The 111th Congress, which took office in 2009, was the oldest in USA history. While the average age in the Senate was 59 in 1945, it was 63 in 2011. Similarly with the Senate, the average age of representatives at the House rose from 53 in 1945 to 57 in 2011. Although the 112th Congress was slightly younger by a few months, the trend is unmistakable. We have a pattern where the average American is more than 20 years younger than the person who represents him or her in Congress.
When the novelist Richard K. Morgan wrote the Takeshi Kovacs series, he imagined a world in the 25th century where an incredibly wealthy elite rules the world. Although this is the situation today, the difference is that the series of novels envisaged a technology so advanced that it granted these wealthy rulers effective immortality and unfathomable wisdom through the ability to transfer the accumulated knowledge of human minds. These individuals are known as "Meths". Referring to Methuselah the longevity icon from the bible. A world that is governed by a combination of gerontocracy (ruled by older adults), oligarchy (ruled by a few) and plutocracy (ruled by the wealthy.)
In The Republic, Plato wrote: “it is for the elder man to rule and for the younger to submit”. The sensationalism is lost when we realize that this has been the trend since the inceptions of societies--with minor but significant exceptions. While the ancient Greek city state of Sparta was ruled by a flat out gerousia--a council made up of members who had to be at least 60 years old and who served for life, most variants of gerontocracy are less prescriptive. In addition, all theocratic states and organizations--in which leadership is concentrated in the hands of religious elders--are traditional gerontocracies, as with the Holy See, Islamic State and Mormonism among others. And as we have seen, our Congress is becoming increasingly gerontocratic.
Although traditionally it was assumed that some skills—for example, mathematics--drastically decline with age, political life was observed to nurture older adults. However, a new study in 2012 of British civil servants by the French epidemiologist Archana Singh-Manoux shattered this conception. The study shows that cognitive skills such as memory and reasoning start declining as early as 45. Except for vocabulary. Political spin it seems remains a forte of gerontocracy.
Such age-related decline is detrimental. But with increasing age of politicians comes other more serious diminishment that sometimes accompanies older adults. Ron Reagan contends that his father, President Ronald Reagan, showed signs of Alzheimer's disease three years into his first term. President Reagan went on to serve two 4-year terms in office.
The greatest of Roman orators, Marcus Tullius Cicero, had some insights: "Nothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable." The "great communicator"--as President Reagan was known--might increasingly be the way of emerging gerontocracies. Where the power of oration trumps a prudent government. Cicero again had this to say ” The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled…”
Mario Garrett, Ph.D., is a professor of gerontology at San Diego State University and can be reached at mariusgarrett@yahoo.com
