Canada should follow U.K.'s initiative to lower voting age to 16, says senator
Canada should follow U.K.'s initiative to lower voting age to 16, says senator
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80 year olds should not be voting on things that are going to effect 16 year old for the rest of their lives without 16 year old having a voice.
Civics courses should be mandatory. Misinformation should be prohibited. Politicians should be prohibited from lying.
Small change ...
Politicians should be jailed for lying.
No objection.
There's absolutely no argument denying youth the right to vote that wasn't equally invalid when it was used against other groups. There are uncaring, naive, uninformed, and stupid people in every group, but denying the whole group is wrong. It's also going to be inconsequential -teenagers make up a tiny fraction of the population. The main reason to do it is that voting young predicts lifetime engagement in the voting process - so limiting it is a bad idea for that reason alone.
I'll go even further and say that anyone with the mental capacity to be able to follow the rules and instructions, maintain decorum in a polling station, and properly fill out a valid ballot should be allowed a voice in elections. That's the same criteria we use for legal adults.
They're a tiny percentage and then how many of them will even vote, too? I agree. Let the few who care have a vote.
90 year olds shouldn’t be voting on things that are going to affect 2 year olds for the rest of their lives without 2 year olds having a voice. That argument is kinda vague and baseless.
And likewise, why does a 16 year old get to decide how an 80 year old that can’t get to the polls should live their final days? How much OAS they get, or which healthcare they get, etc.
Those old people will die soon and the rest of that 16 year olds life they can vote for whatever selfish things they want to have too. It’s annoying to arbitrarily assume old people are just trying to fuck over the younger generation without a care when that would be wildly unpopular with basically all other age groups.
Honestly I do not think 16 year olds should get to vote. They’ve barely had a chance to have a job (legally 1 year at most) and they haven’t even applied to university or college yet. They broadly don’t know what responsibility is, they don’t know what work is, and they’re not fully mentally mature.
18 sure, life is starting to hit you then. 16 is simply too young and too inexperienced at life to put in a place to decide how we all live.
90 year olds aren't going to vote for education, childcare, etc. They have a few years left to live. 16 year old have their entire lives to live. Look at what happened in Britain. Old people voted to withdraw from the EU which disproportionately harmed young, mobile professionals.
This idea that old people care only about themselves is wrong, and very much a young person's view. As you get older it's not uncommon to care less about getting things for yourself (what are you going to do with it?) and more about the people and world you're going to leave behind. An old person who appreciates the value of education or healthcare doesn't stop wanting that for the country just because they're soon going to be gone.
A lot of 80/90 year olds have family they love.
I get what you're saying, but I don't think letting 16 year olds vote is the right move.
All 16 year olds pay into the programs that support the few 90 year olds. They're a pyramid scheme that takes from the young and gives to the old. 16 year olds are old enough to pay taxes and they are old enough to vote.
No vote, no taxes.
Canada's OAS and CPP are not a pyramid scheme, they're based on what you actually put in and guaranteed.
They don't have the solvency issues that US Social Security has.
My main point:
No vote, no tax.
I would be fine with not charging workers under 18 tax.
When I was that age saving for university wasn’t easy and staying life off with a bunch of debt and no guaranteed job isn’t fun.
But they DO pay tax so they should have a voice since they are being taxed without representation.
I could defintely see 16 year olds voting against their best interests, such as lower drinking ages, less school years, easier school circulums. Ending school at grade 10 might sound like a great idea to a 16 year old and the mp pitching it could convince older canadians it would save a lot of taxes as well, all well significantly impacting that new generations education potential.
Is that worse than the adults in Alberta repeatedly voting in governments that allow foreign companies to take Alberta oil out of the province for fractions of a penny on the dollar while failing to put away sufficient reserve funds to clean up their messes in the province leaving those adult voters and their future children holding a many tens of billions of dollars cleanup bill?
When have those things ever been on a ballot?