A recent opinion piece in Governing notes that over 40% of America's members of Congress are over 60 years old. And for good reason. Most congressional districts are reliably blue or red. What this means is that if you can win a primary in these reliably safe districts, you pretty much are there for life. Age provides experience and institutional voters, but the dominance of senior politicians also alienates younger people. They feel left out and are less likely to donate to a campaign or vote. Only half of eligible voters under 30 exercise their franchise.
How do we change this? Some believe we should abolish "winner take all" elections in favor of proportional voting, which is the norm in most other countries with younger leaders. But I'd argue that members of the US House and US Senate should be both term-limited and restricted from serving once they reach a certain age.
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