Should the voting age be reduced to 16 in the US?

[Redeemer]

Why are we discussing the lowering of the voting age when we can't even get people to the polls to vote who are already eligible????? like seriously

We then have a war between news network using misinformation and blatantly manipulating facts and truth. We have a foreign power trying to manipulate or election results. We had a president accused of colluding with said power (Thankfully that appears to not be the case.)

Point being is I think we have a lot more concerns and work to do besides lowering the voting age.

[Leo656]

Again, it's only being floated as a possibility because one party will stop at nothing to create a permanent base of gullible people who think people's "feelings" matter in the Big Picture of setting policy for billions of people, when in fact they don't.

They've been trying to create a permanent underclass "Welfare State" for years (hence trying to abolish Voter ID laws and claiming they're "discriminatory" instead of Common Goddamn Sense). If they can't have that, tricking people who are middling their way through Sociology I and read Marx on their Summer vacation into voting for them seems like the next best thing.

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Someone told me once there is a theory about how people and societies get more sensitive or mentally weaker when they go through long periods of peace/no war or something like that.

Europe and the Western world as a whole have enjoyed a lot of peace and prosperity since the 2nd half of the 20th century, which is good, but I guess on the other hand we've become a bit weak as well. So it's a double-edged sword.

Many decades ago, people simply didn't have the time to feel down or unhappy. They were too worried about not dying in a war or not starving to death.

Originally Posted by Prowler

I mean, they weren't happy, but at the same time mental health, depression, etc. weren't very well known yet. And people couldn't search for professional help as easily as they can nowadays. Plus, it's likely you'd be either too poor to afford it or you'd just be busy somewhere else fighting a war. That's what I was trying to say.

I think what you could be meaning is that the standard for contentment was very low considering how violent the first 2/3 of the 20th century was (WWI, WWII, the Communist Revolutions of Russia and China, Korean War, Vietnam War), the epidemics that used to easily kill millions (like the Spanish Flu of 1919-1920 that infected 500 milllion, and killed 50-100 million) before the advent of vaccines and antibiotics in the mid 20th century, and what we consider necessities (electricity, clean water and sanitation) were previously considered luxuries in the beginning of their implementation around the end of the 19th century.

Our lifestyles are certainly much more comfortable and improved than compared to our grandparents' lifestyles.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Refractive Reflections

I think what you could be meaning is that the standard for contentment was very low considering how violent the first 2/3 of the 20th century was (WWI, WWII, the Communist Revolutions of Russia and China, Korean War, Vietnam War), the epidemics that used to easily kill millions (like the Spanish Flu of 1919-1920 that infected 500 milllion, and killed 50-100 million) before the advent of vaccines and antibiotics in the mid 20th century, and what we consider necessities (electricity, clean water and sanitation) were previously considered luxuries in the beginning of their implementation around the end of the 19th century.

Our lifestyles are certainly much more comfortable and improved than compared to our grandparents' lifestyles.

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. Thanks for the help.

[Andrew NDB]

They're still pushing for it:

https://meng.house.gov/media-center/...merica-to-16-0

https://www.youthrights.org/issues/v...he-voting-age/

[IndigoErth]

Sorry, kids, no, I don't agree, it won't kill 16-year-olds to wait just two more years. Esp when presidential elections only happen every 4th year. It didn't kill the rest of us either and you're far from the first generation to have those responsibilities you claim. You're just the most self centered "give it to me now!" generation. Most of what you kids tend to whine about isn't anything new starting with you, it's been everyone before you and in some ways you have it easier.

We are also capable of incredible intelligence and accomplishment.

A few outliers does not mean the self obsessed Tiktok generation should get to make important decisions yet. Late teens and young 20s is risky enough given the remaining amount of immaturity left to be outgrown.