Let’s be honest, it’s no secret that the November 2024 election is going to be one of the craziest yet. Not only because the election will likely be the same Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump political showdown as its predecessor in 2020, but also because both candidates will be another four years older. 

A substantial milestone compared to 2020 as Trump is 77 years old and Biden is 81 years old. Yet with our current President Biden going down in history as the oldest elected so far, one has to begin to wonder if these candidates really represent the best our country has to offer. 

In other words, if there is a minimum age limit of 35 to run for president, wouldn’t it be fitting to set a maximum age limit as well?

Especially when, astonishingly enough, retirement standards are already set in our society today well below the age of our current president. 

For example, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, a commercial airline is not allowed to hire pilots past the age of 65. According to the National Library of Medicine, the traditional physician retirement age is also 65.

Finally, according to a 2024 survey conducted by MassMutual, the average United States retirement age sits at an astonishingly low 62 years old. 

While taking these factors into consideration, it seems all these people come to the same realization once they reach a certain age. That their skills are dwindling, and it is time for them to swallow their pride and quit while they’re ahead. 

Under this same premise, how can we as a society admit that we don’t trust pilots and doctors with our lives past a certain age while willingly put our entire nation in the hands of someone whose age sits well past that? 

In a previous interview with MSNBC, First Lady Jill Biden stated her 81-year-old husband’s age is an asset. That with age comes wisdom. 

While there is indeed some truth to the statement that with age comes wisdom, surely there is an unexplored boundary separating clear wisdom from old age, just as much as the age boundary of 18 separating a child from an adult.

With the average inauguration age of all past U.S. presidents being just 55 years old according to the Pew Research Center, one has to wonder if the country just simply overlooked this factor when it came to our previous primary election cycles.

So, while many American citizens sit curious about the 2024 election and what the highly anticipated outcome will be, we as the editorial board believe the nation is missing the much bigger question entirely. 

The question being if these presidential candidates are even qualified enough to run our country in the first place.