other hand, 73 percent of the respondents said that there should be an age limit for political positions. The popularity of creating an age ceiling was practically the same for both Democrats and Republicans.
However, Heiskanen says that the discussion about the age limit for politicians is only interesting on a hypothetical level.
Creating an age ceiling would require an amendment to the constitution, and in the US, making amendments to the constitution is not simple or quick.
According to Heiskanen, setting an age ceiling at the moment would not serve the interests of either ruling party either, so adjusting the age ceiling is not realistic.
Dismissing McConnell won’t be easy
In the United States, it is difficult to dismiss a politician elected to office, even if his health fails.
McConnell has led the Senate Republicans since 2007, and the party has no mechanism to remove him from his position.
– If he gives up his position, it will happen in a way that he himself wants to do so, Heiskanen says.
Practically, the only way to fire McConnell from his position as a senator would be to file criminal charges, but the Republicans are not going to shoot themselves in the foot and vote for their own leader.
McConnell can only be expected to resign if he himself feels that he has become a burden to his party. On the Democrats’ side, 90-year-old Dianne Feinstein has had a similar situation. He has not agreed to resign from his position as a senator, even though several parties in his own party have urged him to do so.
However, the pressure around McConnell is growing. Two public freezes in a short period of time indicate that more may be on the way.
According to Heiskanen, McConnell’s departure from the Republican leadership would have a huge impact on the politics of the entire country.
– McConnell is the reason for the Republican party. He has been absolutely phenomenal, cunning and sometimes questionable in his ability to run through Republican politics.
McConnell’s position as the leader of the Republican group has been so strong until now that there was almost no open discussion about the time after him.
According to Heiskanen, however, speculations about McConnell’s possible successor have intensified in the last day. If McConnell decided to resign, the next leader would be chosen by a vote.
– Three Johns are mentioned at the top of the three: John Barrasso, John Thune and John Cornynwho are long-term Republicans, but not very well known internationally, says Heiskanen.
The three Johns are not young. Barrasso is 71 years old, Thune is 62 years old and Cornyn is 71 years old.
You can discuss the topic until Friday 1 September 2023 at 23:00.