Can someone help me out here? I’ve been following the Presidential primaries and a thought occurred to me. How come the average national age of retirement is 65 years old and yet we allow people over 65 to run for President? I don’t really get this. John McCain is 71. Ronald Reagan took office at 70. I know people who need to step down from public company boards at 72 because they’ve reached the age cap. So how’s it possible that our corporations have age limits, but our government doesn’t. And what’s actually the right thing here?

According to Weird Presidential Trivia, the average age of US Presidents when they take office is 54. According to the YMCA Retirement Fund, men retire on average at 62. Strangely, this doesn’t really coincide with the newly adjusted social security benefit eligibility rules (women, by the way, retire at 61) which states that full retirement is between 65 and 67 years based on when you were born. The retirement age for people born after 1960 is now 67.

According to these calculations, John McCain, born in 1936, hit retirement at 65 and currently is eligible to draw social security. And yet, he’s running for President. McCain would be forced to retire from the Post Office, but he can run the country. Help me out.

Now I’m no age-ist. I say let the best man or woman for the job win! But doesn’t this retirement age thing seem hypocriphal? Especially for those who are forced into retirement even though they are completely capable of working and contributing in the workforce. I don’t get it. John McCain may be the healthiest 71 year old on the planet. This isn’t about John McCain. It’s about these crazy rules we live by. I don’t find forced retirement to be very social age. But what do I know. If anyone has any explanations, please feel free to share.