(Good heavens, you people post fast. This is in response to §pearhead's question)
My first point would be to ask, why shouldn't sixteen-year-olds be allowed to vote? Obviously, you have to draw a line somewhere, but are eighteen-year-olds really so much more mature that they should have a say in how the country is run, but sixteen-year-olds shouldn't? I don't think so.
I'm having trouble putting my second thought into words. But it goes something like this...
Who decides how much money is spent on education? People who are not in school.
Who decides what environmental policies to enact? People who will be dead by the time bad environmental decissions catch up to them?
Who sets the town curfews? A bunch of stuffy adults who think that the youth in their town are a bunch of no-good delinquants.
And on and on. In many ways, it is the government that decides what sort of quality of life its teenagers enjoy. And I think that its teenagers should therefore have a say in the government.
Originally posted by Gregory
I'm having trouble putting my second thought into words. But it goes something like this...Who decides how much money is spent on education? People who are not in school.
Who decides what environmental policies to enact? People who will be dead by the time bad environmental decissions catch up to them?
Who sets the town curfews? A bunch of stuffy adults who think that the youth in their town are a bunch of no-good delinquants.
And on and on. In many ways, it is the government that decides what sort of quality of life its teenagers enjoy. And I think that its teenagers should therefore have a say in the government.
Ushgarak: And when the government decides to slash the school budget? Some job they're doing looking after the teens then, huh?
yerssot: I find your comparison between teens and convicted criminals unsettling. One group has willfully given up he right to live in a free society. The other group has not.
Linkalicious: You make them out to be huge enought that one group should have a say in our government, and the other shouldn't. I do not think they're that huge. Hence my statement.
nah it's not like that §pear. You mai boy n you know that. You're not ignorant and I do understand that you may have some valuable knowledge to share. But the general majority of 16 yr. olds AREN'T like you....they are more like the citizens of California who vote for someone like Arnold Swartzenegger (sp?) because he's a popular movie star.
yerss> Yes, it might be a generalisation, however you cannot base on the fact that some DO know AND have correct judgement. The ones that COULD vote are the minority.
And Jkozzy- I am 16 1/2 too, Ush is right. I'm not saying that because "I think myself as mature" and stuff. I started realising politics only last year. And I think I need some years to, in order to form a completely MINE opinion.
Most people I know that are my age, don't even know what right/left/center is... 🙄