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The Atlantic

The Fairest Way to Keep Cognitively Declining People From Being Elected

The Atlantic
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81% Informative

Frida Ghitis : The presidency has no official restrictions on presidential candidates' age.

She says the country has an interest in ensuring that cognitively impaired people are not elected to office.

Ghitis says age-related mental decline is not the same for every person; age limits are arbitrary, vague, and easily manipulated.

In adults with at least college education, the first signs of cognitive impairment appear at an average age of 76.

In line with the age limits for boards at many corporations, I would propose 75 as the age cutoff.

Some argue that such a cutoff would exclude people who are mentally intact from providing valuable leadership to the country.