American gerontocracy and its consequences

By: Beatrice E. Rangel - 05/09/2023

The United States was horrified when it was able to observe live and direct the head of the Senate Mitch O'Connell (80) lose sense of reality for a few seconds in a press conference. Days before, the country was on edge at the inability of President Joseph Biden (79) to manage to get out of a stage in which he had just made a speech. Months before, we all shuddered at the stories leaked to the press about the Mental state of California Senator Diane Feinstein (90) who after experiencing health problems rejoined the Senate stating that she had never been absent. The possible opponent of Joseph Biden, Donald Trump is 76 years old and the average age of the United States Senate is 64 years with 54 senators over 65 years of age. 10 of them over 70 comfortably. In contrast, the average age in the United States is 39 years, which is less than that in Europe, which today is 43 years.

In short, an essentially young nation is ruled by elders. These elderly people who cling to public positions belong to a population cohort called the Baby Boomers because they represented a population boom that followed World War II and are the largest population cohort in the country's history, representing 40% of the population. They are also the darlings of American history. Because they are the children of the postwar period, when the US economy took off fueling the growth of a robust and prosperous middle class like never before. The heads of the family spared no resources in the education of their children and in the acquisition of goods that created comfort and generated wealth.

According to Bruce Cannon Gibney, this cohort of 72 million people is distinguished by its marked selfishness that has been expressed in the perpetual search for their own well-being at the expense of that of society, causing financial crises; education and overflow of fiscal spending to finance their interests. In short, according to Cannon Gibney, this is a generation of sociopaths that must be suppressed as soon as possible.

Fortunately for the United States and the world, the baby boomers are becoming extinct while the Millennials are already over their size since they are located at 73 million people. The generational change according to experts like Gibney will be very positive for the United States because the generation of selfishness will be replaced by that of what should be. This opinion is supported by the data collected on the thinking of the various population cohorts by the PEW Research Institute whose judgment on millennials is summarized as “Millenniums are passionate about issues such as sustainability, justice, and understanding. They are also passionate about technology and keeping up with the latest trends, as well as being active in their communities and finding ways to give back.

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