A recent newsletter on American history ran its weekly “Presidential Quiz,” asking its audience if it knew how old various U.S. Presidents were when inaugurated. The quiz, of course, was prompted by the ongoing presidential race pitting frontrunners and senior citizens Joseph Biden (81) against Donald Trump (77). If both receive their party’s nomination, whoever wins the next election will set the record for the oldest U.S. President at his inauguration.

For decades, most Americans have thought the nation’s Founding Fathers to be old white men. The idea that the country’s leading citizens during the Revolutionary War and early nationhood were elderly lies in the fact that their portraits usually showed them in powdered white wigs, the fashion of the time. In fact, the idea became part of American counterculture when U.S. currency began to be called “dead presidents,” with “old” being assumed.

However, history tells a different story. Across all of American history, the average age of a President at his first inauguration is only 55 years old. The age of Presidents upon their second inauguration is slightly higher, at 58. As for those old dead Presidents among the Founding Fathers, George Washington was the youngest among the first seven Presidents at his first inauguration: 57 years and just over two months. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Quincy Adams were also 57. James Monroe was 58. The oldsters were John Adams and Andrew Jackson, both 61 years old.

In contrast, for 140 years (from 1841 to 1981), William Henry Harrison, at age 68, was the oldest American President to be inaugurated. Ronald Reagan broke his record at his first inauguration at 69 years old. Trump one-upped him by being 70 when he took office in 2017, and Biden surpassed him by a wide margin in 2021 at 78 years old.

Recently, the American people appear to have chosen 80 years old as the cutoff point for their leaders, unconsciously echoing Moses’ words in Psalm 90:10:

The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

This choice can be seen in a new poll taken by the New York Times and Siena College. It found that about 61% of those polled said they somewhat or strongly agree with the statement that the 81-year-old Joseph Biden is “just too old” to be effective as President and Commander-in-Chief. Moreover, 59% of those who plan to vote for him in the upcoming election agree. Among all voters, 73% expressed the same opinion. His frequent gaffs and absent-mindedness in public situations do him no favors.

How old is “just too old” to hold public office? Trying to set a fixed age elicits cries of ageism among the social justice set. Of course, each person must be evaluated individually, but since people live longer these days, it is a legitimate concern.

Dementia among the older population is a growing worry. Alzheimer’s Disease International reports that 55 million people lived with dementia of some sort in 2020, and “this number will almost double every 20 years, reaching 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050.” It warns that every three seconds, someone on earth develops dementia.

The Alzheimer’s Association adds more bad news: Nearly 11% of Americans over 65 years old have Alzheimer’s dementia, with most of those (73%) being over 75. It is not just fogging senior citizens’ minds—it kills a third of them, more than breast and prostate cancers combined. It is catching up to heart disease as America’s leading cause of death.

The theme of these concerns seems to be that, though people live longer lives, cognitive health among the aged is not keeping up. What used to be called “senility” is affecting an increasing number of senior citizens, some of whom are in critical positions of power.

Wise Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 4:13 on this situation: “Better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more.” It parallels the secular proverb, “No fool like an old fool.” An old person—which the Bible colorfully equates with “the hoary [silver- or gray-haired] head” (KJV), described as “a crown of glory” (Proverbs 16:31)—has experience gained through many years of living, implying a fund of wisdom. But one with diminished faculties in a position of authority, who foolishly and stubbornly refuses counsel, can spell disaster for the people he leads.

Note Isaiah 3:4 in this regard: “I [God] will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.” Most commentators understand this verse to suggest immaturity, not necessarily youth. However, these days, when we face increasing dementia cases, it could also include old leaders with diminished decision-making capacity. In this context, leaders making immature, foolish decisions, whatever their physical age, is a curse from God, leading toward a nation’s downfall.

More than indicting these childlike rulers, this prophecy suggests that, in a free society where citizens choose their leaders at the ballot box, electing “an old fool” to a position of authority is an indictment of the whole nation. It implies that the people are not thinking clearly—that their judgment is questionable, too. It may also hint that the people choose someone like themselves to lead them, someone just as foolish and unreliable as they are.

As the world’s people age and seniors stay in authority longer than in the past, questions about their fitness in office will only increase. We can only hope that more elderly leaders will have the wisdom of experience to hand over the reins to their younger counterparts “before the difficult days come” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Sadly, Solomon ends the passage with, “‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher, ‘all is vanity.’”