Debate Digest: Teacher-student friendships on Facebook, Law school, Balanced budget amendment, US debt ceiling deal.
Debate: Should the voting age be reduced from 18 to 16?
From Debatepedia
[Edit] Should the minimum voting age be reduced to 16, or remain at 18? |
[Edit] Background and contextAt present in the UK for General, local and European elections, as well as referenda, you must be 18 to vote. This topic has been written from a UK perspective, but the arguments can easily be adapted to apply to the situation in other countries too. |
[Edit] [ ![]() Argument #1 | |
[Edit] YesSome 16 year-olds may be inexperienced however, from their curiosity they can become informed, asking others for their views. Some may not know or care about politics, so will not vote. I mean, would you stand in line for an hour to vote for something that does not matter? In the UK, they do have to pay taxes, and lack of experience is no excuse. They can be mature, and we should trust them with the responsibility to make up their minds just as much as every other citizen, or why are we letting choose their future at schools and colleges? Marginalising is not the way, informing is if they are inadept. Similar arguments about lack of awareness allowed classism, racism and sexism, and in today's world, we should be able to work past them. Maybe some 16-year-olds care about skate parks and community centres, but then surely we should be fulfilling their needs rather than ignoring them. Yes, maybe a few may act illogically and irrationally for these, but so do many adults on reducing taxes, for example, not realising future implications. Maybe the pitches would be driven slightly by popularity, but then again, is not every leadership really about getting rational support. The argument that law should stay unfair is age discriminatory. The argument that we cannot trust children to drink is used circularly with the fact that they cannot vote as a justification. Why can’t children vote? Because they can’t be trusted to drink. Why can’t children be trusted to drink? Because they can’t be trusted to vote. It is not their maturity, rather the outdated laws caused by the misunderstanding of their maturity that lead to this argument, and the remnants of the outdated, illogical, discriminatory arguments that justify the no argument. At 16 a person can get married and have children. If we allow them this responsibility, we should also recognise that they are mature enough to vote. |
[Edit] No
|
[Edit] [ ![]() Argument #2 | |
[Edit] YesOne of the important original reasons behind democracy was "no taxation without representation". At 16 you can get a job and pay taxes and it is undemocratic that you have no say in who sets those taxes. Areas such as the minimum wage and benefits also affect you directly and you should have a say in these policies. |
[Edit] NoPolicies on nursery education affect 4-year-olds, but it does mean that we give them a vote! We must trust mature adults to vote on the behalf of children. |
[Edit] [ ![]() Argument #3 | |
[Edit] YesIn today’s society 16-year-olds are more mature than ever before and there is no significant gap between an 18-year-old and a 16-year-old’s ability to vote; the distinction is arbitrary. |
[Edit] NoThat the fact that more young people are smoking, drinking and having sex earlier than before does not mean that they are more mature. 16-year-olds are still children mentally and much development happens in the next two years. If anything, the voting age should be increased to 21 to ensure full maturity. |
[Edit] [ ![]() Argument #4 | |
[Edit] YesWithin limitations, the wider pool of voters we have, the better it is for democracy, as it increases representation. |
[Edit] NoIt is sentimental to argue that everyone should have the vote. With this argument, why not 14-year-olds? The fact is that you must have limits and while some 16-year-olds probably are mature enough to vote, the status quo protects against the majority who are not. |
[Edit] [ ![]() Argument #5 | |
[Edit] Yes
|
[Edit] NoMost 16-year-olds would either vote the way their parents voted, or deliberately vote the other way to be rebellious. They would not consider all the issues and make an informed decision. |
[Edit] See also[Edit] External links
[Edit] Books:
|
Categories: Debatabase | Politics | Voting | Voting rights | Elections | Youth | Youth rights | Citizenship