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autismdragon [he/him, they/them] @hexbear.net

1y ago

Vivek Ramaswamy Wants to Raise Voting Age to 25 (or have a "competency test" for people 18-25)

www.thedailybeast.com GOP Contender Vivek Ramaswamy Thinks 18 Is Too Young to Vote

The 37-year-old entrepreneur wants to amend the Constitution to require citizens younger than 25 to pass a civics test in order to vote.

GOP Contender Vivek Ramaswamy Thinks 18 Is Too Young to Vote

They are sooooooooooo fucking mad that gen z caused the GOP to get wrecked in the midterms lol. Absolutely fuming.

politics @lemmy.world

GOP Contender Vivek Ramaswamy Thinks 18 Is Too Young to Vote

www.thedailybeast.com /2024-gop-presidential-candidate-vivek-ramaswamy-wants-to-raise-voting-age-to-25

GOP Contender Vivek Ramaswamy Thinks 18 Is Too Young to Vote

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60 comments

Sure, as long as we also have a competency test for retirees as well.
I wonder who scores better?
- Competency tests for everyone!
  "These are librul questions! The test is BIASED! The hollowcost is a lie! Ain't no Jews get killed in WWII!"
  
  And then someone gets in that decides that “competency” means whatever they want it to mean, and enough of their party mates run with it, and before you know it we’re back to shit like this:
  https://i.insider.com/5464ec57ecad044859bb083f
- I'm sure he wants to write the competency test as well. I wouldn't count on it to be fair.

So we're scrapping the 26th amendment, huh?
Not that people who spend all their time purging the voter rolls and making it hard to vote ever cared for it anyway.
But yeah this is a little harder to make happen than this chucklefuck might think. Good thing to run on since he can't follow through on it.
- So we're scrapping the 26th amendment, huh?
  Our current supreme court considers constitutional amendments to be unconstitutional, so I wouldn't be surprised if they rule in favor of scrapping it
- The #GOP lost 11 of their last 13 special elections, currently can't pass gas and are about to be completely fucked to death by demographics & another COVID wave. How do they think they are going to get a Constitutional Amendment done? 🤣😂🤣😂
  Completely Delulu.

Do we need to care what this guy thinks?
- No.
  
  /thread
- Not yet but I wouldn't be suprised to see Trump and/or Desantis pick this idea up. Also, I think its both 1. funny and 2. telling how scared they are of gen z.
  
  It certainly opens a can of worms though, I can see the democrats pushing for 16 (Scotland's done the same and it's further pushed the conservatives out of power there).
  It'll also be far easier to fight the GOP proposal in court as there will be people who are actively disenfranchised by raising the age, but it's not clear that existing voters could have standing to sue if we enfranchise younger people.
- From the guy claiming to want to run the Government like Elon runs Twitter?
  That was all I needed to know about him.
- You'd be the first!
- Nah, they're going to murder him in the first debate - he's the highest-polling candidate who they can attack without pissing anybody off, it'll be like that Simpsons joke about how at the start of a nuclear war every allied power will bomb Springfield simultaneously to test their weapons.

How about a competency test for politicians, how bout that? Competency in emotional intelligence, reading comprehension, an ethics check, maybe even just a cursory wherewithal check, even just a reality check.
If "alternative facts" are used, reject candidate.

Ok, how about nobody below 25 gets taxed then? No taxation without representation.
- Felons in states where that loses you voting rights get taxed if they work. Same with if a 16 year old works. We already arent consistent with this one lol
  
  Don’t forget about Puerto Rico, Guam and D.C.
  
  Minors who work shouldn't be taxed by default anyway.
  
  It was always just a slogan for separation from the British Empire.

Remember when we had competency tests for African Americans in the past? Yea....

Given that young people have a much bigger stake in the future, we should probably do the opposite — let kids vote and disenfranchise the elderly.

Wait, so his proposal is for voters to become more informed before stepping into a voting booth? Did he think this through?
If conservatives are getting crushed now wait til gen z spite-votes against anything conservative because now they have a better understanding of how democracy is supposed to work. Prime leopardsatemyface in the making.
- No, his proposal is requiring approval to be able to vote. Next step is to be the one controlling the approving instance. After that they don't need a long-term plan for voting anymore, as it's either them being in control or a revolt.
- He is not. He’s proposing bringing back literacy tests.
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacytest
  
  The more you know eh?
  That’s super troubling, especially this bit from the wiki article
  The Supreme Court then upheld the ban as constitutional in Oregon v. Mitchell (1970), but just for federal elections.
  So it sounds like we could return to literacy tests at a state or local level but I’ve never heard of that happening, so there must be separate state level bans on that practice or something. Would have to look into it to form an opinion.
  
  Modern Jim Crow. It's not a bug with the #fascist #GOP.
- I think a more adequate solution would be giving all voters a break down of party promises before they make a vote, with some outside organization designated for providing mandatory checks on the party's previous promises and whether/how they delivered them.
- Hush, millenials spent the last 2 decades getting conservatives to build a brick wall separating the world from hell with them on the other side, don't ruin the whole effort now, they're so close!

I think we should go back to the old school election system. Only white men with land ownership can vote, and also white men with land ownership can be elected, so Ramaswamy is no longer allowed to run. I’m sure his party will support that, so he should too

And also raise the minimum age for serving in the armed forces to 25?
- Lmao you know they desperately want to lower it so they can get their groomer ass recruiters in even earlier. US would absolutely do child soldiers if they could get away with it, they're only barely not doing so now.

How about a competency test for politicians?

They said the same about millenials.
Joke's on us, both generations are so disenfranchised most of us don't fucking vote. We could dominate the political landscape if we did, but we don't.
Also you just know that such a test would be designed as to be Impossible to complete in a timely, convenient and efficient manner.
- We could dominate the political landscape if we did, but we don’t.
  Go look at the midterms we just had, it was historic. The GOP was supposed to gain way more seats based on previous trends but Gen Z came out in droves and denied them that. There hasn't been a midterm like that in half a century. That's why the GOP are saying things like this, they're scared because in 2024 even more Gen Z will be eligible to vote.
  Everyone make sure you do what you can to vote, it's crucial.
  
  There will be voters in 2024 who were 14 when trump lost in 2020 and who were 10 when he first got elected. How do you think they will vote having grown up watching all that happen?

No one cares what this future "also-ran" thinks.

But really, we do need a voting competency test.
- I know why this idea seems attractive to people sometimes, but I don't trust the people in power to administer one in an unbiased way.
  also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_test
  
  We need a fair competency test for all voters, young and old. However there is no way to make and maintain a fair test that has no chance for corruption. So every citizen gets a right to vote with no exceptions. Anything restricting voter rights needs abolished
- But really, we do need (ARBITRARY BARRIER) to (HUMAN RIGHT)
  
  We need walls around our water sources!
  Damn it, that doesn't sound nearly as far-fetched as it was supposed to, actually. In real life, they'd be moats not walls, because it makes less sense.
- I feel the opposite. We should have mandatory voting for all federal general elections. Treat it like jury duty or taxes - voting is a civic duty. You should be compelled to cast a ballot even if you leave it blank because you have no preference.
  Of course, this can only workwith automatic voter registration and 100% mail-in ballots.
- If so, then it should be for all voters. Otherwise one is creating different classes of voters. We've already tried that, and it didn't turn out well.

60 comments