The arrival of Joe Biden to the Presidency at the age of 78 is a faithful reflection that the politics of the North American country privileges those with greater age, which is also possible to see in Parliament.
With the arrival of 78-year-old Joe Biden to the White House in January and the inauguration of a Congress that is older than ever, the United States has established itself as a gerontocracy of octogenarians, resisting the ailments of age and with a enviable energy to the requests for change of the new generations.
A sad scene took place at the inauguration of President Barack Obama, exemplifying the difficult combination of age and power. Robert Byrd, the oldest senator in the history of the country, withdrew sobbing from a lunch organized by the young President, after seeing how his companion on the bench, a sick Ted Kennedy, 76 years old, was taken away by ambulance. .
Byrd passed away a year later at the age of 92, still working as a legislator after more than half a century. At his funeral spoke the then vice president, a relatively young Joe Biden, at that time bordering on 70 years and who in January will become the oldest president in the history of the country.
On January 20, Biden will surpass the record set by Donald Trump, who arrived at the White House at the age of 70, while the new Congress that will be inaugurated in a few weeks will have an average age of 59 years, a historical record, which could also pass the Senate, where several seats remain to be determined.
“It is not clear that limiting mandates has an obvious utility, such as reducing corruption. These limits do not end the ambition of elected leaders, it simply redirects it, "explains John Carey, professor of Government at Dartmouth College, in an interview with Efe, who assures that" the gerontocracy that the United States has become is very worrying. " .
Octogenarian elite
The government elite in Washington is a collection of decades of experience, health ailments and tenacity in the face of the inexorability of time: Nancy Pelosi, 80, is the Democratic Majority Leader of the House of Representatives and Mitch McConell, 78 , is at the head of the Republican majority in the Senate and recently appeared with his face and hands bruised and swollen, raising the alarm bells.
Since November, voices have increased calling for Diane Feinstein, 87 and the oldest senator, to rethink her plans to complete six years of legislative work after winning her re-election by California in 2018 and what, if physical and mental health are they allow it, it would keep her in power until the age of 91.
Source: https://www.emol.com/noticias/Internacional/2020/12/20/1007101/EEUU-gerontocracia-longevos-Biden.html
