Give me Geritocracy

In an increasingly polarized federal republic, the notion that one must be either a Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, right or left, red or blue, has become so wholly irksome to me that I am pretty much done thinking that democracy is the only way to go in terms of political systems. Not to mention utter disagreeableness of every single modern political campaign.

So...if I could reinvent the US government, I would turn it into a pure geritocracy. The oldest living person in the US would be president - currently, this is Jeralean Talley of my home state of Georgia. The next oldest, the veep - Susannah Mushatt Jones of Brooklyn, NY. They're both black. I'm okay with that.

My senators would be the two oldest people from my state, who aren't occupying a higher office. My congressperson would be the oldest from my district. The Supreme Court would be made up of the oldest people in the US, not occupying a higher office.

No elections. No political parties. The same rules applied to lobbyist used to protect seniors from unscrupulous repairmen and the like.

What about dementia? My asshole friends always ask me that. I think we would need something like the Reagan Standard. No one can hold high office if they are more demented than Ronald Reagan during his second term. Even then...he was far from a terrible president.

What about term limits? I think they're pretty much self-limiting. Some years, we might have three presidents. Some presidents might serve a full four years. The stock market will sort itself out either way.

And this way, we will definitely get a woman president. And an Asian president. And presidents from underprivileged backgrounds. And presidents who held jobs far different from what we've grown accustomed to since the days when a haberdasher saved us from unending war with Japan.

Those are trifling things, though.

The biggest advantage would be the wisdom, practicality, and compassion that older Americans (seriously older) could bring to the government. Think of the oldest three people you know. I'm hoping they're at least seventy-five; mine are 106, 93, and 92. I deal with a lot of seniors in my line of work. Maybe that's why I have so much faith in them.

Are you still thinking?

Compare your three people to the last three presidents, vice-presidents, and speakers of the house. How do they measure up in terms of... intelligence, work ethic, kindness, moral compass, sincerity, frankness, etc? I bet they look pretty damn good, don't they?

Mine do.

This is really just wishful thinking. The system could never be put into place. Most of the elderly would flat out refuse. Those that didn't...probably retired politicians already and they're not all Jimmy Carters. You know?

Still, I like to imagine our country run this way. I think it would be a big improvement.