The Case for Lowering the Voting Age

I've never been a fan of the idea of enfranchising younger people - until I realized the arguments against it are bollocks.

We've gone along with this notion that until you're 18 (formerly 21), you're not mature enough to be expected to vote responsibly. Below 18 you would be susceptible, easy meat for hustlers and con artists preying on your emotions, your fears. Below 18 you really wouldn't be able to achieve "informed consent."

Really?

Just look at what the grownups have done. They put Trump in the White House. They put Doug Ford in the premier's chair. They elected some hammerhead named Moe. They've bestowed premiership on thugs named Erdogan, Orban, Duterte.

What could those hustlers and con artists do to a 16 year old that they haven't already done with the grownups? Adults today are freely manipulated by fears and paranoia and appeals to their basest instincts, even to the point of voting against their own interests.

What did Trump promise his Gullibillies? Vastly improved healthcare for everybody that would put Obamacare to shame. Lower taxes. Slashed government debt. Oh yeah, and that wall. He hasn't improved healthcare one bit. The bought and paid for Congress won't hear of it. He's lowered taxes, mainly for the few at the top, and he's paid for it by adding about 1.5 trillion to the national debt, a form of indentured servitude for their children. Yet those Gullibillies cling to Trump just like... (your metaphor here).

The fact remains that you can't trust adults to vote responsibly. There's a reason we have such inept government today. That's what the voters are prepared to take. Voters today are largely fine with neoliberalism. They're largely fine with visionless short-term governance. They're largely fine with their politicians ducking the debt we owe to future generations. And their political maturity is better than a 16 year old's, why?

Now, imagine what this year's federal elections might look like if we extended suffrage to 16 year olds. These kids are aware of what's coming their way in the three or four or five decades ahead. They know that we're leaving them to take it in the neck. Frankly I think lowering the voting age would mobilize young people from 16 to 25 to turn out to vote responsibly, to vote for their future.

That would be like a 2X4 upside the head to this moribund political caste we have today. It would probably spark a major interest in climate change - mitigation and adaptation - that we haven't witnessed to date except in hollow campaign promises.

No, it's not 16 year olds I can't trust with the vote. It's 30 year olds and 40 year olds and 50 year olds and 60 year olds and their elders I don't trust with the vote.

Young people have more skin in this game than we ever had. Let them have their say and let our miserable political caste hear their message.