WP: Where Age And Power Go Together

[kskiska]

Washington Accepts Elderly Leaders

Tuesday, March 29, 2005; Page A01

Among the ranks of the Fortune 500, just 11 corporate chief executives have remained in their jobs past the age of 70. Of the 100 members of the U.S. Senate, by contrast, 22 have reached septuagenarian status -- and seven of them are either older than 80 or will be before their terms expire.

Of the U.S. Supreme Court justices, only one -- Clarence Thomas, 56 -- is not old enough to collect Social Security.

These numbers make it plain that the top tier of the federal government remains the most welcoming arena in American society for people who want to keep high-powered jobs late in life. Aged and influential is such a common combination that most of the time it draws little notice.

This winter, however, a confluence of events -- most prominently, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's battle with cancer at age 80 -- has put new focus on the phenomenon of Geriatric Washington. Experts on retirement and leadership succession said the capital accepts infirmities in important officials far beyond what is typically tolerated in the highest-level jobs in the private sector.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8174-2005Mar28.html

[hedda_foil]

1. There are no old neocons.

There are old paleocons. There are old Dems. There are old judges. When the chips are down, I'll take Rehnquist over Scalia any day of the week.

[TygrBright]

2. Y'know, you just reminded me...

>>When the chips are down, I'll take Rehnquist over Scalia any day of the week.<<

Back when I was a young snot myself, we had this funny saying about never trusting anyone over thirty.

And I bought it, because the barstids 'twixt (about) thirty and (about) seventy were the ones defending the status quo and telling all of us young snots we didn't know diddly, so shut up and get a "real" job. Knuckle under, play by the rules, pay your dues, stand in line and park your soul in a corporate locker. All that sort of thing.

So I was pretty alienated from all those old farts.

Except...

Except my grandparents, already in their 70s then, who had been through the early days of the labor movement (Grandad was part of the IWW) and who had a much longer, much broader perspective on what really mattered than the corporate drones who were trying to guarantee their promotions and buy houses in the "right" suburbs.

Even the grandmother on my mother's side, who was no way as liberal as my father's parents, had a much more tolerant take on the turmoil of the times. I think that when you get old enough, live through enough experiences, good and bad, you do indeed get a bigger, broader perspective. I'm not arguing for a gerontocracy, here-- lord knows there are plenty of small-minded elders, not to mention those experiencing various forms of mental deterioration-- but I am coming to believe that we need to keep that long view and broad perspective active in the really important decision making and policy formulating.

OTOH, I am also starting to wonder if we shouldn't just put many of of us 40-somethings, 50-somethings, and 60-somethings on hold for awhile until we grow the hell up.

quizzically,
Bright