Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX CEO, said that there should be an “age limit” in candidates who run for political office.
This is what Musk posted on his Twitter account: “Let’s set an age limit after which you can’t run for political office, perhaps a number just below 70.”
If Musk’s proposal would take effect the politicians that would be affected by this law would be independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ wealth-tax proposal, veteran Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who turned 88 in June, and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, 88. President Biden, 78, was the oldest president to take office, and former President Trump is now 75.
64.3 was the average age of senators at the beginning of this year, and 58.4 was the average age for members of the House.
Although constitutionally House members must be at least 25 when they take office, and Senators must be at least 30, while also, a minimum age requirement of 35 years is set for presidential candidates, there are currently no upper limits for serving in the U.S. Congress.
John Roberts, Supreme Court Chief Justice wrote about implementing age limits in a 1983 memo as an assistant to White House counsel under President Ronald Reagan.
“Setting a term of, say, 15 years would ensure that federal judges would not lose all touch with reality through decades of ivory tower existence. It would also provide a more regular and greater degree of turnover among the judges,” Roberts wrote.
One more similar proposal was made by a senior editor at Business Insider, Josh Barro, after the death of 10-year, and before that, 19-year New Jersey incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg in June 2013.
“We should have an expectation about Congress that people will retire when they are no longer up to the demands. One way to achieve this would be through formal rules. Senators in Canada must retire at the age of 75, and many state court systems also have mandatory retirement ages,” Barro wrote in The New York Times.
Here’s a funny video that someone made: