Posted on 08/23/2004 2:33:24 AM PDT by kattracks
[snip]Some people strolling the Common passionately disagreed. ''You've got to be kidding me," said David Wheeler, 48, of Tampa. ''I've got three boys -- 16, 14, and 9 years old. They're totally unaware."
''Our 16-year-old thinks he knows everything," agreed his wife, Lori, 46. ''But I wouldn't leave him alone, let alone let him vote for the president of the United States."
But Schneider-Joseph wouldn't budge. Lack of competency is no argument for restricting voting, he said, arguing that many adults wouldn't clear that hurdle. He would support a short qualifying test, but adults should take it too, the 20-year-old computer programmer from Waltham said.
Children might be more aware -- and more conscientious voters later -- if they got interested earlier, he said. In that way, his group's mission differs from movements such as MTV's Rock the Vote and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network's campaign to register young voters.
''Rock the Vote tries to get people interested who weren't before," he said. ''[We] try to allow people who are interested to vote."
Schneider-Joseph, who joined the cause for youth rights at 16 because he wanted to control his education, has some company in his quest. The Cambridge City Council voted in 2002 to lower the municipal voting age to 17 years old, but the Legislature has not approved the measure.
In California, legislators are considering a law that would count teens as partial voters in local and state elections, with a 14- to 16-year-old seen as one-quarter of an adult and a 16- to 18-year-old as half.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
There was a movie called "Wild in the Streets" where they did just this. The funny thing was how the "youth government" devolves into fascism near the end of the movie.
Under what grounds should they be permitted to elect lawmakers?
I understand the 18 year old vote. Old enough to die for it, old enough to vote. Some of us would even extend that to include "old enough to drink".
"Wild In The Streets" foretold America's doom the day we would elect a baby boomer President.
This isn't surprising, the average leftist didn't mature past the ages of 14-17.
If yer not old enough to drink, yer not old enough to vote.
"... after all: that fresh crop of blank-eyed, lockstepped 'Rat Party thoughtslaves isn't going to grrow and pick itself, now, IS it...?" :)
Where'd you get this from? Anyone making a buck in America today is subject to taxation.
opps tpy- "mad" made
The voting age should be RAISED back to 21 to reflect the dumbing down of America. Maybe even higher.
The 'Rats already have the vote of the dead, so why not go for the vote of the pre-teens?
A better idea would be to let their parents vote for them until they reach an age of majority.
The leftists go on and on about how progressive, advanced and enlightened they are, but they're really nothing more than immature, spoiled brats.
They see a common bond with the typical teenager who spouts "it's not fair" at every little inconsistency in their life. It's no wonder they would love to have younger teenagers vote.
I agree and maybe only property owners should be allowed to vote like "the good old days" : )
Hey Dems, while you are all at it, why not also send the children to work, at say, age 10 -- so they can "contribute" to your tax schemes.
Not that I think 14yr olds should get the vote, but I was in the USAF at 17. At the time I was pretty mad that I couldn't vote. (I missed the cut-off date by a few days in 1988).
I wouldn't mind if the age were lowered to 17.
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