EDITORIAL – Has the ugliness of ageism become an accepted part of politics?
Joe Biden during CNN debate with Donald Trump.
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
AMERICAN POLITICS got rid of one old guy today; if only they could get rid of the other one.
Joe Biden is out of the race for president because, according to his detractors, he’s “too old.” No, he’s not. He’s out, by his own choice, because he has some trouble getting names right. Everybody has the same problem regardless of age. Listen to anybody on radio or TV, whether it be local or national or international, and the chances are good they’ll stumble over a name, a date, or a fact. It doesn’t mean they’re cognitively impaired.
Certainly, as we grow older, some of us have more trouble with names and dates and places. It doesn’t mean we’re cognitively impaired or incapable. Biden may or may not be experiencing physical and cognitive decline but he’s not too old for the job.
Neither is Donald Trump, just a couple of years younger than Biden’s 81. Trump himself has often been mocked for messing up names and garbling words, but that’s been forgotten since Biden’s disastrous performance in the recent debate. Trump has a lot of bad traits but age isn’t one of them.
If either is mentally incapable of being president, that’s a problem. So, however, is the constant reference to being “too old.” That is ageism, an all too common “ism” in today’s society that ranks right up there with racism, anti-semitism, sexism, classism and homophobia.
Biden dropped out of the campaign today because he can no longer rely on support from his party, his donors and the voters, and because of doubts about his ability to carry on. Those doubts should not be simplistically defined as “too old.” Being of a certain age should never be a barrier to full participation in society.
There’s nothing magical about youth. A healthy older person can outthink a younger one on most days of the week because they’ve been around longer and have seen more. As Republican president Ronald Reagan once said during a debate with Democratic nominee Walter Mondale, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”
Reagan was 73, Mondale 56. Reagan won the election in a landslide. Ten years later, after he had served capably as president, Reagan was sadly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
In B.C, anyone who makes it to 80 must undergo an evaluation to make sure they’re fully capable of continuing to drive. It’s not because they’re 80; it’s because there’s a higher incidence of health problems — physical and cognitive — as we age. Let’s keep in mind, though, that people in their 20s can get Alzheimer’s and, statistically, older drivers are better drivers.
There’s no test for politicians and maybe there should be. But, please, let’s not let ageism ever become acceptable.
Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
As Biden’s term winds down, wars, not peace, will define his presidency. Biden was well known for exporting wars, launching “color revolutions,” and fomenting extremist ideologies while selling these policies as building democracy.
When Biden saw war protestors, he called them “assholes.” That’s how far apart he was from the antiwar movement and yet he like Bush, the war hawks, found a way to avoid the Vietnam draft. where 60,000 Americans died in what the media sold as anti communism war when in fact it was the Vietnamese people fighting anti colonial exploitation.
What the puppeteers did to Biden was elder abuse no more and no less than what Biden’s puppeteers did to Trump. Nether Trump or Biden is suited to be president.
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem, North and South of the 49. Just think we have had a man who couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk, couldn’t remember, and had to be taken to the office by his wife as president of the most powerful nation in the world. Is the world ready for Kamala Harris who only learns World Geography when America goes to war.
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This wasn’t a question of ageism. The man was clearly not within his faculties. President is an important job. Lives are at stake. Mouth agape Biden is not fit to lead the free world. To make this about the exclusion of elderly people participating in society misses the issue. This is not a game. There is little patience for niceties.
We do however have to acknowledge that Biden did the right and courageous thing – putting the needs of the country before himself. That is something Trump would never do.
There is now a small chance Democrats can win this election. But choosing a DEI candidate like Kamala, a Californian that embodies the extreme ideas that have alienated Democrats from the concerns of most people, will also lead to failure.
Open borders and gender politics won’t win this election. I try to tell my Democratic friends that there is a choice that needs to be made. Either they embrace the extreme policies and lose, making things worse for a large number of progressive-minded people, or moderate their goals and maybe keep a convicted criminal out of the White House.
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Age + experience + wisdom make for an awesome combination. “Too soon old; too late smart” is a well-known quote.
If I may integrate you and another local “journalist”, Mel. You have grown to have a sense of what is best to publish and what is not. You seem to realize that the best story is one that patience will bring along given some time.
I’m just looking from the outside-in on this one but there is a young journalist who appears to have taken on the task of beating up an individual who was elected to office locally. With undue haste, the opportunity was taken to embarrass Mayor Hamer-Jackson by recording a few minutes of material (audio and visual) and posting that material on the Internet for the world to see. What a glimmer of glee must have been within the spirit of the young journalist believing that a politician had been hung again!
Little did the young journalist know but that very posting on the Internet would show a senior citizen, a woman wearing a purple sweater and carrying a walking stick, being bullied. The poor woman was even threatened with a visit by the RCMP if she did not keep quiet and exit council chambers.
How many people have viewed and listened to that posting on the Internet? Instead of demeaning and victimizing the Mayor, the young journalist displayed the real problem at City Hall. If they’d bully a female senior citizen would they bully just about anyone? And who would realize the truthful representation but myself and some others who might be considered “old”? How could we possibly thank the young journalist for that blunder?
Society should appreciate the “old” people. We’re an important part of everyday life.
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way too much crying wolf John. It’s just a non stop litany of crying from the church of misinformation about being bullied, even when you’re in the wrong.
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One of the advantages of being old is that you get
good at breaking rules, then getting away with it.
Fausto Coppi, the famous Italian cyclist was such a rebel.
He refused to stay in place in his team, would finish
way ahead of everyone and is credited with the
expression, “Age and treachery will beat youth and
skill every time.” Also, my psychiatrist assured me that
being too old is not about having difficulty getting
the key into the lock. It’s about not knowing that there is
a key that fits into the lock.
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Absolutely correct! Great factual editorial Mel. Thank you for writing it. This comes from an 81 year old who is still mostly ‘with it’.
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