Lower voting age to 16?

[normaM]

I have no problem with lowering the voting age

[Frisk]

Are you absolutely sure of that?

Which part? The alcohol? Yes I'm absolutely sure of that. There's like a thousand studies on the topic. Here's one: https://alcoholthinkagain.com.au/Parents-Young-People/Alcohol-and-the-Developing-Brain/Impact-of-Alcohol-on-the-developing-brain

But yeah, sorry mods I'm getting off topic.

[Bsuds]

voting is not.

That part.

When you think of all the possibilities that need consideration for someone to vote it could be an undue strain on a young mind.

[JagXKR]

The young brain does not have the same abilities as the mature brain. As I stated before and as science proves. Over and over and over........

The part about consequences of actions is what the lunatic fringe left wing needs from the uncooked noggins. The only reason for allowing the young brains to vote is for the left to bolster their ranks. The little brains have no idea how bad left wing socialism can be to an economy. Care to take a trip into third world living?

Every election this topic pops up and it amazes me that after all the scientific research that has been done in understanding the adolescent brain there are still those that think it's a good idea to let the undeveloped minds have any real say in elections. Boggles the mind to see this kind of myopic absurdity.

Seems the majority is 18 or higher

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_age

Most organizations advocating for the lowering of voting age are left wing. Says something to me. That it's a bad idea...period.

[gman313]

That part.

When you think of all the possibilities that need consideration for someone to vote it could be an undue strain on a young mind.

seriously. I can assure you most adults vote with only their priorities in mind, not "the full big picture"

[Bsuds]

That part.

When you think of all the possibilities that need consideration for someone to vote it could be an undue strain on a young mind.

seriously. I can assure you most adults vote with only their priorities in mind, not "the full big picture"

Do you think a 16 year old will do any different?

They can't see past their iPhone.

[OKkayak]

seriously. I can assure you most adults vote with only their priorities in mind, not "the full big picture"

I should hope people vote with their priorities in mind. Establish what one would like to see from their Government and base their vote on the best fit.

[Nedroj]

Lower the voting age to 16? No thanks. 16 year olds are not mature enough to form their OWN opinions on such complicated aspects like running the third largest country in the world. The majority of them would be influenced by their teachers, peers and parents, or vote completely uneducated on everything and just randomly pick someone becuase they think she/he is "cute" or has great hair.........

Look back to when you were 16. What were your priorities? You can rest assured 99% of 16 year olds are not thinking about which political party's platform will help them buy a house, ease the stress of raising a family, ensure they have access to medical facilities/care when needed, know the importance of balancing the budget and pay down debt, etc.
Remember a country has to be profitable or it wont have the means to do anything for their people. Hence why Socialist countries fail miserably and capitalist countries flourish. But as we've seen recently there still seems to be a big push for Socialism despite their horrible record and that push is from the younger generation wanting everything to be free and green.


Next time there is a "Friday Climate Strike" Id be interested to know the number of students not in class and compare it to the number of students actually at the protest. I can guarantee you those number wont match.

[bob vernon]

Absolutely lower the voting age to 16. Polls are often set up at high schools and that's where we now vote sometimes. Those polls will make it easy for high school kids to vote en masse. There are issues that high schoolers are going to face in the coming decades, and they should be introduced to the process.

And high school kids today are better informed about some topics, like climate change, for example. It's no longer a question of whether you "believe" in climate change or not. It's science and the answer is set in stone.

[Hurtlander]

If 16 year olds want to vote, they should have to pass some sort of aptitude or general knowledge test proving they have basic knowledge of all the various political party’s and what they truly stand for and represent, have basic knowledge of our political system and have basic knowledge our economy and economics, they must show an understanding that every single expenditure the government makes or promises to make, is with money straight out of every Canadians pocket, including Canadians not even born yet, and they must show basic knowledge of every important issue affecting all Canadians, not just single issues ...... Sadly far too many adults would fail that aptitude test.

[rustled]

The only people who support lowering the voting age to 16 and think it's a good idea to set up polls at the schools (so the kids won't have to make any effort whatsoever and can be herded en masse to cast their ballots) are people who favour aggressively progressive governance.

[Ka-El]

If 16 year olds want to vote, they should have to pass some sort of aptitude or general knowledge test

So should adults who want to vote.

Sadly far too many adults would fail that aptitude test.

[The Green Barbarian]

So should adults who want to vote.

Well that would be the death knell of the Green Party.

[Bsuds]

Maybe it should be that if you pay taxes, either property or employment, then you could vote if you are younger.

[Lady tehMa]

I was just re-reading Heinlein's Starship Troopers. To those who have not read it, it shares almost nothing with the movie except names.

Here's the wiki on the book https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers which does a pretty good job of addressing salient points.

One of the main themes that underscore the novel is social responsibility/duty.

In chapter 8, one of the characters posits regarding juvenile delinquents

"I told you that 'juvenile delinquent' is a contradiction in terms. 'Delinquent' means 'failing in duty.' But duty is an adult virtue—indeed a juvenile becomes an adult when, and only when, he acquires a knowledge of duty and embraces it as dearer than the self-love he was born with. There never was, there cannot be a 'juvenile delinquent.' But for every juvenile criminal, there are always one or more adult delinquents—people of mature years who either do not know their duty or who, knowing it, fail."

Lt. Col. Jean V. Dubois (Ret.), p. 120

And this to me, touches upon the heart of the matter. Removing the focus from self, on to others. Children are born self-focused. It is the responsibility of adults to teach them to become aware of others and to focus on the big picture, on society as a whole. This is something that our society has failed at spectacularly.

As rustled mentioned,

I was an activist teenager. My take-away: teens don't yet fully understand how the idealistic changes to current systems they so passionately want can have serious detrimental unintended consequences. It doesn't occur to them. Collateral damage isn't even on their radar, and if you try to put it there they just don't get it. That's why we have graduated driving programs, legal drinking ages, etc.

Few are the teenagers who will think about how something will affect others. Most are only concerned about what they want and to some degree what their friends will think of them. And because our society is failing so badly at teaching people to look beyond themselves we have many adults who are incapable of it, adults who are not capable of assessing or caring about the impact of their decisions on society (or consideration of social responsibility in any form).

If anything we should be raising the voting age.

Personally, I think Heinlein had a window into the future. His assessment of what caused his fictional society to collapse is scarily close to what the world is like today.