The topic of a potential age limit for who can run for president has been very popular during the 2020 race. With both Joe Biden, 76 years old, and Bernie Sanders, 77 years old, running, either of them would be the oldest president ever elected after Donald Trump, who was 70 years old when he was inaugurated. 

Former president Jimmy Carter stated that he wished there was an age limit on the presidency, according to a CNN article. Carter said that the presidency required a lot of “mental fortitude” that older candidates might have lost. 

But any potential candidate’s health could suffer no matter what their age. Just because candidates are older, we tend to focus on the concern of a theoretical decline in their mental state, but it is not guaranteed to happen. 

President Woodrow Wilson suffered from a stroke at the age of 63, almost two decades younger than front runner Joe Biden, who has shown no concern over his age in regard to his ability to run the country. Illnesses, both physical and mental, can come at any time and limiting the age of the president would not stop them.

One way to ensure that whoever is elected president is fit to run the country is mandatory health screenings. Currently, there are no required health exams or psychological evaluations in any level of the United States government, which can be problematic. 

The issue of age affecting job performance, specifically in the White House, was brought up during the early stages of Trump’s presidency, which led to a psychiatric evaluation in 2017, after he was elected. The topic of mental health should not be an issue after a president has been elected. As citizens of the United States, we should not be concerned whether our leader is competent to run the country successfully. 

The president should be focused on doing their job, not on seeing health professionals to determine if there are unfit to run the country. It should be known before the election that the candidates on the ballot are mentally and physically capable of being the president for all four years of their term. 

Having each presidential candidate go through both mental and physical health screenings will decrease the need for an age limit because we will know that they are fit to lead our country. If an older candidate comes back positive for early signs of dementia, they can be removed from the race, eliminating the possibility that their health will decline while in office.

Placing an age limit on who can run for the president of the United States will not stop the threat of declining mental or physical health within the White House. It does not matter how old you are, illness can happen at any time to anyone. To ensure the president is fit for office, there should be required mental and physical exams for all candidates, guaranteeing that they will be able to successfully run the country and stay in office for all four years. 

Photo from LBJLibrary via Flickr