Children’s Suffrage Now
We the people. Yea right, at first it was effectively “We the white land
owning males.” Then the poor, then women, then minorities, so now it’s we
the people, over 18.
They are allowed to be beaten, because they are powerless, because
they have no vote.
The argument that they are immature and would not understand the
issues could and should be applied to adults. Voting requires a level of
reasoning, yet adults are not tested if they possess it. Immature logic and
being easy to coerce were arguments used in attempts to prevent blacks and
women from voting as well. Anyone can be coerced regardless of age,
gender, or race. Given the right conditions.
All societies distinguish between an adult phase and a immature phase
of life where rights are curtailed. And no society has managed to produce a
peacefully unifying culture. Could there be a link?
The 26th amendment lowered voting age which shows that it is
arbitrary, or fluctuates. Children as young as 12 get tried as adults. The
argument is made that children are growing and thus their opinions will
change over time. That is of course correct but it is no reason for them to be
barred from voting. Many adults change parties, many adults vote irrationally
because they liked how one candidate looked in a suit, or because their pet
told them to vote a certain way. Many adults throw their votes away on
candidates they know won’t win, or write ins that have no meaning, many
vote for two people, some intentionally. The point is, people make mistakes,
and age is really no indicator of how likely a person is to make them. Mental
ability varies from person to person. Some are geniuses, some are not. Some
are 10 and some are 90.
18 year olds if raised traditionally are in many ways new children. They
bridge the gap between the life of school and obedience they have
experienced all their lives, to the life of decisions and freedom that is entirely
new in their experience. This effect is well known, it’s why many adults look
fondly back on their freshman year of college, their first year not under a
thumb.
They also laugh at the memory of this awkward stage, and the
mistakes they made. The traditional American gets two childhoods. And the
second one they are allowed to vote through, so I say why not the first? How
many perfectly rational level headed adults do you know? If your experience
is anything like mine, they are in the minority. If you are a citizen, have an
opinion, are subject to the rule of law, you should be allowed to vote, period.
No rational argument can be made against that position without admitting to
some form of support for totalitarianism or discrimination.
People should be allowed to begin participating in the political process
as Americans as soon as they demonstrate an interest. Weakness corrupts,
some of us had political interest since we were 10. Spending years being
bossed around by the government through the school, makes us lose taste
for the whole country. It makes us cynical. Because we hear all the garbage
about everyone having a voice, while being told not to talk in class. We’re
told about freedom of speech only to be punished for being “disrespectful”.
We’re expected to know algebra and made to feel stupid if we can’t name
every president between Washington and Lincoln, yet we’re told that an
opinion on healthcare spending is beneath us. And you wonder why half the
population doesn't vote. If you treat children like children, the adults they
turn into will act like children.
If we started voting soon enough, we wouldn’t have that cynicism, if
we had just a little respect as human beings. Churches don't wait, why allow
churches and other organizations with clear political agendas to influence
children and not let them vote? Do children who grow up in the church not
vote in its favor the overwhelming majority of the time?
Children also have unique concerns that require representation. I would
like to form the children’s lobby, but I know there is no funding for it. I have
to be rich first. Examples of these unique issues are very real. For
example, children have a much greater stake in environmental policy than
any adult because they will be exposed to the future environment much
longer than policy makers and polluters both, they should be allowed to vote
for the protection of the environment that only they will see.
As long as school attendance is compulsory it is unfair to deny children
the right to vote in favor of better educational funding. Children daily risk
their lives because of legal threats, and lack of standing. How would you vote
on education if you were forced through metal detectors and risked being
shot?
Imagine being forced to fly somewhere every day and go through
airport security and then wait for 6 hours in the most crime ridden area you
can think of, all the while having no opportunity to improve your conditions,
or even be heard as a human being with an opinion. Now imagine that you
tried to speak up anyway, and someone came and hit you for it, and you
could do nothing legally or physically about it. Welcome to being a typical
child in America.
Kids who work, pay into social security, yet they have no right to vote
with regard to how the fund is managed. Poverty among children exceeds all
age groups, while the government spends 10 times as much money on each
poor senior as it does each poor child. Can we tell the Gov is run by old
people yet? Children have no AARP, no meaningful lobby yet there are
millions of them. This really needs revision.
Criminals too, it’s quickly becoming a crime to have vocal disfavor with
the government, if labeling someone a criminal -or terrorist if one wants to
be topical- is all it takes to strip them of their right to vote, then the
government is in a position ripe for the formation of tyranny. I'm told that at
this rate, by 2050 half our population will be in prison. We already have the
largest prison population in the industrialized world. What will be the
democratic implications of a country that claims to be democratic yet
imprisons half its population and does not allow them to vote?