OPINION:
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sudden death at age 71 and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s repeated hospitalizations this year remind us how much the future of the Senate now depends on age alone.
When more than one in five members of Congress are 70 or older, it is fair to ask how many of those writing the nation’s laws will still be here to live with the consequences of those laws.
I learned the limits of endurance managing newspaper production, where deadlines were unforgiving and breakdowns came without warning. What I handled routinely at 30 grew harder at 50. Now, at 75, I know I could not do it today.
The greatest change, however, was perspective. The future no longer pulls with the same urgency it once did. Those making America’s longest-term decisions should be the ones most likely to live with the results.
The Founding Fathers never intended Congress to become a lifetime career. Public service was meant to be temporary. The Founders did not envision lawmakers serving for decades while passing unresolved problems to the next generation.
Mr. McConnell has served Kentucky in the Senate for more than four decades. At 84, after repeated health problems, he has announced that he will not seek reelection — but he remains in office, having not cast a vote in weeks.
The issue is not respect for older public servants. It is whether our institutions should depend so heavily on leaders whose ability to serve may become uncertain without warning.
Americans have wrestled with this question before. President Ronald Reagan’s age drew scrutiny. Questions about President Joe Biden’s health led him to step aside from reelection. President Trump, now 80, is also judged through the lens of age. The question isn’t whether leaders age. It’s whether the job should outlast their ability to do it.
Congressional term limits, including for leadership positions, would help restore the balance the Founders envisioned and keep power from settling indefinitely in the same hands.
And independent cognitive and physical assessments for presidents and senior congressional leaders would give voters objective information.
Both parties should deliberately cultivate capable leaders in their 40s, 50s and early 60s — not wait for a health crisis to force an abrupt transition. Experience matters, but so does accountability to the future that the next generation will inherit.
RAY WATFORD
Hilliard, Ohio
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