With another birthday occurring the week past, I have been thinking just how old is old? It has been several election cycles since I voted for a president older than I, and 2020 was no exception. In recent days there has a hue and cry about the age of some persons in our government. The President, Joseph Biden is the oldest man ever elected, but he is a spring chicken when compared to some Congresspersons. For example: Dianne Feinstein - 87, Charles Grassley - 87, Pat Leahy - 80, James Inhofe - 86, Bernie Sanders - 79.
Some of these people have been in Congress for decades; Bernie Sanders has spent 8 terms in the House and 3 terms in the Senate, Pat Leahy has been in the Senate since 1974, Charles Grassley has served 7 terms in the Senate, the rest have been in Congress between five and seven terms, terms which are 6 years long. That is longer than the majority of Americans have been alive.
You may ask what these septuagenarians have in common with the people they represent? Most do not remember what it was like to put in forty hours for a pittance, and then cough up 25% of that for a health care plan that is marginal at best. They don't remember fighting rush-hour traffic, standing in a line, washing and ironing, scrubbing floors and toilet bowls. Yet they pass the laws that affect all our lives, is it any wonder that there is a call for term limits for Congress.
The United States Constitution establishes the Congress in Article I. I believe the framers felt that the congress would be the true representatives of the people and thus be the most important branch of government. They, in fact make the laws that set the direction of the country.
Article I, Section 2 sets the qualifications for a member of the House of Representatives to wit; their term of office shall be for two years and they shall be at least 25 years of age at the time they are sworn in.
Article I, Section 3 sets the qualifications for the United States Senate to wit; their term of office shall be for six years and a candidate must be 35 years of age at the time they are sworn in.
The House of Representatives, the larger of the two bodies, initiates laws and spending bills, but the Senate , that is thought to be the more deliberate of the two bodies, may revise those laws and spending bills and return them to the House for another vote.
The framers obviously thought that a maturation rate of ten years should give the Senate a more nuanced and pragmatic view of the world. The Senate would be the cool debater to the heat of the House rhetoric. Perhaps, when the life span was somewhat short of sixty years, ten years experience had more impact. The framers gave credence to age and maturity.
I know I am not the person I was at age 35, and I dare to say neither are you, dear readers. The passions that drove my actions then, are laughable now. What I thought so important a half a lifetime ago, has been relegated to the dustbin of history. But many of the things that I fought and marched for are still in the forefront today; civil rights, women's rights, health care. They were were problems then and they remain unsolved yet today.
Cold wars have been replaced by hot wars in places I could not have located on a map back then. The world is a much more complicated place now, the lines are blurred between friend and foe. We have had good presidents and truly bad presidents in the ensuing years, We have always had gridlock in Congress before but I cannot remember it being this bad. But I do think if you asked most people how their elected officials are doing, they would not or could not tell you. I for one, being a resident of Wisconsin have more than enough call to say that I will work very hard to get rid of our Senator, Ron Johnson. He is an embarrassment to our state, and yet he has a wide contingency that just loves him.
And that is why the same people keep returning to Congress year after year. Because my Senator is really great and your Senator is real ass. So the next time someone tells you there should be term limits on Senators and Representatives, tell there are. It is written in the Constitution.
I'm just sayin'
