Interesting topic, screwed over in about 5 posts by the usual suspects. Engaging young people in the political process might be a good idea, and is certainly worth a debate.
Reduce Voting age to 16
- Thread starter SirGalahad
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The floors yours, you do have a habit of being non committal given your headmaster 'experience' as displayed in what's johnny doing today thread I posted.
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You were that age once. Somebody gave you a chanceWell let’s hope if they do get to vote they have a damn site more common sense than the 16/ 17 year olds we have employed over the years
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All - please stay on topic.
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It's an old ploy to be the one who grants the vote, to get the vote. But lets go back to the OPs original claim.
- You can join the Army at 16, but you cannot be deployed until 18.
- You are highly unlikely to be prosecuted for under age sex at 16. e.g. a 16yo having sex with a 15yo.
- You cannot form a binding contract at 16.
- You can join the Army at 16, but you cannot be deployed until 18.
- You are highly unlikely to be prosecuted for under age sex at 16. e.g. a 16yo having sex with a 15yo.
- You cannot form a binding contract at 16.
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I don't buy the idea you make politicians elected on a 30 per cent turnout feel better by forcing people to vote at the barrel of a gun. It assumes the candidates appeal in some way to all voters. Exercising the right not to vote is as important as the right to vote.
Blup
The notion that if you pay tax from the age of 16 then you should be allowed to vote smacks of the American Republic's battlecry "no taxation without representation!" An absurd idea: even at the age of 18 a person doesn't really have the depth of awareness of the world to make an informed decision regarding a political point of view and relies on their parents and peers to cast a vote.
I'd actually make the voting age 21. And raise the legal age to drink, too, while we're at it.
I'd actually make the voting age 21. And raise the legal age to drink, too, while we're at it.
You might as well say 'if someone is bound by the law', they should be allowed a say'.
Then quit with your daft suggestion then.
Interesting, how you think debate is worthwhile, yet consider some posters' opinions as "screwing over" , rather than debating.
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You don't begrudge waste ? OK
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No. That's like non earning people don't vote. It's purely based on age. Taxed by law, vote by law.Ahh , pay for a vote.
Gotcha.
Or raise the tax age to 18
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Some people don't have the awareness of the world at 50.
I believe I said, "Not in the one I left 20 mins ago", or similar. If it helps to clarify- nothing of the sort was visible in that school (a comp), and hadn't been for the previous 2 weeks. I'd been there every day.
On 16 year olds having the vote, it's a tough call. But if you cut away the rhetoric (BS) that besets these threads, these are some lines of inquiry to follow before deciding...
Are retired people any better equipped to make an informed party choice than 16 year olds? (That group decided Brexit* here in Wales.)
Should only well educated people be allowed to vote? (Research suggests the lower educated supported Brexit, along with the power hungry.)
Should the voting age be upped to 21? (Or what should it be? Any research to suggest 2 more years is a deal maker for good democracy?)
*as an example of polarised voting
Posts like this add nothing, except to expose the bias of the poster. It suggests they'll only vote for what they want. I'm suggesting that lots of voters do that; and what a voter wants changes with time, and so will the vote. Maybe.
On balance I'd say yes, with the first trials being in local elections maybe. Committal enough?
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