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Keep it the same. Are you really more mature at 21 than 18? I was probably less mature after going to college a couple years. I feel like you don't really grow up until you are in the real world, but that is going to be different for each person.
Does it matter? Young people do not vote anyway.
Young folks do vote.
Gerrymandering isn't paying the dividends it once did for the Republican party. Since young people vote, in general, for Democrats during presidential years, they want to end their voting rights. Well some on the right do.
They don't see it that way. The way they trick their minds into supporting that is by saying, "we are always right, and our position is so good, obviously if you vote against us surely you can't make a competent vote. "
Instead, the GOP should realize the world has changed, and the moral compass is aimed a little more left.
If Republicans voted to repeal marijuana prohibition, support gay marriage, and put forward a path to citizenship, I doubt they'd lose an election when fighting this disaster of a democratic party. But sadly, they feel beholden to a religious right that's dying every year.
One more thing for those who think voting should be restricted. A government that doesn't represent the will of the governed will not long stand.
Let the majority vote. If they don't like your ideas, get new ones. Doesn't mean you have to change your principles, but people don't like your ideas when they don't vote for you.
70% of Americans want 4 things.
1. Save social security for all people, future and present retirees
2. Save medicare for all people, future and present retirees.
3. Cut defense spending a lot
4. Raise taxes on the super rich to make up the difference.
Work within those confines, or keep losing elections. Goes for both parties
I would argue that grandparents voting in this technological world are just as misinformed, if not more so then their grandkids
That's an argument for lowering the voting age, not keeping it as is. I tend to agree with that sentiment - I think it's ridiculous to believe that a senile 80 or 90 year old who knows nothing about politics is competent enough to have the right to vote, but an informed and politically engaged 10 or 12 year old is not competent to vote, yet that is what the current legal system and voting ages in general presume. At any rate competence is only roughly correlated with age, and good luck if you want to measure competence at a voting booth, because not only is competence difficult to measure, but government abuse of the standards to serve its own interests is certain to occur (c.f. Jim Crow).
My position is that everyone that has to live under the laws on a daily basis (i.e. living there, not just passing through) should have an equal voice, however small, in determining what those laws are, so the voting age should be eliminated, a position I call "birthright voting". That doesn't mean I want the pacifier set to go out and vote, but rather a person should vote as soon as they believe they are ready; for some this will occur before age 10, and for others that time will never come. I believe that a person should abstain from voting unless/until he/she understands the candidates' backgrounds and issue positions as well as the office they are running for, but that's good advice for anyone, not just children and youth. There are legions of adults out there who could use an education on those topics.
In any event, it would be more sensible to inculcate a habit of voting when youth are still "in the nest" and with their original community, as opposed to one of the most turbulent times of their lives (age 18-22). 14 would probably be best for this purpose, since then every 18-year-old will have had the opportunity to vote in at least one Presidential election. 16 may be a more politically palatable number, considering the obvious similarities between 16 and 18 year olds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Memphis1979
Since young people vote, in general, for Democrats during presidential years, they want to end their voting rights. Well some on the right do.
In all fairness, it's not as if it's anything new - there have always been a lot of people on the right opposed to the expansion of voting rights.
I would say raise it to age 25. Young-and-dumb kids should have no business voting. When people are young, they usually have a naive outlook on life. They wanna "save the world" and other such nonsense. You can't expect people with such an idealistic outlook to make rational decisions when it comes to voting.
Nothing wrong with wanting to save the world. Let people vote the way they want, for their own reasons. And if kids under the age of 25 are dumb then they have no business going to war do they.
Gerrymandering isn't paying the dividends it once did for the Republican party. Since young people vote, in general, for Democrats during presidential years, they want to end their voting rights. Well some on the right do.
They don't see it that way. The way they trick their minds into supporting that is by saying, "we are always right, and our position is so good, obviously if you vote against us surely you can't make a competent vote. "
Instead, the GOP should realize the world has changed, and the moral compass is aimed a little more left.
If Republicans voted to repeal marijuana prohibition, support gay marriage, and put forward a path to citizenship, I doubt they'd lose an election when fighting this disaster of a democratic party. But sadly, they feel beholden to a religious right that's dying every year.
Hey dude, are you acting as if the Democrats don't gerrymander? We have just as much a right to screw the Democrats out of their seats as they do to our party in the states that they control.
I believe we need to do two things. One, decide which age is considered a responsible age, because right now someone can vote for the president and die for their country at age 18, but isn't trusted to have a drink for another 3 years.
Two, create a means that would only allow those individuals who actually have a freaking clue as to what is going on to have a vote. I don't have a ready answer, but I am tired of elections being decided more along the lines of American Idol and less along the lines of what is best for the United States.
Hey dude, are you acting as if the Democrats don't gerrymander? We have just as much a right to screw the Democrats out of their seats as they do to our party in the states that they control.
How about people worry about leading and working for their voters instead of fixing elections. Regardless of parties
I do love Costco, but I am against changing the Constitution for frivolous reasons, especially to take folks rights away, leave it where it is.
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