The Age of Candidacy (Revised)

Jenness was below the legal Age of Candidacy when she ran for president.

The Age of Candidacy is the minimum age at which a person can legally qualify to hold certain elected government offices. Upon reaching the legal age of “adulthood”, one is seen as being able to handle the duties and responsibilities along with the stress that come with holding such governmental office.  The law or set age for candidacy can be seen in written detail in The United States’ Constitution where there are the minimum ages set for the President, Senators and state Representatives.  This idea of setting the age for candidacy can be traced all the way back to 180 BCE which was a part of Roman law dealing with the senatorial magistrates.

This type of ageism defines what it is to be seen as “mature” in society and ultimately places adults above adolescents. This blatant discrimination based on age seen throughout history is seen as unjust and unfair especially to youth rights group; some unqualified youth have even ran for office in protest of this age requirement. On the other hand, setting an age for candidacy is seen as a must because young people, in general, lack the practical experience and understanding along with the maturity needed for such elected offices; lacking such characteristics may result in ineffectively or unsuccessfully running their  constituency.  At the end of the day, the age of candidacy deals with the age of adulthood and the maturity that supposedly comes along with coming of age but is there a literal relationship between psychological maturity and one’s age?  

  I, personally, am excluded from running for high level government offices like the President or a Senator and even state Representatives along with most local offices in the state of Georgia because the minimum age for local offices is usually twenty-five years old in the southern state of Georgia.