I can’t help but notice that one thing most of our prominent political leadership have in common is their seniority.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Anthony Fauci, and Chuck Schumer are all 70 or older. With the exception of President Trump, it has also been years, if ever, that these leaders were in the field, on the job, close to the private sector, or even close to their areas of expertise. (This just adds to the Baby Boomer reputation of not letting go and making way for the next generation of leaders.)

Industries and technology evolve and move much faster than ever before. Things change quickly, like never before, and you have to either keep a hand in or work much harder to keep up with those evolutions.

During some of the Senate interviews with the likes of Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey, it was often painful to watch some of the Senators betray how little they know about the current state of our tech culture. Even when you’re in the industry, it’s difficult to keep up. (Even Donald Trump, with his active Twitter account, didn’t really understand the details and nuance of Section 230 and just how powerful our big tech companies really are.)

Unfortunately, it’s deeply woven into the fabric of society and much too important to leave in the hands of people who are completely out of touch. Likewise, with these leaders so far removed from how most Americans are living their life, they can no longer be counted on to be making decisions that will do the greatest good for the largest number of people.

Of course, on the flip side, you also need people who’ve had enough life experience and gathered enough perspective and wisdom to empathize with the majority of Americans and make decisions and generate ideas based on that experience. The longer you live, the more you realize how much you didn’t know when you were 25, 30, or even 40.

In addition, you would have been educated before ideas like Critical Race Theory took hold and taught way too many of our American children how to self-loathe, hate America, and be offended by everything.

To effectively represent Americans, you need to be young enough to have had some experience with just how much tech is capable of doing while being old enough to have perspective and wisdom. (There are exceptions, of course, but speaking in general terms…)

Seems like 51 is the sweet spot…