(July 12, 2024 at 1:10 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: The Constitution requires a President to be a minimum of 35 years old, yet has no maximum age.
Could Congress pass legislation to effect a maximum age without having to pass all the hurdles of an amendment? Would it have to be another amendment -- and if so, what do y'all think of its likelihood of passage? How would you urge your congresscritters to vote?
An amendment like that would prevent the particular problem we're in now, but it wouldn't address the issues which got us here. To prevent future disasters, we'd need 1) free and fair primary elections, and 2) an honest and non-partisan press.
Remember that four years ago in the primaries Biden was doing badly, and Harris was even worse. Bernie Sanders was polling best, especially in a hypothetical matchup with Trump. Anti-status-quo voters who went for Trump often found Sanders a better choice.
But when it became clear that Sanders had a real chance, Democratic Party leaders circled the wagons and got his competitors (e.g. Pete What's his name) to drop out and endorse Biden, making sure that the less popular establishment candidate would win. In a free and fair election, there is a very good chance that Sanders would be President now (and he is not senile).
Second, if the press had been honest, there would have been plenty of time to deal with an aged President. As recently as a month ago, pro-Dem media were claiming that Biden is still sharp as a tack, and even claimed that videos showing his obvious senility were deep fakes. Now the same channels are showing the same videos as evidence of his decline. So if we'd been told the truth from the beginning, there could have been real primary elections this time and a viable candidate could have been found without a panic. (Or if people had been reminded that Biden promised to serve only one term.)
So a mentally incompetent President would have far less chance if the other problems weren't there.
