Just like 16 years old people can’t vote because too young, 80+ years old people should not be able to vote, most of them are too distant from everyday reality of younger people to be able to take a wise decision for the community and also often stick with (way too) old ideals from their years
Correct premise, wrong conclusion.
Premise: why are some people allowed to vote and not others?
Solution: let children vote. They’re part of society. They can read. Encourage them to follow important news.
How far should we go? Debatable, but personally I would say start allowing people to vote from their 12th birthday and then consider if it is reasonable to go even younger.
If you let children vote, they will be even more the target of propaganda and brainwashing. Let people enjoy their childhoods free from that burden and responsibility, they will have their share for the rest of their lives.
But what happens when the definition of “free from burden” is decided by a political class that explicitly does not represent kids?
Think of brain-dead policies like the digital age verification thing, lack of gun control in the US and so on.
Like it or not, politics affects EVERY SINGLE member of society, kids included. The question is who has political control and who doesn’t.
If I’m being affected by politics, I should have control over it. I held this opinion right since I was a child.
All these arguments used against children were once used against women.
“They are feeble minded. We are protecting them by not placing undue burden on them. No need to worry yourself with how society functions. Off you go to play with your shiny trinkets.”
All these wise adult men are already fools for propoganda, are ill-informed, vote against their own interests, etc.
Strong agree! BUT, education for the same has to be robust. Critical thinking skills, cognitive biases, logical fallacies, propaganda resistance, etc. must be hammered into kids in school.
I would go ahead and say that competency tests must be required too (made maybe by a supermajority of a committee appointed through sortition?).
Edit: i now realized that childrens are actually more effected by propaganda which is a huge problematic in this idea
Pre-Edit text: I think 14th is better due to the fact that when you start to be a teenager you are less influenced by parents, doing it too early could actually empower people that decide to birth children by influencing the vote
I’m sorry, but I live in the modern day, and I can’t get onboard with any plan that can be described as:
Noooooope! Just got the heebie jeebies reading that.
Think of it like this: voting is like bodily autonomy.
While it’s reasonable to not demand newborns give verbal consent before being picked up and fed, a twelve year old is definitely grown up enough to be listened to when they say “no, don’t touch me.”