We are the lens through which we understand the universe. Resa Aslan as quoted in a New Yorker Briefly Noted review of God read while standing at the kitchen counter drinking my cherry juice for gout.

Several times now, I’ve been berated for being ageist, mostly by old people who love Bernie, when I say he should not be our candidate in 2020 (if he were the only progressive running, I would vote for him, but I hope he will back somebody much younger).  Recently Vern Smith said I didn’t know that common sense and decency had a shelf life, and I thought but that’s not the problem, the problem is…and that’s where I ran into my problem. How to explain that Bernie is too old to be president? I want to quickly add that, of course, Hillary is too old too, so is Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, and, extra of course, so is Donald Trump. Not physically or, even mentally too old, but culturally too old. In a way, it is very simple, Bernie is out of it, just like I am, just like anybody is who complains about kids being on their cell phones too much, just like our grandparents were. I loved my grandparents and they were very influential in my life but they were from a different era, they came here before the last century and called a car “the machine”.  In all four cases above, I do not think the problem is that they are not vigorous, they just are products of a different time. They do not see the same solutions that are visible to people who were born into and grew up in a world closer to the world as it is today. It is not a coincidence or an anomaly that the titans of Silicon Valley are all young. I think the Indians are right – I don’t know if it is the real First Americans or just the Indians in the movies but, either way, the point holds – the Chief should be young and the Elders should be trusted advisors.