TT(O)M

My article titled Why you should not vote for 70 year old presidential candidates generated considerable feedback. My original article made a case that people who are in their 70s are not the best suited to be President of the USA. I rarely revisit or defend a topic, but after 77 year old Michael Bloomberg announced that he has joined the presidential race I felt this would be appropriate. The US constitution states that a person needs to be at least 35 years old to be eligible to become President. When the minimum presidential age was established, the voting age was 21 year. In 1971, 26th amendment reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 yet the minimum presidential age was never revised. Today there is a movement seeking to bring the voting age further down to 16 because proponents feel these individuals have the depth of comprehension and maturity equivalent to 18-year olds from a couple of generations before. Yet, here again, no one is challenging the presidential minimum. ...

The reason for putting forward a Democratic candidate against Donald Trump is “ to secure the largest number of Electoral Colleges to ensure that the person is elected as the 46 th President of the United States of America ”. The candidate will, in all likelihood, face incumbent Donald Trump as the Republican candidate.  Donald Trump became president last time because he won more Electoral Colleges even though he got almost 3 million votes less than Hilary Clinton.  In an ideal, truly democratic arena, the popular vote would reflect who the president is but this is not the case and next November the playing field will be the one in which Electoral Colleges, that can be [or are being]  gerrymandered in favor of republicans, will apply. Therefore, a Democratic prospect need to secure at least 270 of the 538 Electoral Colleges in order to win. There are two ways this can be achieved is by getting nonvoters to come out and vote and by targeting center leaning rep...

Why is it that a bunch of septuagenarians are coming forward to lead the US?   On the Republican side we have 73 year old Donald Trump while on the Democratic ticket, three of the top 5 candidates will be their 70s on inauguration day. These individuals are, at least, 3 years older than the revised retirement age in the US. Looking at it from another angle, all of them were born before 1950.   Are these the top people the United States of America can put forward to take the country towards the challenges that it faces and are they the best choice we have to navigate and identify the landscape of opportunities that present themselves?   I don’t think so. Some might debate that age is like fine wine; it gets better with time. But in the world we live in, we don’t need people to gain value by sitting on their side on a shelf; we want people who are dynamic and vibrant in both mind and body. Those of us who are lucky to have a parent or grandparent in their 70s can re...