Age caps, term limits are not the answer

It always amazes me how uninformed many of the letter writers to the Daily Herald are. The latest example is a letter headlined as "Set age caps, term limits" in Sunday's paper. The writer bemoans how poorly the candidates performed in the debate and suggests that the answer is setting an age cap and a term limits for “all politicians at all levels, national, state or local” by “legislation.” The writer fails to understand that the US Constitution defines who is eligible to hold federal offices such as President, Senator and Representative and changing those would require a Constitutional Amendment. I would hazard a guess that there would be a similar issue with many state constitutions.

The writer might also want to consider the future impact of his suggestion. When the Constitution was written, the average US life expectancy was 40. What if they had put an age cap of 40 or 50 in the original Constitution? Today's average US life expectancy is 80. What might to be fifty years from now?

David Swanson

Elgin