WEBVTT - Should There Be Age Limits on the U.S. Presidency?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Volebam Here, politicians often act like children, whether it's

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<v Speaker 1>calling each other names, getting into slap fights on the

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<v Speaker 1>legislative floor, or simply taking their toys and stomping off

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<v Speaker 1>to another sandbox. The way lawmakers act, you'd be surprised

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<v Speaker 1>they aren't still in preschool. The truth is that many

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<v Speaker 1>countries around the globe require their elected officials to have

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<v Speaker 1>some life experience under their belts. That includes the US

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<v Speaker 1>or you have to be at least thirty five years

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<v Speaker 1>old to be eligible to take the keys to the

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<v Speaker 1>White House for the article. This episode is based on

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<v Speaker 1>How Stuff Work. Spoke with John Siri, a government and

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<v Speaker 1>politics professor at Pomona College. He said, most advanced democracies

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<v Speaker 1>have an age requirement for the top executive office. It's

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<v Speaker 1>just a matter of where they said it. The US

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<v Speaker 1>Constitution imposes three eligibility requirements on anyone thinking about running

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<v Speaker 1>for president. In order to actually take the office, you

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<v Speaker 1>have to be a natural born citizen of the US,

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<v Speaker 1>You must have lived in the US for at least

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<v Speaker 1>the last fourteen years, and you have to be no

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<v Speaker 1>less than thirty five years old, all of which appear

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<v Speaker 1>likely to remain the law of the land for the

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<v Speaker 1>foreseeable future, but it has been brought into question. A

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<v Speaker 1>Serie is the author of the book Too Young to

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<v Speaker 1>Run a proposal for an age amendment to the US Constitution.

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<v Speaker 1>He argues that the age requirement is a remnant from

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<v Speaker 1>the country's early days, in which American patriots were still

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<v Speaker 1>just a little wary about finding themselves under the rule

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<v Speaker 1>of a king or other dictatorship. That's why we have

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<v Speaker 1>term limits and elections every four years. But the age

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<v Speaker 1>requirement was one way to safeguard what John Adams called

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<v Speaker 1>our natural aristocracy, or one in which leaders rise on merit,

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<v Speaker 1>not by right. Siri explained, monarchs often succeed to the

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<v Speaker 1>throne at an early age, so if you make it

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<v Speaker 1>old enough, the age minimum is one hedge against monarchs.

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<v Speaker 1>In other words, modernly, we might be a bit obsessed

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<v Speaker 1>with the British and Targarian royal families, but we're still

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<v Speaker 1>not keen to have one of our own. Still, it

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<v Speaker 1>remains unclear where the Constitution's drafters pulled thirty five as

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<v Speaker 1>the appropriate age to become the country's chief executive. You

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<v Speaker 1>might ask, wasn't that a bit old for the era?

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<v Speaker 1>Didn't people back then come of age earlier than they

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<v Speaker 1>do now and die earlier too. It's true that the

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<v Speaker 1>average life expectancy in late seventeen hundreds America was only

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<v Speaker 1>thirty eight years of age, but remember that that's the average.

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<v Speaker 1>It's skewed young because so many infants and children died

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<v Speaker 1>before they reached adulthood, affected by diseases that we have

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<v Speaker 1>vaccines and antibiotics and other modern medicine to fix. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>if you lived past even the age of five, your

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<v Speaker 1>average life expectancy jumped to over fifty, and people regularly

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<v Speaker 1>lived into their seventies and beyond. Founding father Benjamin Franklin

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<v Speaker 1>turned seventy the same year that he signed the Declaration

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<v Speaker 1>of Independence. According to Siri, the founders who set the

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<v Speaker 1>age requirement probably looked to the Roman Republic, which has

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<v Speaker 1>served as a model for government for centuries. Roman councilors

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<v Speaker 1>were required to be at least thirty five years old.

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<v Speaker 1>So yes, the American presidential age minimum stems from a

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<v Speaker 1>centuries old concern about kings and queens ruling from an

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<v Speaker 1>iron throne and draws inspiration from millennia old bureaucrats who

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<v Speaker 1>governed Rome. Maybe that's why some people say the rules

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<v Speaker 1>should be changed and have even tried to officially petition

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<v Speaker 1>the government. The arguments against the age limit are pretty straightforward.

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<v Speaker 1>You can drive a car, be sent off to war,

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<v Speaker 1>and vote an election by the time you reach eighteen.

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<v Speaker 1>You can be a state representative at twenty five and

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<v Speaker 1>a senator at thirty. So at any of these points,

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<v Speaker 1>why shouldn't you be able to sit at the grown

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<v Speaker 1>up table and help make the big decisions. On the

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<v Speaker 1>other hand, there's the wisdom that comes with experience and

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<v Speaker 1>the knowledge that comes with learning over time. Biologically speaking,

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<v Speaker 1>that pop science concept that our prefrontal corteses finished developing

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<v Speaker 1>in our mid twenties isn't really true. But our brains

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<v Speaker 1>develop at different paces, and research has shown that structural

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<v Speaker 1>growth can continue into our thirties at least. But that's

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<v Speaker 1>possibly even more evidence that the possessor of a slightly

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<v Speaker 1>older brain might be a better choice for high office.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, there's always a stigma that you in our

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<v Speaker 1>generations are dumb and can't be trusted. After all, the

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<v Speaker 1>country's youngest president, Theodore Roosevelt was already forty two years

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<v Speaker 1>old when he rose to the office after the assassination

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<v Speaker 1>of William McKinley. But when you look back in history,

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<v Speaker 1>think of someone like Alexander the Great, who conquered much

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<v Speaker 1>of the known world and managed an empire all before

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<v Speaker 1>dying at the age of thirty two. Maybe you were

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<v Speaker 1>missing out on some upstart government whiz who could heal

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<v Speaker 1>everything ailing Old Uncle Sam, the lebron James of politics

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<v Speaker 1>could be sitting out there just waiting for their chance

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<v Speaker 1>to wipe out the country's debt and hunger and install

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<v Speaker 1>teleporters nationwide. Instead, that person is probably coming up with

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<v Speaker 1>a cool new app somewhere in Silicon Valley. Siri thinks

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<v Speaker 1>that maybe we have the whole age thing upside down.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, if you're going to have age restrictions, they

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<v Speaker 1>should probably be against old dodding people, which is a

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<v Speaker 1>strong statement, although it is worth noting that throughout American

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<v Speaker 1>history about three quarters of our presidence have been between

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<v Speaker 1>the ages of fifty and sixty five, and our candidates

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<v Speaker 1>are getting old. In nineteen eighty one, Reagan was the

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<v Speaker 1>oldest president to ever come to office, at age sixty nine.

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<v Speaker 1>Until Trump and Biden recently followed at ages seventy and

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<v Speaker 1>seventy eight, respectively. It would take an amendment to the

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<v Speaker 1>Constitution to change the age limit in either direction, which

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<v Speaker 1>itself would require by partisan action, the likes of which

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<v Speaker 1>are rare in today's political environment. But as of twenty

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<v Speaker 1>twenty three, a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center

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<v Speaker 1>found that a whopping eighty percent of Americans think there

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<v Speaker 1>should be an upper age limit on federal elected officials. So,

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<v Speaker 1>however strong series statement is, it seems that a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of us agree with him. Today's episode is based on

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<v Speaker 1>the article should the US let people younger than thirty five? Run?

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<v Speaker 1>For president? On how stuffworks dot Com, written by Chrisoffer.

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<v Speaker 1>Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com and is produced by Tyler Playing four more

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