Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell struck up a friendship during their nearly quarter-century in the Senate together. Now in their 80s, the Democratic president and the Senate GOP leader appear to be giving political cover to each other as they fend off questions about their advanced age and health issues.
Notably, McConnell, R-Ky., 81, hasn’t joined Donald Trump, 77, and other Republicans who have attacked Biden’s age, health and mental acuity as he seeks re-election.
And after McConnell’s second freeze-up last week, Biden was one of the first to call McConnell, telling reporters that his “friend” sounded like “his old self” and that such episodes are a “part of his recovery” from a fall and a concussion this year.
Age limit tied to Social Security retirement age and joining the military, voting, smoking, and drinking tied to the same age (18 or 21, take your pick). We either need to say people are of the appropriate age to do these things, or not. This cherry-picking bullshit has to go. Also, term limits. The constitution wasn’t meant for a congressperson or senator to be in the same seat for 40+ years.
I totally agree with the sentiment but a small nitpick I have is that you lumped voting age in with the possibly lethal choices of military enlistment or being able to purchase alcohol and tobacco. Those last three should be together, I agree, and that age (IMO) should be the earliest age of least potential harm done, i.e. probably not right out of highschool when most people don’t have a good foundation and can easily fuck up their life with one bad choice. Voting should definitely be available at age of legal maturity, though. If society says you’re old enough for your parents to kick you out with no repurcussions they’d damn better let you at least say you’d like that one guy, who wants to make things easier for homeless 18 year olds, to be in charge.
I disagree. I understand your viewpoint, but we need a more clear cut way to determine someone’s “maturity” to make their own decisions. Voting can be indirectly lethal (using the term very loosely here). Ask one of the women who couldn’t get an abortion and died from delivery complications, or the recent study that said the rollbacks the last president made for pollution is estimated to have caused tens of thousands of deaths, or lack of COVID restrictions enforcement. It’s also currently arbitrary whether someone is tried as an adult in the case of a teenager that commits a homicide. So is the ability to give consent for intercourse, and that has a remote possibility of lethality too (delivery complications, STDs, etc.).