Salon Newsreal | American gerontocracy

A L S O+T O D A Y

Impeachment diary III
By Anonymous
Senate insiders dis the House Boyz, and spread a whole lotta rumors about Trent Lott
(01/15/99)

T A B L E+T A L K
Abortion: Where do you stand, and why? Explain your position in the Social Issues area of Table Talk

___________________
Learn more about impeachment at barnesandnoble.com
___________________

Portrait of a political "pit bull"
By Russ Baker
Rep. Dan Burton, who called President Clinton a "scumbag," has a few questions to answer about his own behavior
(12/22/98)

R E C E N T L Y
Counting the dead children
By Jeff Stein
Critics blast U.S. sanctions that kill Iraqi babies, but leave Saddam fat and happy
(01/15/99)
Cracks in the bipartisan façade
By Joshua Micah Marshall
As House Republicans tried to depict their impeachment vendetta as a brave civil rights struggle, the important action was all taking place off-camera
(01/15/99)
Letter from occupied New York
By John Leonard
With City Hall behind barricades, Mayor Rudy Giuliani is getting ready to take his show on the road
(01/14/99)
Michael Jordan's final act
By Dan Brekke
The legend is leaving at the top. That's why we need him to stay.
(01/14/99)
Starr's lowest blow
By Bruce Shapiro
In indicting Julie Hiatt Steele, the independent counsel continues a pattern of bullying women
(01/13/99)
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AMERICAN GERONTOCRACY | PAGE 1, 2,
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But the Stanford professors point out that people in the age bracket 75 to 84 (Dole was 73 in 1996) face accelerating incidences of every possible kind of physical ailment -- 34 times the risk of stroke than someone in his or her 50s, for example -- as well as across-the-board mental decline. Reasoning, verbal ability and information processing all take an accelerating nose dive after age 65. Twenty percent of men and women between age 75 and 84 are diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Even among those not stricken with it, new inflexibility creeps into once-lively minds.
Given some of Dole's risk factors (four decades of smoking, prostate cancer, parents with heart disease), the scholars place the odds of his dying during his hypothetical first term at one in five. They wrote the article, they say, because the media and public not only don't seem to grasp the risk of death and disease among elderly politicians, but also don't recognize that even a healthy 77-year-old president couldn't handle the Cuban missile crisis as energetically as John Kennedy did. (Thurmond's age bracket is so off the charts they don't even discuss it.) "We may soon again confront a candidate whose age might interfere with his capacity to govern," they write.
It looks as if the issue won't come up in the 2000 presidential race, given the likely candidates. But it's staring us in the face in the Senate. It's clear that both the advantages of incumbency and voters' understandable wishes not to give up the power that a Senator amasses over decades of service has led us to the threshold of gerontocracy. (If I lived in West Virginia, I might think twice about trading Byrd's legendary pork-gathering abilities for a smart whippersnapper with no power, even if I thought Byrd was losing it.)
When other countries have gerontocracies, we see them as bad. China's is seen as a sign of political stagnancy, as was the Soviet Union's. "We were ashamed of our state, of its half-dead leaders, of the encroaching senility," writes a former KGB leader in a recent book.
Interestingly, while journalists may not recognize the downsides of aging politicians, the elderly themselves do: Adams and Brody write that the older a voter is, the more likely he or she is to view elderly politicians as handicapped in their jobs. They know what it's like.
The references to Dole and Thurmond might make me sound partisan, but this isn't a partisan problem. (I'll trade you Byrd for Thurmond.) It's hard to see how to solve it, though. Mandatory retirement ages are now illegal, leading corporations and universities to rely on incentives of various kinds. Given the political will, however, it's probably possible to come up with some sort of financial package that might be dangled before senators -- or, for that matter, justices -- as they cruise past 70. How much of the Treasury would you like to see go to the Strom Thurmond Memorial Retirement Fund?
SALON | Jan. 15, 1999
Christopher Shea is a freelance writer living in Washington.

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A L S O+T O D A Y Impeachment diary III By Anonymous Senate insiders dis the House Boyz, and spread a whole lotta rumors about Trent Lott (01/15/99) T A B L E+T A L K Abortion: Where do you stand, and why? Explain your position in the Social Issues area of Table Talk ___________________ Learn more about impeachment at barnesandnoble.com ___________________ Portrait of a political "pit bull" By Russ Baker Rep. Dan Burton, who called President Clinton a "scumbag," has a few questions to answer about his own behavior (12/22/98) R E C E N T L Y Counting the dead children By Jeff Stein Critics blast U.S. sanctions that kill Iraqi babies, but leave Saddam fat and happy (01/15/99) Cracks in the bipartisan façade By Joshua Micah Marshall As House Republicans tried to depict their impeachment vendetta as a brave civil rights struggle, the important action was all taking place off-camera (01/15/99) Letter from occupied New York By John Leonard With City Hall behind barricades, Mayor Rudy Giuliani is getting ready to take his show on the road (01/14/99) Michael Jordan's final act By Dan Brekke The legend is leaving at the top. That's why we need him to stay. (01/14/99) Starr's lowest blow By Bruce Shapiro In indicting Julie Hiatt Steele, the independent counsel continues a pattern of bullying women (01/13/99) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		AMERICAN GERONTOCRACY \| PAGE 1, 2, - - - - - - - - - - But the Stanford professors point out that people in the age bracket 75 to 84 (Dole was 73 in 1996) face accelerating incidences of every possible kind of physical ailment -- 34 times the risk of stroke than someone in his or her 50s, for example -- as well as across-the-board mental decline. Reasoning, verbal ability and information processing all take an accelerating nose dive after age 65. Twenty percent of men and women between age 75 and 84 are diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Even among those not stricken with it, new inflexibility creeps into once-lively minds. Given some of Dole's risk factors (four decades of smoking, prostate cancer, parents with heart disease), the scholars place the odds of his dying during his hypothetical first term at one in five. They wrote the article, they say, because the media and public not only don't seem to grasp the risk of death and disease among elderly politicians, but also don't recognize that even a healthy 77-year-old president couldn't handle the Cuban missile crisis as energetically as John Kennedy did. (Thurmond's age bracket is so off the charts they don't even discuss it.) "We may soon again confront a candidate whose age might interfere with his capacity to govern," they write. It looks as if the issue won't come up in the 2000 presidential race, given the likely candidates. But it's staring us in the face in the Senate. It's clear that both the advantages of incumbency and voters' understandable wishes not to give up the power that a Senator amasses over decades of service has led us to the threshold of gerontocracy. (If I lived in West Virginia, I might think twice about trading Byrd's legendary pork-gathering abilities for a smart whippersnapper with no power, even if I thought Byrd was losing it.) When other countries have gerontocracies, we see them as bad. China's is seen as a sign of political stagnancy, as was the Soviet Union's. "We were ashamed of our state, of its half-dead leaders, of the encroaching senility," writes a former KGB leader in a recent book. Interestingly, while journalists may not recognize the downsides of aging politicians, the elderly themselves do: Adams and Brody write that the older a voter is, the more likely he or she is to view elderly politicians as handicapped in their jobs. They know what it's like. The references to Dole and Thurmond might make me sound partisan, but this isn't a partisan problem. (I'll trade you Byrd for Thurmond.) It's hard to see how to solve it, though. Mandatory retirement ages are now illegal, leading corporations and universities to rely on incentives of various kinds. Given the political will, however, it's probably possible to come up with some sort of financial package that might be dangled before senators -- or, for that matter, justices -- as they cruise past 70. How much of the Treasury would you like to see go to the Strom Thurmond Memorial Retirement Fund? SALON \| Jan. 15, 1999 Christopher Shea is a freelance writer living in Washington. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Become a Salon member. Click here.