Average Age of a Representative in the House
Democracy or Gerontocracy
Is Congress getting older?
Sens. John McCain (left) and Carl Levin on December. 28, 2012, on Capitol Hill
Photograph by Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images.
The House of Representatives passed an agreement to preclude across-the-board tax increases on Tuesday. A majority of Firm Republicans opposed the mensurate, which had been negotiated by the Senate on Monday. Ohio Rep. Steven LaTourette told his colleagues, "Nosotros should non have a package put together by a agglomeration of sleep-deprived octogenarians on New Year's Eve." Are our legislators getting older?
Aye. The 111th Congress, which took office in 2009, was the oldest in U.S. history, with an boilerplate age of 57 in the Firm and 63 in the Senate. (The sitting 112thursday Congress is only slightly younger.) At the time, many reporters pointed out the creeping gray in the U.South. Capitol and speculated most the significance of changes in the ages of our representatives. Information technology's all-time not to read too much into the numbers, though. The average age in Congress has remained within a rather small range since World War II. The boilerplate age in the Senate was 59 in 1945, compared to 62 in 2011. The House has aged more substantially, with the average ascension from 53 in 1945 to 57 in 2011. Between those years, average age fluctuated irregularly.
Dips and surges in the age of our legislators probably have less to practise with our attitudes toward the elderly than with views about incumbents. The youngest Senate in contempo history took office in 1981, when Ronald Reagan's victory swept Republicans into the majority for the first time in almost xxx years and dropped the average historic period to less than 53. It should also be noted that median age tends to exist slightly more stable over fourth dimension than average age, peculiarly in the Senate: A scattering of octogenarians and nonagenarians among 100 can markedly influence the average. In the tape-breaking 111thursday Congress, for case, Robert Byrd began the term as Senate president pro tempore at the age of 91. When Byrd died, Daniel Inouye, then 85, causeless the function.
Americans used to be more than inclined toward youthful representation. In 1797, Congress seated its youngest-ever fellow member, 22-twelvemonth-old William Charles Cole Claiborne of Tennessee, fifty-fifty though he didn't encounter the constitutional age minimum. In 1869, the average age of members of Congress was simply 45, far younger than whatsoever Congress of the 20th century. Life expectancy probable had something to do with the 19th-century preponderance of younger men: The average American born in 1900 expected to alive only 49 years, compared to more than 78 today. More importantly, the House of Representatives was widely viewed equally an "up or out" institution in the 1800s, much like a modern police firm. Most members served 1 or ii terms, then either sought higher part or returned to private life. The average tenure in the Firm in 1860 was four years. It doubled to 8 years in 1920, every bit careerism took concord. Changes in Business firm rules made seniority increasingly important and provided a motivation for representatives to keep their seats. In addition, changes in ballot design immune voters to select a presidential candidate from one party and a senator or representative from another, making it more difficult to unseat an incumbent.
Congress is decidedly older than the populace it represents: Although Americans may serve in the House beginning at historic period 25, only ten percent of House members have been under the age of 40 in contempo years. Past comparison, 22 pct of the general population and xxx percent of registered voters are betwixt 25 and 39 years old. The average American is more than 20 years younger than the person who represents him or her in the House. Reformers occasionally try to alter this condition quo. During the 1970s, constitutional amendments mandating retirement from Congress at ages ranging from 65 to 75 were discussed, merely 20thursday-century Americans never embraced the idea of a congressional youth movement.
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Source: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/01/average-age-of-members-of-u-s-congress-are-our-senators-and-representatives-getting-older.html
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