When politicians have been in office too long

 Almost every day, there seems to be a new story about President Joe Biden falling or saying something outlandish. The 80-year-old politician has always been known for gaffs and for regularly straying from the truth. The COVID pandemic of 2020 was the perfect opportunity for Joe Biden to run for president. Joe Biden ran for president in 1988. At 44 years old, Senator Joe Biden had a series of revelations that ended his campaign. He passed off U.K. Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock’s family history as his own. Biden plagiarized a Kinnock speech almost word-for-word. It was then revealed that Biden plagiarized five pages from a published law review article while attending Syracuse Law School. Biden falsely claimed that he graduated in the top half of his law school class when he ranked 76th out of 85. After this series of scandals, Joe Biden left the presidential race in shame.

In 2020, candidate Joe Biden hid in his basement, and when he did lie, plagiarize, or make a gaff, the mainstream media refused to address it. Questions about President Biden’s age, cognitive ability, and fitness to be president continue to gain support almost daily. The president’s minders and Democratic Party officials try to pass the concerns off as unfounded and agist. Still, polls show the American people overwhelmingly feel President Joe Biden is unfit to serve as commander-in-chief. Some Biden supporters have claimed that the complaints about Biden’s physical and mental condition are just partisan slander, but an increasing number of Democrats are starting to ask the same questions.

As concerned as I have been about President Biden’s fitness to serve, nothing Biden has done has frightened me as much as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s freezing mid-statement for nearly half a minute on July 26th. The 80-year-old McConnell has also recently had some falls and other health concerns. Every person who has looked at Joe Biden and questioned his fitness should be apoplectic about the feeble state of Mitch McConnell. Age alone should not be a guideline for anyone. Plenty of individuals over 80 years old are in better physical and mental shape than I am at 55. Sometimes it becomes evident to observers that an individual’s health and cognitive abilities are in a severe state of decline. McConnell’s behavior at that press conference clearly indicates something is wrong. I saw it happen live on television, and I was screaming at my television for someone to help him.

Joe Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972, at 29. Mitch McConnell joined the Senate in 1985, at the age of 43. Biden has held a federal office for 47 of his 80 years, and McConnell has done the same for 37 years. It is time that we take a serious look at term limits. Senator Chuck Grassley has served for 47 years. Chuck Schumer has served for 41 years. Five other members of Congress have served for 40 or more years. 83-year-old Nancy Pelosi has served in Congress for 36 years. The average age for a member of the House is currently 58 years old. The average age in the Senate is 64 years old. The average age of the U.S. population is about 40 years old.

I am not disqualifying individuals because of their age, but shouldn’t our representatives more accurately reflect the population? How can we expect new solutions and a change to business as usual when we keep the same politicians in Washington for decades? The current system is designed to serve the system. We re-elect politicians because they gain seniority and power each time we do. Sometimes we re-elect politicians who have been in office too long or have started to decline physically or cognitively. I think we can and should do better for our country and those politicians who refuse to step aside. Think for yourself.