Posted on 05/12/2019 11:23:23 AM PDT by Hojczyk
Campfire Girls are gone. Girl Scouts are gone. All went the way of PC.
The Constitution only has an age minimum since its a certainty that without enough exposure to life it is not possible you have reasonable judgement.
Or be Hillary Rodham Clinton. Heaven forbid.
Simple, Let the VOTERS decide.
What an idea? /s
1). An age limit is overt age discrimination.
2). The Constitution sets a minimum age to serve as president but no maximum. It also sets no “health or wellness” test. Doing so will require a Constitutional amendment.
3). “Independent” doctors can let politics affect their work, just like judges and FBI agents. In a highly partisan political environment, the choice of the doctors to examine the candidates will be as political a decision as choosing Supreme Court justices.
4). “Young” candidates (remember JFK) can hide serious medical conditions, or ongoing treatments with mind altering drugs, affecting fitness to perform the job
5). History shows many people have great accomplishments in old age. Winston Churchill was 66 when he became Prime Minister in 1940. His performance over the next 5 years was brilliant, saving his country. George Washington was 57 when he became President, an old man in an era where the average life expectancy was 36 years old. Washington set an extraordinary high standard for leadership and behavior which arguable none of his younger successor have come close to achieving.
Our system is based on the premise the people will evaluate candidates based on a total picture which includes fitness for office. If the people fail to do so, the independent electors of the Electoral College, have the discretion to vote as they choose, not as the public vote indicates should they have grave concern the age of the “winner” makes her/him unfit to serve. That Electoral vote can be cast for anyone, even someone who did not run for the position.
The final check and balances are the 25th Amendment and Congress’s power to impeach and remove.
The rigor and scrutiny of the campaign, the judgement of citizens when they cast ballots, the Electoral College, and the checks and balances built into the Constitution are sufficient mechanisms to deal with a candidate “too old” to perform in the office. However, no mechanisms are sufficient to prevent the people from acting unwisely. If the people are not serious about vetting and choosing candidates, no medical test is going to save the nation.
The issue is not the age of the candidate. It is the quality of his/her soul and their belief (or not) in the concept of individual liberty. Virtue has nothing to do with age, although the longer one lives a virtuous life is a testament to strength of character.
Over and over we see these folks surface who think, "all have failed before me. They were not worthy. I, the high, the mighty, the great knight, the great warrior, will slay the Orange Trumpbeast, completing the Quest where all my predecessors have fallen short and take my place at the Round Table.
What they all miss is that Trump is that great knight himself, St. George come to slay the swampmonster and these folks, Gates, sadly among them- and I mean it because I had some respect for him before he appointed himself chief troll - are like gnats swirling around Trump's visored helm
I think Reagan had the perfect response to that question, during his debate with Mondale.
At 75 one would have thought Gates would have acquired that judgment, but he has now passed into senility. I don't get it, actually. In years gone by there was no one who poked a sharper stick at swamp denizens than did Sir Bob here.
It’s already covered. The voters can decide on their own if a candidate is viable, and since mental and physical incapacity can happen at any age, we have the 25th Amendment.
There is no problem here except people looking for a way to remove candidates improperly.
thanks emb.
They set it at 35 years.
And don't forget when the Constitution was created, the American life span was about about 48 years.
Imho if the founding fathers set it today, it would probably be close to 50 years old to be president. - Tom
Oh puleeeze. Trump out performs anyone half his age
You are a fool
There obviously should be an age limit for chancellors of universities. Gates is an unabashed globalist nitwit whose ability to think clearly never was fully established. Retire already!!!
Like Ronald Regan?
"I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience.
But any old chump can run a college apparently.
I was just going to say that. Robert Gates, the architect of” Hey the Boy Scouts have paid out $100 million to child molesting victims, the solution is to have gay scout leaders...oh and gay scouts....oh and people that identify themselves as gay male scout leaders, oh and girls!” I wouldn’t trust that morons advise.
The founding fathers only cared about the younger age of 35 to run. I’ll go by what they thought was appropriate.
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