Editorial & Opinion: On Aging and Term Limits
By • January 10, 2024 0 385
It’s an election year – some would say the most important of our times. Attention has turned not only to the quality of our likely 2024 presidential nominees, but to their advanced ages, with a likely rematch of the 2020 election looming between former President Trump, 77, and current President Biden, 81, the oldest president in our nation’s history.
We are also concerned about the persistence in high office of senior elected officials, not only in the presidency, but at all levels of government.
Our main preoccupation is an old one – “old” as in the possibility of too much longevity in office, too much careerism, too much power accumulated, and a natural loss of perspective and competence with aging. Though Franklin D. Roosevelt was a remarkable president, there was wisdom in the 22nd Amendment limiting future presidents to two full terms in office after his four presidential elections.
When is it time to “leave the fair?” Think Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Senator Diane Feinstein whose deaths in office in their late 80s not only challenged their earlier legacies but symbolized our government’s ever-slowing circulation of fresh faces, new perspectives, and youthful, creative problem-solving in office.
Though D.C.’s Delegate to Congress has a proud record of service over 32 years in office, might our city – with all of its struggles – benefit from a new representative?
Is it time for a D.C. ballot initiative on term limits and to consider national limits as well?
Limiting the time an elected official is in office to two terms or 6 to 8 years is an idea that is, unsurprisingly, broadly favored by voters and people of all ages who would like to run for office; but, not favored so much by elected officials who want to cling to power. While term limits may automatically push out effective lawmakers, the experienced ones can always run for other positions or serve the public as experts, consultants, authors or educators.
Our first president George Washington set the cherished precedent of holding office temporarily by returning to his Mount Vernon farm as a private citizen after his two elected terms as president. Let us continue to be inspired by his rejuvenation of democracy and turning away of power.
