• What would be the best minimum age to vote?
    99 replies, posted
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Voting-age.svg/800px-Voting-age.svg.png[/img] Red: 16 Yellow: 17 [B]Green: 18[/B] Light blue: 19 Blue: 20 Purple: 21 Pink: 25 From the map we can see that 18 is quite the universal age to vote in most elections. 18 also happens to be the most common age when you are concidered an "adult", and can get booze and drive and get married and other more or less important things. But should it be the same for voting too? Or even older/younger? Historically it has been around 21 in some countries, but then lowered to 18. What would the consequences be if younger people got to vote? Would it only give water to grow the seeds of far-left/right politics due to the underdeveloped thinking of younger people? Or would it make the world a better place when the young people would have their say in politics? Enough with the questions - as it is your turn to answer them. There is no poll as I'd like to see some opinions and arguments too. And as a curiosity... "The only known maximum voting age is in the Holy See, where the franchise for electing a new Pope is restricted to Cardinals under the age of 80." What about a maximum voting age then? Is the grumpy old man (with the expiration date nearing) collecting benefits from the government the right person to decide about the future?
16
18 or higher.
Until you graduate High School.
[QUOTE=GunsNRoses;27225427]18 or higher.[/QUOTE] 18+ Only way I'd support under 18 if they had to pass a political test first.
18+
18, some people just need to mature more, because most of the kids in my high school support Obama, just because he is black
I've known people that were good at politics by the age of 12, and I know people who don't know shit and they're 40.
I think everyone should have to pass a political test before they can vote, fuck age requirements.
make a politics exam people scoring 75%+ can vote
How about after you take American Government? Whenever that is, you could take an easy quiz and get a voting license.
[QUOTE=melonmonkey;27225575]I think everyone should have to pass a political test before they can vote, fuck age requirements.[/QUOTE] What would they put on the test?
[QUOTE=Honesty;27225577]make a politics exam people scoring 75%+ can vote[/QUOTE] There was a thread about that yesterday, and many felt that a "politics exam" would be ridiculing democracy, and turning the country into a totalitarian state where you need to get the "right answers" before you could vote. And the questions would be hard to come up too - would knowing the number of seats in the senate do anything useful in your decision of who you will vote?
[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;27225608]What would they put on the test?[/QUOTE] Anti-Federalist is to Republican, Federalist is to _______ What is a valence position? Which foreign policy best matches the Republican Party? Why were IQ tests banned? What is disenfranchisement?
I'm thinking more of the simple, general questions like what are the branches of the government how many terms can a president serve etc.
[QUOTE=evilking1;27225339][img_thumb]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Voting-age.svg/800px-Voting-age.svg.png[/img_thumb] Red: 16 Yellow: 17 [B]Green: 18[/B] Light blue: 19 Blue: 20 Purple: 21 Pink: 25 From the map we can see that 18 is quite the universal age to vote in most elections. 18 also happens to be the most common age when you are concidered an "adult", and can get booze and drive and get married and other more or less important things. But should it be the same for voting too? Or even older/younger? Historically it has been around 21 in some countries, but then lowered to 18. What would the consequences be if younger people got to vote? Would it only give water to grow the seeds of far-left/right politics due to the underdeveloped thinking of younger people? Or would it make the world a better place when the young people would have their say in politics? Enough with the questions - as it is your turn to answer them. There is no poll as I'd like to see some opinions and arguments too. And as a curiosity... "The only known maximum voting age is in the Holy See, where the franchise for electing a new Pope is restricted to Cardinals under the age of 80." What about a maximum voting age then? Is the grumpy old man (with the expiration date nearing) collecting benefits from the government the right person to decide about the future?[/QUOTE] Good to see North Korea has a voting age of 17.
[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;27225642]Anti-Federalist is to Republican, Federalist is to _______ What is a valence position? Which foreign policy best matches the Republican Party? Why were IQ tests banned? What is disenfranchisement?[/QUOTE] Knowing random word definitions gets you 40% on your test? Damn.
You should be a highschool graduate in order to vote. :colbert: Even though I voted my senior year.
[QUOTE=BANNED USER;27225745]You should be a highschool graduate in order to vote. :colbert:[/QUOTE] Why?
[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;27225642]Anti-Federalist is to Republican, Federalist is to _______ What is a valence position? Which foreign policy best matches the Republican Party? Why were IQ tests banned? What is disenfranchisement?[/QUOTE] Good questions, but would they really help on anything? After all, doesn't the right to rule the country belong to the people - and the people have given the authority to rule to the people they feel should be in charge of all the bureaucracy and hassle? Shouldn't the right to vote be a basic human right - and you should be allowed to vote who the hell you wish for without any knowledge on any current politics? On the other hand a test would perhaps help the people understand how the politics work a bit more, and not vote for somebody that is against all tax rises because after the test they would know that taxes aren't just since uncle Sam is being a mean bitch.
[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;27225733]Knowing random word definitions gets you 40% on your test? Damn.[/QUOTE] I don't know, voting tests are stupid. They're unconstitutional anyways.
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;27225685]Good to see North Korea has a voting age of 17.[/QUOTE] it's since in communist Korea the government votes for you!
[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;27225770]I don't know, voting tests are stupid. They're unconstitutional anyways.[/QUOTE] If you're against them why did you suggest one?
[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;27225758]Why?[/QUOTE] I dunno, I think that in order to vote you should at least have a standard education and understanding of law. Age doesn't really have much of a difference in how you vote, just whether or not you can or cannot.
[QUOTE=evilking1;27225784]it's since in communist Korea the government votes for you![/QUOTE] yeah, it's technically 'voting', but when you do go voting there's either only 1 choice, or it's rigged or both
In Brazil (as shown in the map), the voting age is 16. The difference is that voting is compulsory, but only once you hit 18. So most 16 year olds don't vote anyway.
[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;27225792]If you're against them why did you suggest one?[/QUOTE] If you read further I tried to imply a form of irony by asking why were IQ tests banned.
[QUOTE=BANNED USER;27225812]I dunno, I think that in order to vote you should at least have a standard education and understanding of law. And to be honest, I don't see why anyone under 18 should vote.[/QUOTE] What about high-school dropouts? Apparently they're not smart enough to be able to make an educated decision on who to vote for? Soon you'll need to own land and it'll be like ancient Greece all over again.
Here we go again with the "you should have to be smart to have a say in who governs your country" Surely it would be better to try and educate the uninformed rather than just lock them out?
[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;27225642]Anti-Federalist is to Republican, Federalist is to _______ What is a valence position? Which foreign policy best matches the Republican Party? Why were IQ tests banned? What is disenfranchisement?[/QUOTE] Some of those are so trivial though, pretty much each of them except the Republican foreign policy one is completely unrelated to each election (unless you think a knowledge of history should be a prerequisite). I think, if there were to be a test at all, it should cover basic party policies, so all the people who inherit their political views like they inherit their hair color couldn't vote. That being said, I don't think there should be any tests at all, voting is a right not a privilege. And on the topic of the thread, 18 is fine. Although I know having one set age is the best way, it still feels too arbitrary for my liking. There are 15 year olds who are much more qualified to vote than 51 year olds, but oh well.
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