Ageism is a counterproductive reason to not vote for a president
Ageism is a counterproductive reason to not vote for a president
There's a reason people get wiser as they get older, including President Joe Biden
Shortly after I turned 30 and returned home from Maui, I asked my brother, “Is it weird to you that I’m 30 now?”
His response: “No, your birthday candles just finally caught up with your brain.”
I laughed. I knew exactly what he was talking about.
I thought about this recently while listening to former “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah’s new podcast. I’m always weirded out when my skinfolk compare who got the worst whippings — and laugh about it. (Side note: There are some disturbing comparisons between slaveowners and whippings, but that’s a post on “I Do See Color” to be written another day.)
I listened to DaBaby’s interview on “What Now? With Trevor Noah,” while the two talked about picking belts and branches. All I could do was think, “Man, I really was an old child.”
My mother thinks it’s funny to tell this story to family members and strangers alike, but the way she could really punish me had zip zero to do with a belt or popping me with her blue comb (whew! that comb could sting). How did she really teach me a lesson: “No books.” Second way: Sit me at anybody’s “kid’s table” at a family function. Although I never got a tree whipping, I can guarantee you I’d rather have the physical punishment versus mental punishment.
ADVERTISEMENT: TRUST & WILL
I’m an old soul. While kids were playing outside, I much preferred hanging out with my grandfather, my Girl Scout leader, the gardener next door or my parents’ chain-smoking landlord. Why? I like being around people who are smarter than me. At this very moment, the person I’m closest to in my condo association is three decades older than me. So every time I hear an ageism joke about President Joe Biden being “too old” to run for president, my first thought is, “Why should the number of years he’s been alive disqualify him from being the commander in chief?”
I’m aware he’s 81 years old. I’m also aware that the risks of anyone above the age of 65 developing Alzheimer’s doubles about every five years. But as far as I am aware, he does not have Alzheimer’s nor dementia.
Does he fumble a word here and there? Sure. But put me in the middle of a grocery store right now and tell me to buy everything on my grocery list — without looking at my Google Tasks grocery list — and I’ll probably leave that store with only 50% of the things on the list.
Anybody can fumble a name or a topic. It’s not breaking news to bring it up every single time he does it. And 77-year-old, former whatever-he-thinks-he-was-from-2016-to-2020 Donald Trump is no spring chicken either. He also doesn’t realize presidents aren’t supposed to terminate “all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution” so they can win dismiss the popular election and electoral votes.
His political stance has zero to do with age; that’s ego.
Would finding a younger candidate resolve the problem people have with President Biden being “too old” to be the president?
Not at all. Just to give you a few examples: