Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why We Should Lower the Voting Age to 16
The New York Times ^ | March 2, 2018 | Laurence Steinberg

Posted on 03/04/2018 9:25:53 AM PST by Trump20162020

The young people who have come forward to call for gun control in the wake of the mass shooting at their high school in Parkland, Fla., are challenging the tiresome stereotype of American kids as indolent narcissists whose brains have been addled by smartphones. They offer an inspiring example of thoughtful, eloquent protest.

Unfortunately, when it comes to electing lawmakers whose decisions about gun control and other issues affect their lives, these high schoolers lack any real power. This needs to change: The federal voting age in the United States should be lowered from 18 to 16.

Skeptics will no doubt raise questions about the competence of 16-year-olds to make informed choices in the voting booth. Aren’t young people notoriously impulsive and hotheaded, their brains not fully developed enough to make good judgments?

Yes and no. When considering the intellectual capacity of teenagers, it is important to distinguish between what psychologists call “cold” and “hot” cognition.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: 16yearold; 16yearolds; 16yearsold; 2018election; 2020election; election2018; election2020; elections; electoralcollege; faithlesselectors; laurencesteinberg; nationalpopularvote; npv; teen; teenager; teenagers; teens; voters; voting
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 161-165 next last
To: Trump20162020

Let’s see the Slimes change that attitude when people realize that if you make 16 old enough to vote then they would also be old enough to star in porn.


81 posted on 03/04/2018 10:03:18 AM PST by sevlex
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: miss marmelstein

While I have no problem attaching all kinds of conditions to voting the home ownership part is absurd in this day and age.

I have owned several homes but with the potential to have to move for work and the housing market being so over-inflated here I choose to rent rather than likely take a 20-40% hit on a real estate investment made now.

That said, have always worked and pay more income taxes than 98%+ of the population so there have to be better qualifiers.

Agree on the bit about anyone on welfare or any other government funded living arrangement being barred.


82 posted on 03/04/2018 10:03:24 AM PST by Manuel OKelley
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Trump20162020

Lets go with income.
If you get more back from a tax return then you pay in, you dont get to vote


83 posted on 03/04/2018 10:05:04 AM PST by South Dakota (We need a real independent investigation of Bill/Hillary and Obama's actions)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Right Brother

Look, I’m pretty serious. I would willingly give up my right to vote if only home owning, employed male citizens voted. This country would be better off.

And I like and appreciate women and am at constant war with the bitter divorced guys here who despise women.

But, right now, American women have a serious case of the liberal mindset that appears to clear up as soon as they get a husband, a kid and a house.


84 posted on 03/04/2018 10:05:57 AM PST by miss marmelstein
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Manuel OKelley

Well, of course, it’s all theoretical, isn’t it? Ain’t gonna happen. In fact, illegals are now being encouraged to vote in Chicago.


85 posted on 03/04/2018 10:07:21 AM PST by miss marmelstein
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 82 | View Replies]

To: JoeRed

Don’t forget, they eat tide pods.


86 posted on 03/04/2018 10:09:36 AM PST by GeorgiaDawg32
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: deweyfrank

I think voting should require a competency test on all who vote.


87 posted on 03/04/2018 10:09:51 AM PST by kiltie65
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Trump20162020

Man would that hurt the abortion industry! Killing Democrat voters!

Why not lower the age to conception and give the fetuses a voice?


88 posted on 03/04/2018 10:11:05 AM PST by Road Warrior ‘04 (Molon Labe! (Oathkeeper))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bikkuri

Not only should voting require a competency test, there should be inspections done at nursing homes, etc., to make sure the elderly are not being coerced into voting a certain way by those running these homes.


89 posted on 03/04/2018 10:11:54 AM PST by kiltie65
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Trump20162020

Must be someone who thought Wild In The Streets was a Utopia.


90 posted on 03/04/2018 10:12:31 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Wear an orange pin to mourn the victims of the Tide Pods Challenge.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Trump20162020

So...

... restrict firearms ownership to 21 because of responsibilty/maturity/judgement issues but lower the age of voting, i.e., for controlling the most powerful and dangerous apparatus humankind has ever created - the US government, to 16 because...

... well, they’re easily swayed and stampeded to our benefit by leftist cant.

Right...


91 posted on 03/04/2018 10:12:45 AM PST by Paine in the Neck ( Socialism consumes EVERYTHING!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Trump20162020
NO... lets raise it to 21!!!


92 posted on 03/04/2018 10:12:50 AM PST by Chode (You have all of the resources you are going to have. Abandon your illusions and plan accordingly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeRed; SunkenCiv; governsleastgovernsbest

But, keep the draft age at 18 because their ancesters stormed “over the top” in WWI, their great-great-grandfathers attacked over the beach at Normandy, their great-grandfathers used rifles and machine guns at Chosin, their grandfathers used assault rifles in Khe Sanh, and their fathers crossed the Iraqui berms and the mountains of Afghanistan.

But today’s “smarter” teenagers need coloring books to survive the stress at college?


93 posted on 03/04/2018 10:14:28 AM PST by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Trump20162020
They offer an inspiring example of thoughtful, eloquent protest.

Of course, and let's allow citizens who've just experienced an extremely rare instance of personal danger and extreme emotions set US policy in any area related to whatever they experienced.

And, as terrible as school shootings are, they have occurred at, what, 30 or 40 schools over 20 years, 30 or 40 out of around 100,000 K-12 schools in the US.

Some measures to increase safety should be adopted, but we also need to keep in mind how incredibly rare such incidents are.

94 posted on 03/04/2018 10:15:03 AM PST by Will88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Trump20162020
Unfortunately, when it comes to electing lawmakers whose decisions about gun control and other issues affect their lives, these high schoolers lack any real power. This needs to change: The federal voting age in the United States should be lowered from 18 to 16.

Drinking age, voting age and age to buy/own guns should all be 16. Or maybe 14.

95 posted on 03/04/2018 10:17:15 AM PST by Toddsterpatriot (TANSTAAFL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Trump20162020

Um, no.


96 posted on 03/04/2018 10:17:27 AM PST by MileHi (Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeRed

The demoncats are getting desperate
Truly desperate
They can’t get citizens or adults to vote for them


97 posted on 03/04/2018 10:17:30 AM PST by Truthoverpower (The guvmint you get is the Trump winning express !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Trump20162020
B.S. Raise it to 26.

After all, Obungacare says parents have to provide healthcare until then, so they must be too young to be responsible.

My preference is military or public service before voting rights.

98 posted on 03/04/2018 10:23:58 AM PST by doorgunner69 (Give me the liberty to take care of my own security..........)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Trump20162020

Of course the Left wants this. They know they can influence young minds through mass media because they run a lot of it, much the same way Hitler had his youth program.


99 posted on 03/04/2018 10:24:25 AM PST by sumuam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Trump20162020

Nope. If anything, raise the voting age back to 21. These teens today are much more immature than other teens their age a generation or two ago. They in no way have what it takes to be an intelligent voter. It doesn’t take much to be a dummocrap voter; just parrot the latest talking points and pass them on without processing them between your ears, unfiltered. This is how we end up helpless pawns in a helpless and weak nation, by producing thousands of illiterate non-critical thinking high school and college “graduates” instead of maintaining our strength through a thinking populace. No thanks. I have not been impressed in the slightest by what I’ve seen so far of teens in general now and particularly of little brat tools like David Hogg, so well-trained in libtardism he’d put a sea lion at the zoo to shame. Arp, arp, arp, here’s your fish, David!


100 posted on 03/04/2018 10:34:20 AM PST by EinNYC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 161-165 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson