Passing the Baton

Love her or loathe her, there is one thing that Nikki Haley definitely gets right.

In her stump speeches, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador often refers to America needing a new generation of conservative leaders… and I for one couldn’t agree more.

Here are a few of my reasons…

1. At age 64, I do not have the energy that I did when I was 51 and ran for the U.S. House of Representatives. Could I still do a good job representing my district in Congress? You betcha! However, I doubt I will be able to answer in the affirmative in another 15 years, let alone 20. Simply put, octogenarians usually lack the strength, stamina, and mental acuity of someone 20 years their junior. Don’t believe me? Just compare the 61-year-old version of Joe Biden to the relic of a man he is today at age 81.

2. In 1970, there were roughly 110 million Americans of voting age. Today, there are more than 255 million. That statistic alone tells you that millions of young people have been added to the voting rolls and they want someone from their generation to represent them in elected office… whether it’s Congress or the White House. And yet, the 117th Congress was the third oldest in U.S. history with a median age of 58 compared to the median age of all Americans, which is 38. Whereas the House got marginally younger in the 118th Congress, the median age in the Senate remained at 64 years old, with more than half of all senators (54) being over the age of 65. Not good.

3. “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” So said Lord Acton, a prominent British historian of the 19th century. He was right then… and he is right now. For that reason alone, we need to adopt term limits for all federal officeholders so that they won’t be tempted to accumulate virtually unlimited power through their seniority and then become reluctant – or even refuse – to relinquish it as their skills diminish.

4. In the 4 x 400 meter relay, four different runners work together as a team. Each man or woman runs their leg of the race as quickly as possible, after which they pass the baton to the next runner. Four runners running at top speed always record a faster time than one runner pacing himself. Get the analogy?

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Hopefully, so will the Republican Party if it wishes to be the voice of the future and not an echo of the past.