The next generation

There’s a meme going around with the text “Old Europe, New Europe” picturing a haggard, aged Merkel next to the the young prime minister of Estonia.

The war on Europe’s edge is very much a generational conflict. The old guard of Europe, think Merkel and Berlusconi, were incredibly self-serving and short-sighted. Germany built up an industrial empire using cheap Russian gas, Berlusconi et al. were all too happy to let the Russian oligarch money flow in — all at the expanse of Europe’s future and security.

Russia is ruled by people in theirs 70s and older. The Ukrainian leadership is largely composed of people in their 40s.

23% of the American congress is over 70. The next presidential election could very well be fought between two men in their 80s.

I don’t think the answer isn’t across-the-board age discrimination. Working in tech, I see that the cult of youth certainly isn’t the answer. Instead, we need diversity. We need to start asking questions about how to achieve that.

Gerontocracy hasn’t been a good thing for Russia, Western Europe and the United States.