the franchise should be truly universal and every citizen regardless of age should have the vote. There is no argument on level of maturity or intelligence - we have ample evidence that higher voting ages do not produce better outcomes - democracy should at least go down in as absolute a state as possible
Lowering the voting age to 16 makes sense on paper. Many people at that age work, pay taxes, and take on real responsibilities. But let’s be honest, parties don’t push changes like this unless they believe it gives them an electoral edge
Very wishful thinking, but could this be an impetus for quality political education at a younger age? E.g. how to reason about issues, think critically, fact check, verify past outcomes, etc. That could have positive effects on all age groups.
I like UK labour and the current gov in particular but I have to note this and it happened in other countries too. If the ruling party is left, it has predominantly younger votes and if it can get away with lowering voting age it will do it. And the cool thing is, this is irreversible because no one will dare to raise the age afterwards
I suspect a mass of support for this is a reaction to Brexit, I don't think that's unfair: the generational gap in that vote was huge, with older voters who no longer work (and, to be blunt, have fewer years left to feel the consequences) voted for Brexit while younger generations with entire careers ahead of them voted against.
I can see the argument that 16 year olds are too young to make an informed choice but I've also met a great many people of all ages who are too ill informed to make a choice too. Fundamental weakness of democracy, I suppose.
Expanding the electorate to include children with brains still undeveloped is a bad move. There is plenty of evidence that teenagers, including those who already can vote, have trouble grasping complex issues. Yes, that happens in other age groups too, but not at such rates.
Think of all the dumb, stupid things you did when you were 16 and about all the things your friends did. That's the kind of people that are given the vote. How can that improve the state of democracy? How can that lead to better policy? When you increase the number of voters by the most impressionable and unstable section of the population?
Absolutely proud of this comment. That most people didn’t get it is just proof of how effective the media machine is. You have no idea what is going on in the UK, even many of the people that live there.
Voting should not be a right!! Voting should be a privilege, like driving is, and should be a points based system.
Don't downvote yet, hear me out on this, ok?
Upon hitting the lawful 18 (or 16 or whatever) you automatically have the "privilege" to vote, and your voting power is 1 (single) point. Then you are obliged to vote on your local/national elections. Too many people currently shit on their right to vote and do their research like in the night before elections. Instead make it an exam, and with 3 fails to vote you lose the privilege. Also you take the exam about current politics and parties, and raise your points up to, let's say 10. You want to have more voting power? Get fucking involved in politics. Local administration involvement? Cool beans bro, your new threshold is 20. County? 40. National (like a senator?), 80. All the way to the top, where members of government (ministries, heads of national agencies, president) get their max at 100.
Why this rant? Because I see the argument regarding Brexit with young vs. old thrown around here and is all true. If you'd have voting a privilege then people would care about it, like you care about your driving license. Current society has all the tech to actually give people a real democracy on their hands. Get involved one hour in your country politics. No need for a parliament full of old farts that all they do entire life is polish the chairs while sleeping and vote on laws according to their paying masters. President and ministry heads encounter problems, raise them in public forums, ideas gets formed around, laws are then formed based on those discussions and then put to vote. National vote. Like a fucking app. Easy to vote. One fucking hour of your day goes to politics instead of the idiotic sports because we have the idiocy running around where stars of different shows are more important than the fucking tax that actually has a more important impact on your finance. But hey, what dress Kartrashian wore or what football pass Beckham did is more important than the highway you use to drive to work, right?
I suspect this will be pretty much the end of the Labour and Conservative parties, which is clearly a good thing - neither is fit for purpose any more. The new left-leaning party announced by Zarah Sultana, and the far right arseholes in Reform are likely to take the vast majority of teenage voters - both because they will at least offer some kind of hope to people who otherwise have none.
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[ 2.0 ms ] story [ 72.8 ms ] threadLet us ignore the long and deep-storied history of young (under-18) leaders.
I can see the argument that 16 year olds are too young to make an informed choice but I've also met a great many people of all ages who are too ill informed to make a choice too. Fundamental weakness of democracy, I suppose.
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-app...
Think of all the dumb, stupid things you did when you were 16 and about all the things your friends did. That's the kind of people that are given the vote. How can that improve the state of democracy? How can that lead to better policy? When you increase the number of voters by the most impressionable and unstable section of the population?
Don't downvote yet, hear me out on this, ok?
Upon hitting the lawful 18 (or 16 or whatever) you automatically have the "privilege" to vote, and your voting power is 1 (single) point. Then you are obliged to vote on your local/national elections. Too many people currently shit on their right to vote and do their research like in the night before elections. Instead make it an exam, and with 3 fails to vote you lose the privilege. Also you take the exam about current politics and parties, and raise your points up to, let's say 10. You want to have more voting power? Get fucking involved in politics. Local administration involvement? Cool beans bro, your new threshold is 20. County? 40. National (like a senator?), 80. All the way to the top, where members of government (ministries, heads of national agencies, president) get their max at 100.
Why this rant? Because I see the argument regarding Brexit with young vs. old thrown around here and is all true. If you'd have voting a privilege then people would care about it, like you care about your driving license. Current society has all the tech to actually give people a real democracy on their hands. Get involved one hour in your country politics. No need for a parliament full of old farts that all they do entire life is polish the chairs while sleeping and vote on laws according to their paying masters. President and ministry heads encounter problems, raise them in public forums, ideas gets formed around, laws are then formed based on those discussions and then put to vote. National vote. Like a fucking app. Easy to vote. One fucking hour of your day goes to politics instead of the idiotic sports because we have the idiocy running around where stars of different shows are more important than the fucking tax that actually has a more important impact on your finance. But hey, what dress Kartrashian wore or what football pass Beckham did is more important than the highway you use to drive to work, right?
Now you can downvote me.