Too old? Younger voters who hold age against our incumbent president probably have Ruth Bader Ginsberg merch in their closets. Some probably supported Bernie Sanders’ candidacy. President Jimmy Carter stayed active for decades, both in international diplomacy and at home. Brits of all ages loved Queen Elizabeth II, who kept a full schedule well into her eighties. Yes, age brings decline. But we don’t all age at the same rate. Younger than President Biden, I couldn’t maintain his schedule of appointments and travel. Yet he rescued us from COVID (remember the press conference when President Trump told us to drink bleach?), restored NATO, improved our economy, and passed landmark legislation despite an intransigent House of Representatives.

No, I don’t like Biden’s bromance with Israel’s Netanyahu, or Arctic drilling. But MAGA’s chaotic governance is far worse. I remember the time before Roe when no abortions were legal. Women just about had to bring a marriage certificate to the doctor before he (fewer women were accepted into med school) would prescribe birth control pills. Women couldn’t get their own credit cards. Many jobs were for men only, and women’s work paid substantially less. Crimes against women, from harassment to rape, weren’t taken seriously. J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI spied on and arrested citizens at legal protests. Medicare didn’t exist but segregation did. Is this the world want to return to? If age is all that matters to voters, we will lose much of what we have gained over my lifetime.

Christine Hague

Weare