12 thoughts on “The Voting Age”

  1. Seems like so many rights you can’t exercise until you are 21 or older, so maybe the voting age needs to be 21 or higher. People who join the military should be rewarded the privilege of voting at 18.

    People shouldn’t be allowed to vote if they are still in college at the age of 21 until they graduate. People who start college after 21 would be exempted, except for graduate and phd candidates. No votes for them unless they are returning students who have been out of college for five years.

    Government workers should also be restricted from voting based on the level they work at. So, federal employees can only vote locally/state and local/state employees can only vote federally.

    1. Graduate students should lose their right to vote. Socrates demonstrated that a philosopher cannot be a good citizen.

  2. Over the years I have repeatedly advocated raising the drinking age to 30, the voting age to 25, and the driving age to 21. As for military service, draft ’em as soon as they demonstrate that they know how to cuss.

    For some reason people think I’m joking.

    2. Big problem, neighbor: say a young man joins the Corps at 18. According to your plan, he is capable of risking his body & life in the defense of his country, possibly making critical decisions in battle affecting the lives of others, but he can’t legally drive a car for the next 7 years, nor legally buy alcohol for the next 12.

      I submit your plan is fatally flawed for that reason.

      Wodun had a good suggestion: raise the voting age (and the drinking age) to 21 except for those joining the armed forces. The original objection was that 18-year-old men were subject to the draft, but still couldn’t drink or vote. Since conscription has ended that objection no longer applies.

      I would suggest a limited proviso allowing one to provide “softer” drinks such as beer or wine to offspring over 16 at home. The motivation here is that most young Americans have no experience with any sort of drinking until they reach college; hence the binging we’ve all witnessed. Such a partial allowance would give teens an opportunity (if they so desire) to experience alcohol in a safe & secure environment. The decision would lie with the parents as a grant-able privilege, not as a right.

    1. I’m not sure that would be early enough. People are consigning their kids to government schools before they’re kindergarten age, these days.

  5. Very nice read.

    On a serious note, I believe the voting age and military age should be raised to 21. At least in this way, most people would have had some experience outside of High School and learn some life lessons.

    I go back to one young Nathan Zoner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_hoax) who convinced his 9th grade class to ban water.

    One striking item from the write-up is very applicable to today’s events/protests: “Moreover, his target audience was ninth-graders, a group highly susceptible to allowing peer pressure to overwhelm critical thinking. Thrust any piece of paper at the average high school student with a suggestion about what the “correct” response to it should be, and peer pressure pretty much assures you’ll get the answer you’re looking for. ”

    Yup, I want these kids voting for our government.

    1. Susceptibility to that particular prank is not age-limited. More than a few college students have been caught in the same manner.

      The original motivation (at least for the dihydrogen monoxide web page) was to illustrate how easy it was to present a deceptive picture about a relatively harmless substance. Even water can be dangerous as ice, snow, or scalding steam. That doesn’t mean the EPA should control the stuff.

  6. I agree, 21 to vote, if you’re not responsible enough to own a semi-automatic rifle you’re not responsible enough to vote.

    I also think we should bring back the tax paying qualification. If you don’t pay federal income taxes then you don’t get to vote for a federal office. Add to it, if you pay negative federal income taxes as about 15% of the population does then your vote counts negative.

Comments are closed.