The spectator sport that is the run-up to the US presidential elections is rarely inspiring, but this year it’s been particularly dire. We had up until yesterday the oldest candidates of all time facing off, and following President Biden’s decision to drop out of the race, the elder of the two has been replaced by someone whose greatest qualities, according to a not-insignificant number of her supporters, are her sex and skin colour.
I should be clear: elderly candidates are not necessarily a problem, and may indeed be a blessing, bringing to the table the wisdom and experience that they may. But leaving aside the fact that one of them was essentially forced out of the race by his own party because of obvious cognitive decline, the optics of a nation’s political scene dominated entirely by the elderly and perceived diversity options is far from ideal and points to some of the ways in which societal stagnation has become the rule rather than the exception.
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