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86% of Americans Say Biden Is To Old To Be President

Rational Agnostic

Well-Known Member
It's remarkable we have a conversation about age limits as if that's the important thing to determine who is qualified to hold public office instead of, I dunno, a civics test. Or actual job qualifications. Like any other job has.

Baffling, really.

I agree that there should be other qualifications for being president in theory, but that's where things get difficult. Who sets those qualifications--are they voted on or does a single person or group of people decide them? If they are voted on, do they change whenever public opinion changes? If they're set by a group, how do we know that the group is not acting in it's own self interest, and does it have the right to change the requirements? Who writes these civics tests and job qualifications and how do we demonstrate that they are not biased to exclude specific individuals from holding office? Additional requirements are a good idea in theory but are difficult to implement. Age is an easy one. We know for a fact that on average, 80 year olds are less cognitively and physically qualified than the average 40 year old. So age restrictions are a good place to start, and we can build from there.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
All the warning signs are there of previous dictators and these people just ignore it like Trump is just a jokester. "He doesn't mean it"
The attempted coup wasn't enough for them.

Yep, and much the same was believed about Hitler, namely that he was just spouting campaign rhetoric but would back off.
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
I agree that there should be other qualifications for being president in theory, but that's where things get difficult. Who sets those qualifications--are they voted on or does a single person or group of people decide them? If they are voted on, do they change whenever public opinion changes? If they're set by a group, how do we know that the group is not acting in it's own self interest, and does it have the right to change the requirements? Who writes these civics tests and job qualifications and how do we demonstrate that they are not biased to exclude specific individuals from holding office? Additional requirements are a good idea in theory but are difficult to implement. Age is an easy one. We know for a fact that on average, 80 year olds are less cognitively and physically qualified than the average 40 year old. So age restrictions are a good place to start, and we can build from there.
I don't agree that a "good place to start" is ageism. For the same reason I don't agree that a "good place to start" is sexism, racism, or any other type of category-based discrimination.

I'm just going to post this... again:

 

F1fan

Veteran Member
I agree that there should be other qualifications for being president in theory, but that's where things get difficult. Who sets those qualifications--are they voted on or does a single person or group of people decide them? If they are voted on, do they change whenever public opinion changes? If they're set by a group, how do we know that the group is not acting in it's own self interest, and does it have the right to change the requirements? Who writes these civics tests and job qualifications and how do we demonstrate that they are not biased to exclude specific individuals from holding office? Additional requirements are a good idea in theory but are difficult to implement. Age is an easy one. We know for a fact that on average, 80 year olds are less cognitively and physically qualified than the average 40 year old. So age restrictions are a good place to start, and we can build from there.
I would like to see election reform, like less time that candidates can spend campaigning, finance reform that limits how much can be raised and bans on corporate donations, and more consistent and simpler primaries.

This would help third parties as they could be more competitive since they would have more chance at money given the limits. I would also like a portion of all donations to go jnto a general fund that goes towards informing citizens about elections and candidates. As it is we rely too much on parties and candidates who can mislead.
 

F1fan

Veteran Member
Yep, and much the same was believed about Hitler, namely that he was just spouting campaign rhetoric but would back off.
And with Hitler he made his intentions clear, and his inner circle did not reveal their plans, so too many citizens thought there was nothing to fear.

We know very little about what Trump’s inner circle is planning to do but there has been leaks. The dilemma for America is that Trump’s base are devoted MAGAs, and too many independents are ill informed or apathetic.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
We know very little about what Trump’s inner circle is planning to do but there has been leaks. The dilemma for America is that Trump’s base are devoted MAGAs, and too many independents are ill informed or apathetic.

And I think his popularity reflects both hatred and/or entertainment. He constantly spews hate and bigotry, and it's so bizarre that so many Christians blindly follow him like he's their pied piper. Jesus taught love-- Trump perpetually teaches hate. Paul taught that nationalities were equal in the eyes of God-- Trump has stereotyped "Mexicans", "Muslims", and others.
 

Sand Dancer

Currently catless
from: Overwhelming majority of Americans think Biden is too old for another term: POLL.
"According to the poll, conducted using Ipsos' Knowledge Panel, 86% of Americans think Biden, 81, is too old to serve another term as president. That figure includes 59% of Americans who think both he and former President Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, are too old and 27% who think only Biden is too old."

So given the above who are the Democrats going to replace him with? Or are they still going to let him run and lose?
Not sure anyone else has a better chance. I personally think 65 should be the cut off. It's a stressful job and ages you, so if most have to retire then, they should have to too.
 

Sand Dancer

Currently catless
2024 is about preventing the fundamental transformation of America into something it was never meant to be from it's founding.
You don't give someone like Trump the reigns "just for the hell of it." He's already stated many times the things he'll do. The problem is many of you laugh it off and say Trump is just joking....
I don't think he cares to change anything. I just think he likes being worshiped. He can't run again so he doesn't have anyone to impress. I am hoping he will just be a figurehead.
 

Sand Dancer

Currently catless
Neither elected Democrats nor Democratic voters have any say in whether Biden runs again. The voters will decide these things as long as fair elections are still possible.

Biden will likely beat Trump by even more this time. Biden beat an incumbent convincingly before Trump became visibly demented, before he orchestrated an insurrection, before he was criminally indicted (and soon to be convicted), before the fall of Roe v Wade, before the Republican party fell apart, and before Biden revitalized the economy.

Oh, and before Trump turned on Taylor Swift, who will mobilize the youth vote for Biden.
I thought it would be a cakewalk for Dems with the abortion crackdown but the border issue is going to hurt them I think.
 

It Aint Necessarily So

Veteran Member
Premium Member
the issue is lack of mental cognitive
"In the last week alone, [Trump] has mused on men stealing refrigerators, has called Obama the current President, suggested there is a secret plot to change the name of Pennsylvania, verbally attacked Nikki Haley’s husband for not being on the campaign trail with her when in fact he’s deployed, announced Russia should invade NATO, taken credit for Taylor Swift’s success, called America “stupid”"

Your turn. List all of Biden's equivalent "lack of mental cognitive." He confused the presidents of Mexico and Egypt, which is disconcerting, but neither name (or face) is well-known. Trump confuses Biden with Obama and Pelosi with Haley - four very well-known names and faces.

There's your "lack of mental cognitive." Trump's brain is mush, whereas Biden is leading the free world.
 

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
What evidence do you see of senility? I saw Biden giving a speech this morning and he sounded very good and coherent.

I also heard Trump clips from the last few days and he sounds like a raving lunatic. His NATO comments were absurd and a threat to global security.

I can not see either of them surviving a full term.
However neither is a friend of the UK or Europe come to that.
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
In a country that has significant problems with ageism, it's not like this is any surprise. The United States of America is a country that does not respect its elders. It is a country that enshrines youth and stupidity over age and wisdom.


I don't think that age alone should be automatically seen as a factor against a candidate, but in the specific case of Biden, I think that both he and Trump are indeed older than would be ideal for presidential candidates—not necessarily too old, but old enough for certain considerations to enter the equation. Biden is old enough for death during another term to be significantly more likely than it would be for a 50- or 60-year-old. Still, between him and Trump, I can't think of a single major issue on which Trump wouldn't be worse, more unpredictable, and more impulsive.

I remember when Ruth Bader Ginsburg refused to step down during Obama's presidency, and some people accused her critics of ageism too. The result of her refusal was that her irresponsibly stubborn decision partly contributed to Trump's packing of the court, with ramifications that may well extend for decades to come unless Roe v. Wade is somehow reinstated or a similar ruling replaces it.

Given that humans have an average age in every country, I don't think that worrying about age is necessarily ageist, although I also believe that it should be considered on a case-by-case basis (e.g., by taking the circumstances and situation of the individual in question into account) instead of being used as a blanket way to dismiss all candidates above a certain age threshhold. Sometimes it is merely a realistic consideration to take into account for someone who is running for an especially sensitive and demanding position from which they can affect the lives of millions of other people.
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
There was a time, if I recall, when we looked to our elders for wisdom. Too old fashioned for today's world?

Is that a Canadian problem, too? That would surprise me if it were.

We still see a lot of traditional, multigenerational families here in Mexico, where nursing homes are neither affordable for most of these families nor desirable. These elders are respected, and for long as they are able, they contribute advice, which is valued, and childcare. It's not uncommon to see one of these people sitting in a chair on the street watching people walk by.

Meanwhile, back in the States, it's "OK, boomer," which you probably know is a disrespectful and dismissive comment usually from Gen X-ers and millennials directed at people over sixty, who are viewed as simply irrelevant or worse - the people who ruined it for subsequent generations.

I typically don't respond to more than one post in the same reply, but I'll do so here because there are points in common between my responses to both of the above posts.

Nursing homes are an abnormality where I live too, to the point where it is taboo to send one's elderly loved ones there—although another factor in that taboo is that nursing homes here tend to be of low quality whether in terms of the services they offer or how the residents are treated.

Multigenerational homes are quite common here, and I personally prefer that to lukewarm family ties or having nursing homes become the default as a replacement for family members' taking care of each other. As you described, elders also often give advice to other family members and are seen as cornerstones in a family. All of my grandparents lived at home and were looked after by family members until they passed away.

On the flip side, though, I suspect we'll agree that age doesn't automatically grant wisdom or necessarily make someone a reliable source of advice. There are people who remain foolish their entire lives, rarely learning their lessons, becoming more mature, or developing socially, intellectually, or morally to any significant extent as they age. Trump seems to me a textbook example of this. It's like he has never matured past a high-school mentality in terms of his vulgarity, impulsiveness, bullying behavior, and seeming lack of genuine respect for anyone but himself. There are twenty-somethings with more composure, wisdom, and maturity than Trump will ever have.

He's not unique in that regard either, as has become increasingly and abundantly clear since the 2016 election brought him and his cronies to the brightest spotlight they had ever been in. One would think—and hope—he might be some sort of anomaly or rare case, but it's now almost trivially obvious that this is not so.

On a final note, I like how @It Aint Necessarily So specifically cited the cringeworthy phrase "OK, boomer" as an example of dismissively overgeneralizing attitudes toward the elderly. I don't use phrases like that one because I find them prejudiced and simplistic, and I also cringe a bit at the seeming obsession in various media, especially online, with which generation one belongs to or which traits supposedly characterize each generation, as if such things could be easily measured or extrapolated to random individuals based on their age. It often feels like some recent trends, especially ones originating on "social" media, have engendered so much fixation on groupthink and group identity that many people now minimize the importance of considering individual differences and circumstances in favor of shoving everyone into neat boxes and conveniently labeled packages.

Generational classifications (e.g., "boomer" and "millennial") have now almost become the new zodiac signs: a handy way for some to prematurely judge others and draw conclusions about them without bothering to ask questions or know them beforehand.
 
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