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Post by llluminati on Mar 22, 2010 20:36:31 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
For the most part, we all live in democratic societies. We are all very lucky to be a part of this, although the democratic process leaves some things to be desired for, such as the minimum age to vote. So my question to you is:
What should the minimum voting age be?
Feel free to answer respectfully, I'll post my thoughts shortly.
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Post by Ryan on Mar 22, 2010 20:42:11 GMT -5
18
Even though a growing majority of younger people are forming opinions of what they want to see in their government, the majority of the younger age group has no idea and is ill informed. This makes them more of a vote padding system for adults which is unfair to the children who have ideas, as their ideas are worth less than the majority of their age group who serve merely as an extra vote for their parents.
I personally only vote on things that I feel fully informed about and can make a rational decision. My roommate last year voted purely based on what his friends told him about the election (an obviously biased opinion). So his vote wasn't really his, but his friends. I find that most teenagers have no idea who to vote for, but I figure that 18 y/o should be allowed to vote since (at least in the US) they are allowed to die for their country, they should be able to vote on who sends them to war.
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Post by noobsensei on Mar 22, 2010 21:37:35 GMT -5
18 is fine.
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Post by Natalie on Mar 22, 2010 23:23:34 GMT -5
18 Even though a growing majority of younger people are forming opinions of what they want to see in their government, the majority of the younger age group has no idea and is ill informed. This makes them more of a vote padding system for adults which is unfair to the children who have ideas, as their ideas are worth less than the majority of their age group who serve merely as an extra vote for their parents. I personally only vote on things that I feel fully informed about and can make a rational decision. My roommate last year voted purely based on what his friends told him about the election (an obviously biased opinion). So his vote wasn't really his, but his friends. I find that most teenagers have no idea who to vote for, but I figure that 18 y/o should be allowed to vote since (at least in the US) they are allowed to die for their country, they should be able to vote on who sends them to war. Could not have said it better myself. They could try and teach about it in school, but I feel that even some teachers would be biased about it and children might vote based on someone else's opinion.
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Post by zAkAtAk on Mar 23, 2010 12:13:39 GMT -5
If we have to put an age constraint on it, I would say it would have to be 18 since that's when the government has decided that we matter.
The day before we turn 18 we aren't a person in the government's eyes and then one day when you wake up all of a sudden you're an adult. Such an odd transition to happen overnight.
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Nakor
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Post by Nakor on Mar 24, 2010 2:52:45 GMT -5
I'm going against the current and saying 16. Now it could be a bit of a different culture up here in Canada in this regard, but what I've observed is that more and more teenagers are taking an active interest in politics, and it's an interest that they're sharing with each other and developing as a group rather than getting from parents or other adults. I think teens 16-18 are a great potential source of 'young blood' in the political spectrum in that they (a) really want the vote -- and in Canada of late, this is really a problem, as less and less voters turn out each election due to how often they've been called of late; and, (b) are open to new and unique ideas, rather than sticking to the old concepts of left vs right (we do have that in Canada, it's just that our right is something like America's left).
I imagine this is the case in some areas of America as well of course, but I wonder if in some areas of the states Tyme's thoughts apply more accurately then they would here, north of the border. I've noticed that family ties and some regions tend to have a heavy influence on US political inclinations, where here in Canada the political culture is a bit different. For whatever reason it seems, at least from my perspective, that a greater percentage of US citizens align themselves with a particular political party (that is, call themselves 'conservatives' or 'liberals') than Canadians do; we tend to make our minds up each time, and if asked what political alignment we associate ourselves with, the most common resounding answer is "none of them!" So, that culture may be playing on my opinion of the right age as well; what I think would work here might not work there is I guess what I'm saying.
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Tido
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Post by Tido on Mar 24, 2010 4:36:07 GMT -5
16
age and time is relatively . so long you vote for who rule
and not run for anything you self !! u must be (20 + - ) to do it
hey make a poll .................?
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Post by hey light on Mar 24, 2010 5:34:04 GMT -5
16. People by then are responsible enough to do things like that. And, most young people are actually more motivated and know more about the issues that adults, from what i've seen. And I think that the reason teens seem so immature is because adults seem to base almost everything they do on the news, which, from what i've seen, seems to make teenagers look bad because they only cover the bad things that they do.
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Post by PunchJunky on Mar 24, 2010 9:42:15 GMT -5
18. 16 year olds, however well informed they are, are still kids in my eyes, hell at 16 I wasn't nearly ready to make that kind of decision, and even though it depends on where you're from/who brought you up/ how good your education was, I would say by 18 you've got a better percentage of people who are serious and can make an informed decision.
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Cortney
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The Bown
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Post by Cortney on Mar 24, 2010 12:02:12 GMT -5
There are only 2 years between being 16 and being 18. I'm the latter, and I pretty much view 16 year olds as my equals, not kids.
If anything, I think the voting age should be later than 18. The teen years are when people develop their ideas and begin to think for themselves. So, 16 is right in the middle of that, when opinions are unstable and still developing. At 18, they are solidifying and becoming permanent, and by around 21 they are stable. I'm not saying 18 isn't a good voting age, I'm just saying that were it to change, I believe it should go up and not down.
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Post by noobsensei on Mar 24, 2010 13:40:35 GMT -5
It actually used to be 21, but it was changed during the Vietnam War. People felt that since 18-year-olds could join the military and die for their country, they should have some say in whether or not their country went to war in the first place.
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Post by zAkAtAk on Mar 24, 2010 16:15:42 GMT -5
The only reason that I'm not saying 16 year olds should be able to vote is that because 99% of the issues at hand does not have to do with minors and it would not affect minors.
Issues with gambling wouldn't have anything to do with minors because minors can't gamble. Issues with taxes wouldn't have anything to do with minors because minors don't pay taxes (most of the time).
etc. etc.
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Post by Ryan on Mar 24, 2010 22:22:55 GMT -5
I'm going to say something that I didn't include in my original post.
I really think the voting age should be at least 22 (maybe even 26?).
The only reason I settle on 18 is because at 18 the (US) Government has the right to draft you and send you off to war, where you may possibly die. So as an 18 y/o you should have a say in which president does that to you, along with which representatives keep you there.
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Cortney
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Post by Cortney on Mar 24, 2010 22:26:01 GMT -5
Well I disagree with drafting at 18, or drafting at all. So yeah.
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Post by Dimstow on Mar 24, 2010 22:57:06 GMT -5
Personally I think 16 is a fine voting age, I can very confidently state that the same percentage of 16 year olds care about politics as the percentage of adults care about politics, and those who care (at those ages) should have access to the polls that control their country.
But regardless of the age involved I very powerfully believe that the government shouldn't be allowed to tax the income (I'm strictly talking income taxes here,not taxes on goods and property etc. ) of any citizens who aren't voting age.
That also applies to our current working 16-17 year olds
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Post by zAkAtAk on Mar 26, 2010 1:37:19 GMT -5
I'm going to say something that I didn't include in my original post. I really think the voting age should be at least 22 (maybe even 26?). The only reason I settle on 18 is because at 18 the (US) Government has the right to draft you and send you off to war, where you may possibly die. So as an 18 y/o you should have a say in which president does that to you, along with which representatives keep you there. Yet even if I'm an adult I'm not allowed to drink alcoholic beverages. w2g government
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Post by hollowminds on Mar 26, 2010 2:03:09 GMT -5
18, I'm 16 and i dont want to deal with fines for not showing up to vote already. [Australia has mandatory attendance for election/voting.] Youth can also be manipulated, and uninformed (or misinformed)
But then again they can always donkey vote, as far as the American election system goes im not too farmiliar but it isnt mandatory there yes? So the politicaly interested sixteen year olds can vote and those who arn't interested dont need to?
[Waffle waffle waffle]
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