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Democrats are openly pushing an audacious proposal to force federal public servants out at 75, a scheme former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel announced this week with the flippant line, “You’re 75 years old: done.” What was framed as a reform pitch is plainly a political power play to exclude outspoken conservatives and to re-shape who gets to hold authority in Washington. This is not reform — it is a naked attempt by elites to pick winners and losers in our republic.
Make no mistake: Emanuel’s plan would have real, immediate targets — it would have made President Trump ineligible to continue serving and would have barred other aging leaders from the ballot, while conveniently being touted by the same people who say only the voters should decide leadership. The selective indignation smells of partisan gamesmanship; if the left gets to disqualify leaders by age, they will weaponize the rule whenever it suits their politics. Voters, not technocrats in think tanks, should set the terms of public service.
There are already grassroots moves to test age limits elsewhere, including a North Dakota ballot initiative that would bar candidates who would turn 81 during their term — a measure that legal scholars warn brushes up against a 1995 Supreme Court ruling that states cannot add qualifications beyond those spelled out in the Constitution. If Democrats truly cared about rule-of-law and the Constitution, they would stop proposing band-aid fixes that invite years of litigation and further judicial activism. This country needs respect for the Constitution, not tossed-aside principles when it’s politically convenient.
The hypocrisy is rich: Emanuel himself acknowledged he’d be affected by the rule and said it should apply to him, but Americans remember how often the left demands exceptions for its own. Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are older and experienced, and age alone is no measure of ability or dedication to the nation. If the left’s answer to perceived elder incompetence is sweeping bans, then they are admitting they prefer rule by centralized elites rather than persuasion at the ballot box.
Fox News’ Karl Rove joined America’s Newsroom to warn viewers that this kind of proposal is part of a broader power grab that will be a central argument in the coming midterm fights. Conservatives should listen: the midterms are not just about one bill or one headline, they’re about whether Americans will tolerate elites arrogating authority to themselves. This is the moment for patriots who believe in limited government and the right of citizens to choose their leaders to mobilize and make their voices heard.
Proponents point to other democracies where judges or unelected officials have retirement ages, but those systems are not the same as imposing caps on elected leaders who answer directly to voters. Turning elections into a seniors-only commissioning office risks freezing out experience and handing the keys to faceless committees or party bosses who think they know better. America’s strength has always been letting citizens decide their fate at the ballot box, not letting anointed insiders redraw the rules mid-game.
This proposal reveals a contempt for the judgment of ordinary Americans and a preference for top-down fixes from Washington elites. Conservatives should cast this proposal for what it is: a cynical attempt to engineer outcomes rather than win them at the ballot box. The answer to elder leadership concerns is transparency, accountability and robust elections — not elite-imposed retirement decrees.
Hardworking Americans should reject any scheme that substitutes the will of the people with the whims of an elite few. In the weeks ahead, voters must remind Washington that representative government means respect for the voter’s decision, not a revolving-door of fashionable mandates. Stand up, show up, and defend the Constitution from those who would bend it to their partisan purposes.
