About that 16-year-old voting age
The fact that 16-year-olds are voting in today’s Scotland referendum was news to me, and I think of sufficient interest to warrant a post of its own.
I was surprised, but shouldn’t have been. It’s a logical extension of trends on the left that have been designed to increase their share of the vote by enfranchising more low information and easily-manipulated voters. As such, it makes perfect sense, and it’s no surprise that it is gaining favor across the pond, in countries that are even further along on the leftist path than we are.
This is apparently the first time 16-year-olds in Scotland have been able to vote, and if the outcome is tight enough they might be the ones to decide the election. The youth vote is widely perceived as favoring independence; that would make intuitive sense, since independence from their parents is generally a yearning of that age group. But no one really knows how the group will lean in the referendum, and at least one poll indicates they favor “no” to independence.
How did the 16-year-olds come to be included in the referendum? Apparently the Scottish Parliament made the decision, with the support of the more left-leaning parties and Scotland’s leader Alex Salmond, who favors independence and saw the youth vote as helpful in the fight to achieve it.
Is this what’s next for the US? Fortunately, it would require a lot more than a majority in Congress to change our voting rules at the national level and ban the prohibition of voting under 18; it requires an amendment to the Constitution. At the local level, however, the movement to extend the vote to below 18 has already begun, and has had some success.
The whole thing has a snowball effect. As more and more immature and poorly informed voters are enfranchised, they will make poorer and poorer decisions. And that, of course, is all part of the plan.
Oh brother, how nutty is that ???
I do think they have 17 yr old voting in Chicago but I may be wrong.
I favor raising the voting age to 25 and lowering the age to purchase alcohol to 18.
“If 71-year-old State Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) has his way, California would become the first state in the nation to open its voting booths to teenagers as young as 14.
Under a proposed amendment to the state’s already massive constitution, Vasconcellos’ mathematically-intensive proposal would grant 17-year-olds a full vote, 16-year-olds a half vote and 14-year-old a quarter vote in state elections beginning in 2006. California teens would not be eligible to vote in U.S. presidential or congressional elections, a move that would require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
There is precedent for Vasconcellos’ proposal in other nations. Austria, Germany and Israel allow teens as young as 16 to vote in some local elections.” http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/politicalsystem/a/teenvoteca.htm
I’d be on board for designating a single legal age of adulthood for voting, joining the military, drinking, smoking, available for inclusion in your parent’s health insurance, etc..
We know the Left would never embrace that, huh?
There was a 60’s movie called “Wild in the Streets” which had the voting age lowered and a youth candidate elected President. It’s been years since I saw it but I think it ended with a 10yo thinking about how things will be different when the voting age is lowered to 10.
The Left never quit, do they?
Fine, let 14 year olds vote. Just require all prospective voters to correctly answer the question, “Name the three branches of government”. Can’t answer it? Sorry, you don’t get to vote, whether you’re 15 or 50.
rickl,
I think I have mentioned this before, but I will do so again, that I favor a simple T or F test that must be answered with 100% correctness.
1. The sun revolves around the earth from east to west.
2. The United States of America was founded as a democracy, not a republic.
3. The first ten amendments, commonly known as the Bill of Rights, lists the privileges the government grants to the citizens of the United States.
4. The Second World War ended in 1946 with the defeat of Japan.
5. The laws passed by the United Nations become apart of bthe laws and regulations of the United States.
5.
Pandering.
My twin grand children just turned 18. I sent them some thoughts on the privileges and responsibilities of voting. I know they read them, and the boy seemed to take them to heart; the girl–maybe.
They are both intelligent and very good and accomplished students–especially the girl. If I may say so. On the other hand they have so much going on in their lives that I just don’t think that they are focused on issues and political personalities. They just don’t have the time or inclination; and that is just fine at this point.
On the other hand, there was no real reason to extend the vote to citizens who are busy just figuring out the transition to adulthood.
C’mon, rickl and parker — you know that requiring anybody to know anything before being allowed to vote is racist, don’t you?
Richard Saunders,
Color me ‘racist’ and islamophobic. I could care less. 😉
Richard Saunders:
Let alone being a net tax payer rather than a tax consumer.
Sixteen-year-olds voting in elections… What could possibly go wrong?
There is now scientific evidence that the human brain doesn’t fully mature until the approximate age of 25. That is the bare minimum I’d like to see as the voting age.
Geoffrey Brittain:
Was it California State Senator John Vasconcellos, or was it the “US Government Expert” at the web site you linked to, who was so ignorant of the U.S. Constitution that he thought a constitutional amendment would be required in order for California to lower its voting age for Federal elections?
Before the 26th amendment was adopted, voting age was completely up to the states, and it was 18 in Georgia and Kentucky, while it was 21 everywhere else. The 26th amendment prevents states from raising the voting age above 18 for Federal elections; there is nothing to stop from from lowering it.
Voting eligibility should not depend on biological age.
I favor (and have for some time) the following — but first, I *know* there are lots of kinks that have to be worked out and what-ifs to be ironed out. My suggestion is quarter-baked — not evn half-baked — but the idea is the *idea*, not the details (wherein the devil resides). Okay, here goes.
I favor (and have for some time) a voucher-voting system, whereby, for example: my Form 1040 income tax liability for 2012 gets placed on my voting voucher. Say it’s $2500 (without regard to how much I had had withheld). Then in 2014 I get to vote precisely $2500 worth of votes in 2014. Had my income tax liability been $5000, I’d get to vote twice as many votes, ’cause I’m footing twice the share of the tax collections.
But that favors the rich [one might shriek]. No, my dear, the rich pay hardly any income taxes, remember?
That way, those who foot the bill get to have the say, in direct proportion to their income tax outlay.
Oh yeah — all those people with no tax liability? Sorry, folks: become a tax*payer* and you get to vote.
“even”, not “evn” above
My qualifiers to vote.
1. 30 years old or
2. Have worked and earned a paycheck, for at least 5 consecutive years
3. Must not have lived with Mommy and Daddy for 5 years preceding their first vote.
4 Must never have sung Kum-By-Yah or chanted “Yes We can”…ever
5 Must not have earned a degree in Art History or Womyns studies
6 Prove that they have only viewed any MSNBC program merely by accident.
What most people are missing is the fact that 16 is the legal age in Scotland for a lot of things. See http://www.youngscot.org/info/200-what-can-you-do-at-what-age
At 16 you can:
Apply for your own home through your local council.
Buy wine, beer, cider or perry (i.e. Babycham), to drink in a restaurant only with a meal, but cannot buy it in a bar, off-licence or supermarket.
Stand for election to become a member of a Community Council in certain areas.
Join the armed forces, but not to train as an officer, you will also need parental consent if you are under the age of 18. You can apply from the age of 15 years 9 months.
===================
If you are old enough to stand for election and die for your country then you are certainly old enough to vote.
In my opinion 16-years old shouldn’t be allowed to vote but then I think there are a lot of people who shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
Scottish Law has remained in force since the Union – Scotland and England have different legal and education systems. So yes, the Scottish laws about age requirements differ from those in England. They go to University a year younger, at 17 (a combination of the different laws and different education systems).
Alex Salmond probably enabled the 16 year olds to vote because he thought they would all vote for independence. From interviews with school children of voting age, it seems that he miscalculated. Much ‘independence’ sentiment has been fuelled over the past 20 years by hatred of the Thatcher government, which, for instance, ran its pilot of the loathed ‘poll tax’ in Scotland. The Scots never forgave her for treating Scotland as a guinea pig. If however a person was born in 1998 they will have heard of these things from their parents but their vote is more likely to be conditioned by the future than the past. So enabling the 16 year olds to vote in this case probably helped to save the Union.
The vote for everyone!
According to the left you cannot hold even a 21 year old responsible for homicide because his brain is not fully enough developed to allow him a full appreciation of the consequences of his actions. Similarly, low IQ persons who commit criminal acts similarly are not to be held responsible. And of neither are course outright juveniles.
But we are supposed to offer ourselves on the leftists’ altar of self-sacrificial solidarity and mutuality even to the point of self-destruction because … well, because they say so.
sorry about the transposition …
“And neither are of course, …”