 Cacique Caribe  | 28 Sep 2011 8:40 a.m. PST |
link This month's NG has an extensive section on this topic. Dan
PS. I say there's definitely good scientific reason to prevent anyone under 30 from voting on anything that could affect adults.
Why do I say 30? Same reason Ripley in Aliens said "I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." Why take the risk, right? |
| Cacique Caribe | 28 Sep 2011 8:45 a.m. PST |
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Daffy Doug  | 28 Sep 2011 8:53 a.m. PST |
Popular voting is a stupid way to arrive at any important decision. A better system is by random selection to get the heads of gov't serving; for a limited time only, say a year, then repeat the process: it would be a crime to refuse to "serve your time". That way we would never be stuck with trying to determine which of the rats is the least likely to mess things up even worse. Politics as the West does it attracts the rats in society in disproportion to their actual percentage of the population. Btw, I distinctly remember being a teenager. And equally, I remember my 20's clearly. My brain was never fully developed. It still isn't. I change my mind all the time. It's called "learning"…. |
| Cacique Caribe | 28 Sep 2011 8:57 a.m. PST |
Addendum: And anyone with cats. link Dan |
| Shagnasty | 28 Sep 2011 10:36 a.m. PST |
I'm with CC on the voting thing. |
 Bowman | 28 Sep 2011 10:50 a.m. PST |
Popular voting is a stupid way to arrive at any important decision. It is a "stupid" way, except that it is smarter than all the other ways. Seriously, that's not how modern democracies work anyways, is it? The populace doesn't vote on specific topics. We vote a party in, that makes the appropriate decisions for us. ….I remember my 20's clearly. My brain was never fully developed. It still isn't. I change my mind all the time. It's called "learning"…. I hear ya, and totally agree. It's a life long process, not a destination. |
| Cacique Caribe | 28 Sep 2011 10:56 a.m. PST |
If it is progressive, then at 30 your vote should count once and at 60 it should count twice, right? :) Dan
PS. And, until you turn 30, your vote only counts as comedic relief. |
| Pijlie | 28 Sep 2011 12:09 p.m. PST |
Democracy: the worst form of government ever. Except for all others. Mind Winston´s words please. |
| Cacique Caribe | 28 Sep 2011 1:46 p.m. PST |
Off topic, really . . . I understand that Roosevelt lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, but what was the voting age when the US was founded? Thanks, Dan |
| DesertScrb | 28 Sep 2011 7:50 p.m. PST |
Actually, it took a constitutional amendment (the 26th) to lower the voting age for federal elections--the president had no say in it. And it didn't happen until 1971, long after Roosevelt. At the founding of the U.S. the voting age was 21, but the franchise was restricted to white male landowners. |
| Altius | 10 Jan 2012 1:53 p.m. PST |
Just went through a grey-hair-inducing episode with my own teenager recently. Good article. It's kind of comforting to read that both Aristotle and Shakespeare had the same opinion of teenagers that I do. |
 The Editor   | 13 Jan 2012 4:23 p.m. PST |
Seriously, that's not how modern democracies work anyways, is it? The populace doesn't vote on specific topics. We vote a party in, that makes the appropriate decisions for us. Except in California, where they've got that Propositions thing going… |
| Last Hussar | 21 Jan 2012 7:44 a.m. PST |
You can't diagnose a personality disorder in any one under 22. The best you can do is say "When he is 22 we'll throw him in front of a Psych, until then we manage risk." |
