ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE.

I've been calling attention.  "When these people say 'Our Democracy,' try hard not to think of 'Our Gerontocracy.'"

And calling attention.

The world's oldest valley girl is vice-president, and that puts the party of Silent Generation governance in a bad place.  "At 28 percent approval, say goodbye to Kamala Harris being Plan B to an aging Biden."  That makes it all the more important to keep the de jure president, who is in his late seventies, alive.

Well, there was an unintended double entendre with that "plan B," wasn't there?

Early in 2024, though, all I could do was again call attention.  "We have little choice but to undermine them with mockery."

Losing elections, though, has the effect of concentrating the mind.

The U.S. government is on the precipice of a changing of the guard, as a new generation of leaders and operators prepare to take power in Washington while the country's eldest politicos exit stage left.

Of course, the generational change is happening even as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to reclaim his position as the oldest president to enter office on January 20, 2025. Trump first earned the title when he took office in 2017 at 70. President Joe Biden beat Trump's record in 2020 when he was sworn in at 78. When next month's inauguration rolls around, Trump will be five months older than Biden was when he was sworn in.

But don't let Trump's senior status fool you. His incoming administration include a string of relative youngsters who will be setting their own records when they sweep into power next year.

At 40, JD Vance will be the third-youngest vice president. Karoline Leavitt will become the youngest press secretary in U.S. history, at just 27. And the "big four" of Trump's cabinet—secretary of state, defense secretary, attorney general and treasury secretary—if confirmed, will have the youngest average age of the last five administrations at 54. (The average age of the "big four" during the administrations of Biden, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and even Trump's first term was somewhere in their 60s.  Barack Obama's top cabinet officials averaged roughly 57 years of age.)

"As a certifiable 'Boomer,' from squarely in the center of that cohort's time span, it hurts a bit to see my peers fading from the political scene," Barbara Perry, presidential historian and J. Wilson Newman professor of governance at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, told Newsweek.

"But as President Kennedy declared in his inaugural address: 'The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans...' Except for the president-elect who hails from the very first year of the post-WW II Baby Boom."

Recall that Jack Kennedy was taking the torch from the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and his was the first of multiple presidencies filled by veterans of the War, with PT-109 crews marching in 1961 and naval aviators who also served under Nimitz and Halsey marching in 1989.  From 1993 on the inaugurals have featured Baby Boom presidents, many with little military experience.

Eight years ago, almost to the day, we noted,

Strauss and Howe's Generations, page 11, had this to say about the incoming president.  "[Early Baby Boomers] may feel some disappointment in the Dan Quayles and Donald Trumps who have been among your first agemates to climb life's pyramid, along with some danger in the prospect of Boomer Presidents and Boomer-led Congresses farther down the road."  Here we are, a quarter-century on, with Mr Trump about to be sworn in, and the Senate leadership and the House Democrat leadership older still, albeit with younger Republicans leading the House majority.  And the authors used Mr Trump as prototype for the earlier Boomers generally, page 303.   "Like Donald Trump, a prototype Boomer sees himself capable of becoming a titan of whatever world he chooses fully to inhabit  -- providing cover for personal disappointments or (as a Boomer might put it) "deferred" ambitions.

The Democrats were still hoping to ride that "coalition of the ascendant" to national office, but with the kids as voters, not as future leaders.  The Republicans, on the other hand, understood the logic of "draft a quarterback when you don't need a quarterback."

Over the last decade or so, the federal government has earned a reputation as being something of a gerontocracy, with power concentrated among a group of elders significantly older than the majority of the adult population. Decisions from aging officeholders of both parties to hold onto their posts has drawn scrutiny in recent years and raised questions about whether they have the mental acuity or fresh ideas needed to lead the country.

The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the late Senator Dianne Feinstein both faced calls to resign in their final years. Ginsberg, who died at 87, and Feinstein, who died at 90, were still serving in their positions up until the time of their death.  Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history, also drew controversy after the then 81-year-old froze in multiple public appearances last year that prompted concerns of cognitive decline. Seven months later, he announced he would step down from his leadership role.

Unfortunately, none of those officials gave much thought to developing their successors. Worse, the "fresh idea" that would be best for the country is "the government that governs least governs best."  Has any ruling class voluntarily abdicated its powers?