Voting Age
If you are a student of recent history you would know, it is not that long ago that the voting age was set at 21 years of age.
More recently it was reduced to 18 years of age.
The three year difference brings in another quarter-of-a-million, or there abouts, young minds into the political void.
In the age of entitled youth, meaningless funding of often futile education and fictional skills, should we consider OUR disrupted children are,
a capable of voting
b in need of care and protection from political mischief
Does anything really think a Commissioner for children would have an eye out for politicians misleading young voters?
Where are the guarantees that children won’t be subjected to subtle political violence when political forces and mischievous politicians troll through our schools.
When teachers want to abandon the profession because of violence and disrespect, who is teaching our children political awareness?
In a country were so few children know their fathers, let alone any balancing political view, should men be demanding a rise in the voting age, and if so, what age?
Hummm
I don’t consider 43 years ago (1974 it changed from 21 to 18) as more recent times.
At 18 you can
1. Be drafted to go to war.
2. Buy booze.
3. Drink at a pub.
4. Go to prison for life.
5. Fly a plane (from the age of 16)
6. Start your training to be a police officer.
And lots of other stuff.
At 18 years of age you know how to choose. And the above applies to both male and female.
So I consider at 18 you should be able to vote for the party and local MP in your area.
Bearing in mind, if you were 17 at the date of the election, your first vote would be when you are 20.
And as for politicians trolling through schools? WTF are you on about? You leave school when you are 18.
The only risk is teachers who may spin their own political view either left or right rather than an equal stance on each of the political parties. And on that point most of the teachers are female and their attitude or bearing may be coloured to vote for a female MP or PM rather than the policy.
Comment by Lukenz — Sun 8th October 2017 @ 11:32 pm
@LukeNZ I do consider the 1974 voting change recent history.
Many people who voted for the first time then, will still be alive today. Discussions in the past have told me that at that time, first time voters, voted on the advice or direction of other people, friends, employers, relatives – that they had not formed a decision themselves based on the information at hand.
While some, although I would suggest not many of today’s youth, show a great interest in voting, I find the younger generation not having any significant political interest until at least their mid twenties.
Does that simply leave a whole bunch of young minds vulnerable to voting vulchers?
As a child I never saw a politician in a school. I noticed particularly during the Clark era and presumably since, they have infested themselves into the educational forums, and much like a troll, with the intention of creating an emotional response, rather than a politicaly neutral and informed position that a school should offer, and did during my education.
Comment by Downunder — Mon 9th October 2017 @ 6:18 am