Sunday, January 13, 2008
Just how old do you have to be to put an X in a box properly?
As much as I may hate Gordon Brown, his right-hand woman seems to have her head screwed on straight on at least one issue. In an astounding move toward acceptance of the radical notion that human beings under the age of eighteen are actually people, Harriet Harmon, deputy leader of Britain's Labour Party, has suggested that the voting age in the UK might be lowered to 16 in an effort to combat political disengagement among young Britons.
I've been saying for a long time that one of the biggest problems with our political system is that we teach kids about what it means to be a citizen, tell them to get involved, go on and on about how important it is for the people to be a part of their government, and yet at the same time we tell them they're too stupid to participate in the political process. And at eighteen, what they've learned about politics is hypocrisy, and that they really have none of the political rights they've been told about for so many years. For the formative years of their lives, people have no rights, and that's what they learn, that's what they internalize. So what happens when they finally do have those rights? Many don't exercise them, don't understand what they mean, and most disturbingly, don't care when someone tries to take them away.
So I say, lower the voting age to 16. Heck, lower it to 14! Many will say that's too young to understand what's going on, but that's a totally fallacious argument; fifteen-year-olds who aren't interested in politics, just like fifty-year-olds who aren't interested, simply won't vote. And the number of ignorant teenagers we'd be unleashing on our polling places every other year is nothing compared to the number of ignorant adults who are already there.
Therefore, I'd like to offer a big "congratulations" to the Labour Party for considering a move toward liberating the last unspoken-for minority in the democratic world: the young. Let's hope we see such forward thinking continue.
I've been saying for a long time that one of the biggest problems with our political system is that we teach kids about what it means to be a citizen, tell them to get involved, go on and on about how important it is for the people to be a part of their government, and yet at the same time we tell them they're too stupid to participate in the political process. And at eighteen, what they've learned about politics is hypocrisy, and that they really have none of the political rights they've been told about for so many years. For the formative years of their lives, people have no rights, and that's what they learn, that's what they internalize. So what happens when they finally do have those rights? Many don't exercise them, don't understand what they mean, and most disturbingly, don't care when someone tries to take them away.
So I say, lower the voting age to 16. Heck, lower it to 14! Many will say that's too young to understand what's going on, but that's a totally fallacious argument; fifteen-year-olds who aren't interested in politics, just like fifty-year-olds who aren't interested, simply won't vote. And the number of ignorant teenagers we'd be unleashing on our polling places every other year is nothing compared to the number of ignorant adults who are already there.
Therefore, I'd like to offer a big "congratulations" to the Labour Party for considering a move toward liberating the last unspoken-for minority in the democratic world: the young. Let's hope we see such forward thinking continue.
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Good morning, JB.
With all the liberal teachers in public schools these days I have to disagree. Most conservatives I know were liberals when they were young, including myself. Many children are now graduating from High School totally brainwashed to thinking America is the problem with the world. Personally, I'd rather they reach an age where they are able to truly think logically for themselves before they are allowed to vote. I've read many scientific articles that claim the human brain is not fully developed until a person reaches their twenties. The teenage brain is not the same as an adult brain. Here's one example:
http://www.actforyouth.net/documents/may02factsheetadolbraindev.pdf
With all the liberal teachers in public schools these days I have to disagree. Most conservatives I know were liberals when they were young, including myself. Many children are now graduating from High School totally brainwashed to thinking America is the problem with the world. Personally, I'd rather they reach an age where they are able to truly think logically for themselves before they are allowed to vote. I've read many scientific articles that claim the human brain is not fully developed until a person reaches their twenties. The teenage brain is not the same as an adult brain. Here's one example:
http://www.actforyouth.net/documents/may02factsheetadolbraindev.pdf
Gayle, I'm afraid there are two logical fallacies in saying that teenagers should not be allowed to vote because their brains are not the same as adults': first, no two adult brains are alike, and second, we still allow people to vote whose brains are deteriorating with age. Unless you favor preventing those OVER a certain age from voting as well, you can't really use this as an excuse to exclude youth.
And yes, I understand that many teens are the victims of attempted brainwashing. However, it's my belief that they are willing to think for themselves and will do so if they feel like someone cares.
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And yes, I understand that many teens are the victims of attempted brainwashing. However, it's my belief that they are willing to think for themselves and will do so if they feel like someone cares.
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