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Well said, John. However, I do think the fact that the senior Congressional leadership is so "senior" is a problem. This is not age-ism, but recognition that one of the other forms of incumbency that needs some shaking up is greater diversification at the top by age demographic. It is not enough to represent women or people of color or certain religions or ethnicities when one of the key demographics that got you elected--youth--is so obviously disregarded by a sclerotic power structure that rewards longevity. The starkness of that difference is readily apparent between the respective house leaderships. Republicans may be all white and male--bad on them--but at least they are not all over 70 (nearing 80). The numbers speak for themselves: Democratic house leader, Nancy Pelosi (78); Democratic whip, Steny Hoyer (79); Democratic Chief Deputy Whip, John Lewis (78). Now compare that to Republican house leader Kevin McCarthy (53), Republican whip, Steve Scalise (53), Republican chief deputy whip, Patrick McHenry (43), and former Republican House Speaker, Paul Ryan (48). Hell, even the roster of 9 additional Democratic deputy whips (Republicans don't have this form of largesse) is only marginally better: Jan Schakowsky (74), Diana DeGette (61), G. K. Butterfield (71), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (52), Keith Ellison (55), Terri Sewell (53), Peter Welch (71) and then their two youngest—now only one since the other was smart enough to get the hell out of the gerontocracy that the house Democrats have become. Those would be respectively Jouaquin Castro (44) and Kyrsten Sinema (42), now Arizona’s newest senator. This problem of ageism against the young is not going away for the Democrats. To think that a younger party carries the most older voters while the older party depends on the young is an irony of ironies. But it is one with a real sting since older voters vote at higher rates, so Republican don’t have this particular problem, but Democrats—the party presumably of inclusivity and fair representation of the population—do.

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