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Voting

ThatgirlEsther$

1

Why should children not be involved in politics or voting

Original post by ThatgirlEsther$

Why should children not be involved in politics or voting

Well, I'm sure you would agree that there is a minimum age at which all children would be incapable of making any sensible political decision. You wouldn't want 5 year-olds to be able to vote, presumably?

There are likely some (but not many) 12 year-olds who are politically knowledgeable, but that it's certainly not the case for the vast majority of that age group.

As we can't really assess the ability of individuals (i.e. who isn't mature enough to be trusted to a sensible decision and who is), countries instead pick an age when the majority of that age group would be capable of voting sensibly. The age cut-off is arbitrary. There will be many below the cut-off who would make excellent voters, and there will be many above the cut-off who would not.

Are you happy with the concept of an age-based cut-off, or would you prefer some other measure? Or is merely the level of the cut-off (18) which you have an issue with?

Reply 2

Rakas21

21

Most people don't have the life experience or value judgment capability at a young age.

Even today the vast majority of 18-24 year olds are somewhat naive and uninformed, believing in extremist notions like republicanism, regional nationalism, pacifism.

Reply 3

LoverOfBooks

9

Original post by ThatgirlEsther$

Why should children not be involved in politics or voting

I think that politics is just an intricate thing, and it's difficult for even some adults to understand how certain decisions can impact other things, and how everything is ultimately down to political decisions that are made. And this would be such a hard concept to grasp for a lot of children and young people.
I do think that there should be some sort of political lessons for children and young people in schools, because voting and engaging in politics is so important, and I knew hardly anything until I did my politics A Level. At the end of the day, it is the children and young people who will have to deal with the consequences of decisions being made now, so even if it's probably a fairly good thing that we can't vote until 18, I do believe they should have some level of knowledge for when the time comes.

Reply 4

DSilva

12

Original post by Rakas21

Most people don't have the life experience or value judgment capability at a young age.

Even today the vast majority of 18-24 year olds are somewhat naive and uninformed, believing in extremist notions like republicanism, regional nationalism, pacifism.

"People who disagree with me shouldn't be allowed to vote."

Reply 5

hotpud

18

Original post by Rakas21

Most people don't have the life experience or value judgment capability at a young age.

I think that extends to most adults in this country too. Just look at the disaster Brexit has turned out to be. Pretty much everyone who voted Brexit thought they were voting for something completely different to what it actually turned out to be. aka they were ignorant and their ignorance was preyed on by politicians with ulterior motives.

So with that in mind, I would suggest that young people as a whole are probably more informed that many adults.

Reply 6

Saracen's Fez

Volunteer Section Leader

20

A good question!

I do support lowering the voting age to at least 16, and allowing more people to take part in the democratic process. I'm not sure that a lot of the arguments made against 16-17yos voting can't also be made about people older than that, and I think it would be beneficial if more people had the opportunity to cast their first vote while still living at home and able to be encouraged to do so (and educated about the process) by their school or college.

There are also ways that people below voting age can and do get involved in politics – they can join political parties very often at a younger age than the voting age, and there are institutions such as the Youth Parliament (and equivalent youth parliaments in the devolved nations, youth councils in local government etc) which are specifically designed to ensure young people can take part in politics and put forward their views in a formal, if parallel, setting.

Reply 7

Rakas21

21

Original post by Saracen's Fez

A good question!

I do support lowering the voting age to at least 16, and allowing more people to take part in the democratic process. I'm not sure that a lot of the arguments made against 16-17yos voting can't also be made about people older than that, and I think it would be beneficial if more people had the opportunity to cast their first vote while still living at home and able to be encouraged to do so (and educated about the process) by their school or college.

There are also ways that people below voting age can and do get involved in politics – they can join political parties very often at a younger age than the voting age, and there are institutions such as the Youth Parliament (and equivalent youth parliaments in the devolved nations, youth councils in local government etc) which are specifically designed to ensure young people can take part in politics and put forward their views in a formal, if parallel, setting.

It fascinates me that people can look upon politics since 1997 especially (and 2016 certainly) and conclude that 'more democracy'' is the answer. The rise of Brexit, Corbyn and technocratic blob of Sunak/Starmer.

Practical outcomes are more important than principles about the purity of liberty. The youth of today have been brought up in a world where the state actively shields them from proper parenting, they are entitled and naive, actively encouraged to believe in extremist notions like separatism, republicanism, the destruction of social norms and to feel shame at our nations great history.

No sir, on balance the potential for further damage to our politics far exceeds the virtuous benefits.

Reply 8

TheStupidMoon

13

Original post by Saracen's Fez

There are also ways that people below voting age can and do get involved in politics – they can join political parties very often at a younger age than the voting age, and there are institutions such as the Youth Parliament (and equivalent youth parliaments in the devolved nations, youth councils in local government etc) which are specifically designed to ensure young people can take part in politics and put forward their views in a formal, if parallel, setting.