Overview
The United States was founded on the promise of generational renovation, but it has become an increasingly febrile country of old men. Even as we’ve debated President Biden’s infirmities and President Trump’s erratic behavior, we’ve neglected the bigger problem before us: a massive accumulation of power and wealth by the old, and the curtailment of the prospects of the young. In Gerontocracy in America, the historian and social critic Samuel Moyn offers a piercing diagnosis of our growing age divide and its consequences. In recent years, the pay gap between workers over sixty-five and under thirty-five has grown by 60 percent, while the average age of our political and business leaders and voters has skyrocketed: in 2024, the median age of presidential primary voters reached sixty-five. Meanwhile, the elderly predominantly fund campaigns and dominate political agendas, often with the intent to block any challenges to their status. They know well that the American economy and tax system are rigged on their behalf, geared to sheltering financial and housing assets and sustaining their primacy.
It doesn’t need to be this way. With audacity and imagination, Moyn shows how elder power can be dismantled. An increase in public retirement benefits would enable the enforcement of mandatory retirement ages—and the early transfer of assets between generations. And in the political realm, we could empower young voters by increasing the weight of their votes and other means. In such a world, the elderly themselves would be freed from power games to confront the existential opportunities of aging, while the young would be able to start out in life with the resources, opportunities, and unobstructed paths they deserve.
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