SENIOR MOMENTS

The Scientific Method

Gerontophobia is an irrational or excessive fear of old age, the elderly, or the process of aging. It can also refer to disdain or aversion towards older people. The word comes from the Greek words gerōn, meaning "old man", and phobos, meaning "fear".

The Republican Party has been pitting generations against each other as long as I can remember. The folklore has been that old folks have stealing young folks' future ala jack and the beanstalk. "They sold our life's savings for a couple of beans." This is only one aspect of generational warfare. Consider that attacks on youth culture. When I was a kid, to the conservative preachers on the radio, rock n roll was the Devil's music. Stations would not play "race" music, unless it was covered by someone "acceptable" like Pat Boone. How can we forget his version of Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti."

The Republican Study Group and now the Heritage Project 2025 have plans to "save" retirement benefits. Cato and Heritage, the Manhattan Institute, Hoover Institution and many others are funded by people who pay proportionally less than most of us wage earners in FICA taxes and they propose cuts, if not "sunset" elimination of many benefits programs. As president, Trump tried and failed to cut benefits drastically. Some Republicans wanted to replace the entire system. See Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Trump, House Republican Cuts to SSI Would Harm Children With Disabilities, Sept. 18, 2017, Kathleen Romig and Guillermo Herrera. https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/trump-house-republican-cuts-to-ssi-would-harm-children-with-disabilities

“The Trump proposal would cut SSI by more than $8 billion over the next decade, shrinking benefits for roughly a quarter of a million children with disabilities by between 38 and 66 percent. It would also increase SSI’s administrative costs and improper payments”.

Meanwhile, after Biden's poor debate performance, there is a media frenzy over whether he is "farblonget." a technical term associated with senility. I am not a scientist, but I used to hear disability cases and hospice Medicare cases and my wife and I took a course on evolutionary biology. Besides the many psychometric and biofeedback tests that may be administered, an evaluation of the respective telomeres of the candidates might be helpful, A telomere is a region of repetitive DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome. Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes from becoming frayed or tangled. Each time a cell divides, the telomeres become slightly shorter.

I admit I am a "yellow dog" Democrat, but in fairness, if an evaluation is necessary, a complete evaluation should be done. I'd add lie detectors and an MMPI. An evaluation of the telomeres should not be dispositive, but could be factors. I’d call a gerontologist to perform an examination and monitor the testing.

I personally do not think that Trump is fit to stand trial, let alone to be a candidate for any office. However, fair is fair. If the issue is whether Biden is farblonget, both candidates should be evaluated.