Soccer Moms + NASCAR Dads = ?
What would you call it? J-Lo Teens? “The TRL Vote”? Whatever the buzzword for this is, it looks like California is looking to lower the voting age (shout out to Ross for beating me to this one) :
A proposed amendment to California’s constitution would give 16-year-olds a half-vote and 14-year-olds a quarter-vote in state elections.State Sen. John Vasconcellos, among four lawmakers to propose the idea on Monday, said the Internet, cellular phones, multichannel television and a diverse society makes today’s teens better informed than their predecessors.
The idea requires two-thirds approval by the Legislature to appear on the November ballot.
“When we gave the vote to those who didn’t own property, then to women, then to persons of all colors, we added to the richness of our senate dialogue and our own nation’s integrity and its model for the world,” Vasconcellos said, calling it time to further extend the vote.
A Republican colleague said it was “the nuttiest idea I’ve ever heard.”
Said Assemblyman Ray Haynes: “There’s a reason why 14-year-olds and 16-year-olds don’t vote. They are not adults. They are not mature enough. They are easily deceived by political charlatans.”
Let me be the first to remind you all that our Governor is Arnold Schwarzenegger, a man who spent his entire campaign speaking in clich?s such as “We need real leadership for California”. And don’t get me started on the former cokehead who gets to lead the most powerful country in the world because of who his daddy is.
And let’s end the illusion right now that adult voters make their decisions based on careful study of the candidates and their issues. We all know that’s bullshit. To pretend that teenagers would vote for the first politician who promises to outlaw homework ignores the fact that their parents are probably dumb enough to vote for a politician who promised to shorten commercial breaks and make super-sizing free.
People are dumb and lazy. They don’t give a shit who wins because they don’t really understand why voting is important. Y’know who does realize how important voting is? That’s right, kids! While we’ve mostly forgotten all the stuff that we were taught in civics class about “one man, one vote” it’s still fresh in their minds. Hell, this could be one of the only opportunities the kids have to actually apply the knowledge they gain in school.
So, yeah. I’m strongly in favor of this. In fact, other than the last few years, the only other time I was really excited about politics was during the 1992 election. I actually cared about how the candidates stood on the issues and I was pissed that I wasn’t considered as “mature” as the adults who mostly stayed home on election day. If I was old enough at 16 to “rock the vote”, are 16-year-olds today much different?
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Thanks for the link G,
For the record, I do mostly (a very qualified) mostly think this is a very interesting idea and potentially a good one. However, it’s also really funny.
Still, I have to consider that the right to vote seems to me like an empty right without the other rights and responsibilities that come with being a fully established member of the citizenry.
For instance, you can’t 1/2 or 1/4 draft someone, or 1/2 or 1/4 serve in the military. Additionally, High schools are notorious because first amendment laws do not apply, and teenagers spend most of their time in high schools. How are we going to expect them to be able to vote on issues that directly affect them, for instance, how sexual education, religion, science, etc, is taught, if they simply aren’t allowed to discuss such things.
So, if there were a way to also ease in the rights and responsibilities of adulthood at roughly the same way voting rights would be phased in, I might be on board for this, but given the problems I see, I have to say no.
Comment by the eligible Ross Lincoln — March 10, 2004 @ 12:13 pm
Perhaps Republicans should only get 1/2 vote.
Comment by Becky — March 10, 2004 @ 12:18 pm
OUCH, that’s some cold S***! I think they should just have vote ryders. For every vote they make, someone who isn’t insane should get two votes.
Comment by the eligible Ross Lincoln — March 10, 2004 @ 1:00 pm
For instance, you can’t 1/2 or 1/4 draft someone, or 1/2 or 1/4 serve in the military.
Women never get drafted, they still vote. I can vote at 18 but can’t drink ’til 21. The point, of course, is that we have no problem accepting some differences in the application of various rights and responsibilities, so there’s no fundamental reason we couldn’t accept this kind of partial vote situation.
Also, while i agree that high schools can be fairly repressive, they’ve never been repressive enough to keep kids from exchanging memes. Kids still talk, over AIM while they’re supposed to be doing homework, at the mall, at practice, etc. Kids spend plenty of time discussing the things that affect their lives, and while a large portion of that may be dating, clothes, and sports, i remember a good deal of politics too. At least as much as the average folks i work with now, 10 years later…
I tend to believe that anything which involves kids in the political process before they get cynical and disaffected should be considered, at least. The biggest problem i see is the potential for parental pressure to vote a certain way, or the potential for an anti-parent protest vote. Lets have a pilot program and see how it works, i say.
Comment by k — March 10, 2004 @ 3:40 pm
i don’t know what i think of this issue… i think teenagers are pretty vapid and dumb and extremely apathetic for the most part. for every teenager like greg in ’92, there are 10 that only care about what kind of shoes they’re gonna buy at the mall.
also… think of the power this could wield for the republicans, i do’nt know how this works out statistically, but don’t republicans tend to have more children, while democratic intellectuals tend to have fewer (if any)? can’t you see large church and youth groups rallying all the teenagers into the voting booths to vote republican? can’t you see every republican with teenagers driving them to the polls and making them vote republican? “if you do’nt vote for Bush- you’re grounded for the next 4 years!”
think of the effect it would have on corporate teen-pop/rock. britney’s already a Bush supporter, what happens when teen-posters like her are forced to sing anthems for the republican party that are marketed directly at teens?
i don’t like it. .. i think it’s a good opportunity to try to get kids excited about voting, and teaching them more about the system (i know i was completely lost in my high school government class), but i just do’nt think they care enough about anything for this to be a good idea. most of the problems in this country stem from a deep-rooted self-centered culture. and teenagers are the most self-centered people on earth.
also- if i was a teenager and told that i was only half-a-vote, i’d feel slighted and pissed off and it would’ve probably added to the growing disillusionment that i already felt.
Comment by tom — March 10, 2004 @ 3:47 pm
forgive me, i shouldn’t have called teenagers “dumb” i should’ve said “ignorant”.
Comment by tom — March 10, 2004 @ 3:49 pm
considering that younger demographics tend to be the ones that vote in the lowest percentages, i can’t see where giving a 16 year old 1/2 of a vote is gonna make a goddamn bit of difference.
Comment by josh — March 10, 2004 @ 4:07 pm
Yeah, but it’s a secret ballot and voter coercion is a federal crime. I think teenagers would be just as likely to vote against the wishes of their parents.
The biggest problem I could see with this would be to ensure there isn’t any political activity by the teachers themselves. This is already against the rules, but I could see this getting harder to enforce if the kids were able to vote.
Comment by greg — March 10, 2004 @ 4:09 pm
K,
You’re right of course, I dind’t mean to imply that i think being in the military is some sort of prerequisite to being allowed to vote, I was just using that as an easy example of the sorts of things that come with adulthood civic stuff along with voting. You make some good points of course.
I would say that since these kids aren’t legally recognized as senient beings under the law (unelss they commit a crime of course, which is horrible in my opinion) letting them vote isn’t really doing much to empower them. And speaking with IM and e-mail isn’t the same thing as haveing realistic and competant authority figures willing to risk being fired to discuss issues effectively.
And my point is that the only was I would be able to support this is if the other rights and priviledges of adulthood are bestowed in similar amount. H
Comment by the Eligible Ross Lincoln — March 10, 2004 @ 5:03 pm
I say it’s a bad idea. It reminds of Hamid Karzai telling Afghan men the other day that they should let women register to vote; they can always tell them who to vote for later. And this was in an International Women’s Day address! Absolutely no way.
Comment by cs — March 10, 2004 @ 6:42 pm
For those of you interested in the issue of lowering the voting age, I encourage you to check out the National Youth Rights Association. NYRA is the group working on this proposal in California, and many others around the country. Plus there are great resources about the voting age.
http://www.youthrights.org
Comment by KPalicz — March 12, 2004 @ 6:37 pm
Young people as a class are disenfranchised. They are over represented among the poor, and uninsured, and, as a previous comments point out, their civil liberties are precariously protected, if at all. They are largely given the shaft by elected officials. Giving them the vote would be one way to directly allow them a voice.
A sixteen-year-old who murders someone can be tried as an adult. His wages can be taxed. If he is unable to vote in the election because he is “underage” can we excuse him from being drafted until the next election passes?
The powerlessness we learn as young people, while we are still fired up about issues, but not allowed to do anything about them may be part of the reason we (as adults) stay away in droves on election day. It seems likely that allowing and encouraging participation in the civic process when young, will have positive effects on the democratic process.
Comment by reb — June 3, 2004 @ 8:45 am