“Age is the modality in which class is lived in America today.” — Samuel Moyn

Yesterday we had 91-year-old Mordecai Kurz on the show. Tomorrow, it will be 84-year-old Sally Quinn. But today’s guest, the Yale legal historian Samuel Moyn, has a bit of a problem with old people. His new book, Gerontocracy in America, argues that the old folks are hoarding power and wealth in America. For Moyn, Dylan’s Sixties anthem of “Forever Young” has soured into today’s reality of “Forever Old.”

In some ways, it’s hard to argue with Moyn’s thesis. Donald Trump is the oldest elected US president in history. Congress has been ageing for decades — and several Democratic members died in the run-up to the One Big Beautiful Bill vote, thereby facilitating its passage. The progressive heroine Ruth Bader Ginsburg stayed on the Supreme Court through a pancreatic cancer diagnosis and died in office, handing the right a supermajority and the end of abortion rights. Clarence Thomas, the RBG of nutcase conservatism, is on track to become the longest-serving Supreme Court justice in US history. And then there’s that alte kaker Joe Biden, former dodder-in-chief, the only pol who gives Trump a youthful glow. Even Bob Dylan — who I saw in all his morbid brilliance in Berkeley last week (“but me, I’m still on the road”) — just celebrated his 85th birthday. Forever old, America. Happy 250th.

Five Takeaways

• What Is Gerontocracy? Not a problem with old people — a problem with the system. Structural overrepresentation of old people in power, structural disadvantaging of the young. Cognitive decline is real. “Age is the modality in which class is lived in America today.”

• The Congress, Courts, and Deaths That Passed the Bill. Trump: oldest elected US president. One member of Congress in their thirties. Several Democratic members died before the One Big Beautiful Bill vote, facilitating its passage. The gerontocracy is literally voting itself into power through death.

• The RBG Problem. Pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Stayed on the court. Died in 2020. Trump appointed Barrett. Abortion rights ended. Moyn: she was selfish. The system must not depend on individual virtue. Reform so selfish choices are no longer possible.

• The Framers Designed Gerontocracy In. Age minimums excluded 70% of the population. Senate named after Roman senatus: “old men.” Hamilton argued judges should serve until doddering. The gerontocracy is not an accident. It was designed.

• The Solutions. Vote at six (Runciman). Age limits on federal office. Mandatory retirement. Tax the large house you no longer need. ‘Forever Old’ for the paperback (Andrew’s suggestion; Moyn will credit him).

About the Guest

Samuel Moyn is the Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale and the author of Gerontocracy in America (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 16, 2026) and Humane, Not Enough, and The Last Utopia.

References

Gerontocracy in America by Samuel Moyn (FSG, June 16, 2026): us.macmillan.com/books/9780374607647/gerontocracyinamerica
Samuel Moyn, “The Old Guard,” Harper’s Magazine, May 2026

About Keen On America

Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.

Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow

Chapters:

00:00:31 Dylan, Kurz, and the problem with old people
00:02:03 What is gerontocracy?
00:02:48 Biden, Trump, and the ageing of Congress
00:08:22 The Supreme Court: RBG as cautionary tale
00:10:22 The framers designed gerontocracy in
00:20:00 Age is the modality in which class is lived
00:37:06 The solutions
00:39:12 Vote at six
00:41:00 ‘Forever Old’: the paperback