No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years …

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years …

No person [...] shall be eligible to the Office of President [...] who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years …

—Articles Ones and Two of the United States Constitution

The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. …

—Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution

I’ve thought before about the conflict between these two sections of the same document. About how a 23-year-old who is afforded the right to vote, to work (and the responsibility to pay taxes), to enter into contracts, to fight and die for his country, is barred from serving in Congress. About how a citizen who believes a 28-year-old is the best candidate for Senate is prevented from voting for her.

I was reminded today when browsing the Swedish Pirate Party’s list of candidates for European Parliament. The second candidate on their list is younger than I am. A few candidates were born in the 1990s.

Any time the law sets an age-based restriction for an activity, the number will be controversial: Why not a year earlier or a year later? Thus we have controversies in the U.S. about the voting age, the drinking age, and the age of consent. But I’ve never seen any public dialogue about the minimum age to serve in federal elected office.

So let me say it: To set an age of eligibility for public office other than the voting age is hypocritical, discriminatory, and anti-democratic.

FYI:

• The current youngest member of the House of Representatives is Aaron Schock of Illinois, elected last year at age 28 — the first member of Congress born in the 1980s.
• The current youngest member of the Senate is Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, appointed this year at age 42.
• The current youngest member of the European Parliament appears to be Dimitar Stoyanov of Bulgaria, elected in 2007 at age 24.
• A handful of past Representatives and Senators entered office before the eligible age: Jed Johnson, Jr. of Oklahoma (House, 24); William Charles Cole Claiborne of Tennessee (House, 22); John Eaton of Tennessee (Senate, 28); Armistead Thomson Mason of Virginia (Senate, 29); and Henry Clay of Kentucky (Senate, 29). Rush D. Holt, Sr. of West Virginia was elected at age 29 but waited until his 30th birthday to take the oath of office.