208
Missouri teens want to lower the voting age to 16 in local and school elections
(news.stlpublicradio.org)
this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023
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Politics
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I agree. Whatever the age is, we need to afford one the full suite of adult privileges. If we want it to be 16, okay, fine. Then we must allow them to drink, gamble, have sex, buy a house, join the military and get deployed overseas. And they must be accountable for their actions, so they must be tried as adults. Every time.
The reason the system is so confusing right now is that laws are written for convenience and political gain. For example, Democrats in the US are currently pushing for younger people to have the right to vote because they will gain a political advantage. I'm only on board with ideological consistency. It's all or nothing. Define the age of adulthood and provide all privileges.
That's not how learning works. A graduated system allows people to gradually take on responsibility. Going from a total child to full adult is too much of a shock. It's bad enough as is, with kids having a hard time "adulting."
If there were to be a graduated system then voting would be the very last thing to bequeath. Deciding the fate of a nation carries far more responsibility than anything else I described.
I mean... that's basically how it is now, excluding drinking. I'd rather they learn to vote before legally drinking.
Voting comes first right now. If there were to be a graduated system then voting should be the very last thing to bequeath. Deciding the fate of a nation carries far more responsibility than drinking. Best they learn to handle their liquor before deciding whether the nation should go to war.
i don't think this is really accurate. Democrats broadly don't care about lowering the voting age and it's not a signature plank for them--at most it's an incidental part of voting rights. mostly, the people pushing this are youth activists who also happen to be Democrats because young people are overwhelmingly a Democratic constituency.
They're against it because they know young people won't vote for old people. Why would you hamstring yourself like that?
I'm all for it because it will cause the parties to favor more youthful people. Yes, I'm an ageist when it comes to politicians and for good reasons.
1.You can't make sound decisions for the future if you won't be around to suffer the consequences of your actions.