Should the age to vote be reduced to 16?

No, there are still a lot of varied maturities being 16. Some will not take it seriously and vote for green party just so they can smoke weed. Some will vote BNP for a laugh. It wont be taken really seriously.

 

In my opinion, voting rights should be raised to 21.The age of 21 is when one becomes an adult. Generally by this age you've grown up and know what you want in life. I think by this age you also have a little more worldly experience and knowledge in general than some naive kid who has just set foot out of high school.

 

There are also a lot of varied maturities being 18, 21, and even 70. Whats your point?

Also, adults do this, teenagers may, many people that vote simply put the Greens as they know there is no possible way they'll win the election.

Maybe in New Zealand it's different, but the age for adulthood in Australia is 18.

Why should I be able to operate a weapon of mass destruction, and pay more taxes than some freeloaders but still have less say than others that contribute the same in proportion to me? Sometimes people ranging from ages 16 (even below) to 20 have a library of knowledge and experience in comparison to 30 year olds. Also, no experience, nor knowledge is required to vote, simply an age. A 17 year and 11 month old teen is not allowed to vote, but for some reason when an extra month elapses, the government suddenly says he must vote or be fined.

 

*sigh*... You keep asking the same thing over and over. I'll ask this then: if the current system has worked well thus far, why do you intend to change it? What good will come out of allowing 16 year old CoD fans that smoke weed all day and don't understand the seriousness of voting? You're thinking about only the minority here. Where is your proof that they're mature enough?

Some people have part time jobs by the time they're 16, so it's easier to get around in a car rather than on foot or a bicycle. That's why they're allowed to drive. It's good to give some sort of responsibility to teens. You're only thinking about the worst case scenario here, which is accidents.

Another one of your complaints was that despite having to pay taxes, you could not choose the government. This is similar to age restrictions for drinking/driving. Wait it out. It's only 2-5 years. Is voting really that important for you?

You also asked why 18 is such a magical age. The answer should be obvious; some old guy with power decided that most people reach a certain level of maturity by that age and thus made the law that they would be allowed to vote then.

If you say that the new magical age should be 16, I could ask you the same thing. Why 16? If a teen is that desperate to vote, he should just wait it out until he's old enough.

 

So this is a maturity thing? Be very concise.

Part time jobs? I highly doubt that. Casual work hours is more like it.
It's actually more convenient to catch a bus, or hitch a lift with an older friend. Also, why is driving any different from voting? Driving you have the potential to kill someone, voting you only sign a form.

I paid over $2,000 in tax last year, I now have a PM who was never elected by the people sitting on her high horse, proposing a Carbon Tax that any Teen doing Economics (which I don't even do) would know that the detrimental economical effects are far reaching, and irreparable.
Do I honestly care about voting? No. But hey, I don't understand the seriousness of it, and nor do my fellow peers. There are plenty others much like me, some far more intelligent, others not. We teens are not dumb, we know whats going on, we know the importance, we're just in a stage in our life where our brain likes to take risks and we like to have fun.

Appeal to Authority is not good in an argument, nor Appeal to Popularity.

Good question.
I pay taxes and contribute to the country, I should help decide the countries pathway. There is a legal working age, 15 and 9 months I think, perhaps the age should be reduced to that, I simply rounded it off. If I have to pay for someones road to be built on the middle of a desert, then I should be able to help decide the party who allocates the funds to such a project.

 

Who really cares tbh?

 

So, you wouldn't mind if every human even an infant was obligated to vote? Excellent.

If you mind, then you care.

 

Do you want to vote at 16? ...

 

I don't really care.

 

I think that being able to vote is a big responsibility, more so than being able to drive a car, being able to buy alcohol or work. This is because votes have an direct impact on how a country is run, and a few votes could make a large difference for a country, which could affect the whole population.

In addition, many 18 year olds who have the ability to vote do not bother to vote anyway, so 16 year olds may have even less interest in politics, and who may not be well educated in politics. Also, about the issue of maturity, I'm sure that some people could argue that 16 year olds are mature enough to take responsibility and vote, but I believe there is no definite age where people become mature, you can have 12 year olds who are more mature than 21 year olds. But in general, 16 year olds are less mature than adults.

Finally, if the current system where the voting age is 18 has worked so well for so many years, why is there a need to change it? You don't need to change what isn't broken.

 

Fair enough. So even if you contribute to the running of the country, you still shouldn't have any say whatsoever?

It's a felony not to vote, at least in Australia. Also, you don't have to be interested to vote. In America there are certainly not 300 million people interested in politics. Much like in Australia, there aren't 20 million people interested.

A 12 year olds brain is far underdeveloped than a 16, 18, or 21 year olds. Most haven't even hit puberty yet. You could say that a 16 year olds brain is not as developed as an 18, or 21 year olds, you would be right. However, in saying that, we are allowed to work, allowed to drive, and must pay tax on taxable income, three fundamental things that 99.99% of humans do in their lives in the Western World. Why not vote?

That's not the problem. A 16 year olds rights are being violated, they're unable to help decide the path their country should take, yet they're obligated to support the countries future growth and prosperity.

You may say the system works, it probably does in regards to voting. This is not a reason for it's initial implementation, and not a reason to stop striving for better results.
Humans never got anywhere thinking 'that's good enough', we got somewhere by thinking 'how can we do better?'.

 

No. I think many 16-year-olds would be preoccupied with parties, "girlfriends", and other stuff. They would be able to intellectually-wise. I just think they wouldn't give a shit.

If I (or anybody else, for that matter) asked a 16-year-old if they wanted to study-up on politics, or hang with friends/party, the majority would look at me as if I were retarded.

Edit: I think 18 is good enough... once again, I think a lot (though not the majority) would be preoccupied.

 

Even if 16 year olds could vote I'm sure 90% of them wouldn't even bother unless they're parents dragged them to the polls lol.

 

If they pay taxes, I believe they should have a right to vote if they so choose. They pay the bills, they should also have a say in the rules. Not that many would take the opportunity anyway, out of all my 18-19 year old friends, I am the only one registered to vote.

 

I don't think it should as, 16 year old do not completely understand the concepts of the government and they'd vote without being fully aware of what they're voting. By the time your 18 and have went through High School, I think you'd have an acceptable and reasonable knowledge regarding government and politics to vote, which would make the vote mean something, whereas it wouldn't when a 16 year old votes.

 

Nope. Adults have way more responsibilities, such as taxes, real jobs, and such, so they can relate to the laws. Many teenagers are stupid and don't really care about that stuff..

 

It's irrelevant whether someone wants to or not.
You don't need to study-up on politics to vote, it's preposterous to think you do.

In Australia, voting is compulsory, it may not be in America, however, I still see no problem with it being reduced their either.

10% is a lot of people.

While many may not take the opportunity to vote, they shouldn't have such a right denied to them.

Your saying 16 year olds lack knowledge? Many of them are far more knowledgeable than the average adult. I think everyone is simply incredulous to the fact of a teenagers capacity to learn. The system of government is not very easy to understand, and nor is it hard to hear about whats going on. Every person knows there was a financial crisis. Every person knows there was an oil spill, etc.

Teens can have the same responsibilities, and in fact, teens can relate to laws better, we break them.

I'm sorry, while their are a vast amount of stupid teenagers, there are also a vast of amount of stupid adults. There's actually a bountiful amount of competent teenagers in society, we may not care, but we're not stupid.

 

Definitely not.

The majority of 16 year olds simply don't care about politics. The person elected would be almost decided by a popularity contest

Infact, we need much tougher voting protocol so that money hungry fuckwits like George Bush never get elected again.

We need a completely different system - literally every country in the world is being fucked over by it's own government right now.

Google the term "mafia"

then realise that over the past few decades, this crime network has infiltrated the governments - which is pathetically easy to do.

Time to wake up and smell the shit!

 

It already is a popularity contest. When do candidates hold true on their promises?

George Bush was put in due to giant corporations.

I don't like the current system either, however, that being said, If someone must pee in my mouth, or shit in it, I'd at least like to decide.

Regardless, topic at hand please.

 

I feel as if voting takes more knowledge, and usually at 18 years old you have a better understanding of politics. To be quite honest, I think it's fine how it is. When your 16 years old, a lot of teenagers don't really care about who the president will be, and they're not quite sure on their political views. That's just my opinion / views on this case.