<p>Mitch McConnell’s “extended absence” (let’s call it that) from the Senate has drawn attention to the fact that the average age of American lawmakers has been skyrocketing. Is it time to talk about mandatory retirement ages?</p><br><p>Guest: Sam Moyn, author of <a href="https://books.apple.com/us/book/gerontocracy-in-america/id6752571351?itscg=30200&itsct=books_box_link&mttnsubad=6752571351&at=1000l38Mz&ct=What-Next" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Gerontocracy in America</em></a>, Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University.</p><br><p>Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at<a href="http://slate.com/whatnextplus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> slate.com/whatnextplus</a> to get access wherever you listen.</p><br><p>Podcast production by Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeline Thames-Ducharme and Patrick Fort.</p><br><p>Paige Osburn is the senior supervising producer of What Next and What Next TBD.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
