Leaving ’Em on the Bench: a Study In -Ocracies

By DON ROLLINS

“A more important antidote to American democracy is American gerontocracy. The positions of eminence and authority in Congress are allotted in accordance with length of service, regardless of quality.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

Question: Is it (a) just a youthful fit of generational sturm and drang, or (b) do politically active Gen Zs and Millennials have it dead right when they assert the America they’re inheriting is a land of -ocracies?

The answer is B. Definitely B. Here’s why.

-Ocracies (Greek in origin) are at their essence systems for governing, for meting out worth and power: Theocracies distribute power according to beliefs or values; Aristocracies, to bloodlines or privilege. -ocracies exist to maintain the governing’s priorities.

But there is nothing so wordy or theoretical about the -ocracies many Millennials (and older) Zs are calling to account. Climate change is no longer an abstract. Jan. 6 really happened. And six unhinged, unelected justices just invoked an Antebellum-era, “states’ rights” rationale to overturn Roe. It’s time to name the -ocracies that have wrought these and other alarming realities.

Three appear most often: Plutocracy, meritocracy and gerontocracy.

Despite the the temporary, peak-COVID rise in income/wealth for the bottom half of Americans, the wealth/income gap confronting Americans age 18-42 remains daunting, driving all manner of negative human and economic outcomes. Salt in that age cohort’s wounds, over half the members of Congress elected to do their bidding are millionaires, with $1 million as the net mean. This longstanding plutocratic system all but guarantees only the deep-pocketed need run for, let alone expect to win office. Given most Zs and Millennials can expect to be even more cash strapped than their parents and grandparents, plutocracy will never not be a major factor in their lives.

Meritocracy is a perennial favorite of conservative economists. Let the market determine a person or whole vocation’s worth, then compensate them accordingly - a swell philosophy if the goal is to maintain the aforementioned wealth gap, reward the designated winners and encourage what author and educator Daniel Markovits calls “...a mechanism for transferring wealth from one generation to the next.”

Balance such traditional meritocracy with literature on progressive Millennials and older Gen Zs rejecting defining self per social or work status. If the surveys are accurate, many Older Zs and Millennials are challenging moral and political assumptions about vocational “fitness” for careers, including high office, where their world view is much needed.

Of all the -ocracies that block these generations’ access to power and recognition, gerontocracy may be the most formidable and entrenched. Ageism, so often thought of as applying to upper ranges only, was written into the constitution of the land by men with a life expectancy of 50. (Quick civics refresher, the minimum ages are: House (25), Senate (30) and president (35).)

The fallout of this predilection for older politicians is evident. Assuming no second term, Biden will be 82 upon leaving office. Half the Senate are 65 and up. The average age in the House is 60, and four of the Supremes now qualify for Medicare. Meanwhile, the average age for the American population is just under 40.

Obviously “Late” Millennials and “early” Zs remain some of the most underutilized resources in America. And they know it.

It’s tempting, even comforting for the rest of us to mute the voices coming from places they’ve been denied. Slinging mud across age wealth brackets, influence brackets and age brackets is nothing new, we say. Wisdom and institutional memory are crucial, we say. The reins of power cannot be passed in such times, we say.

But mixing metaphors yet again, that’s like playing for a championship. And leaving some of your best players on the bench.

Don Rollins is a Unitarian Universalist minister living in Hendersonville, N.C. Email donaldlrollins@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, September 1, 2022

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