Should we lower the US voting age to 14?

Question

If you are 14 the officials that get elected will have a say about your draft eligability at age 18. Shouldn't you have some say in that? As a side question, if you think the age is fine at 18 then why should 16 and 17 year olds have to pay taxes? That is taxation without representation, and think we fought a war over that once.

What happens at 18 that makes you so much more equiped to participate in an election that doesn't matter anyway?

Answer 1

Yes! im 14 and I know all the crap that George W. Bush has come up with. if 14 year-olds like me could vote, our country would most likely be better.

Answer 2

Voting at 14? Are you serious? 18 year olds often have no clue what is happening in politics and make hasty voting decisions. 14 year olds know even less!!!! The hope is that by the time you are 18, you have the maturity level and intellectual independence to make decisions that you believe are right and in the best interest of the community. Most 14 year olds can't even pick out clothes without seeing what everyone is wearing! I agree that the age a person is eligible to be drafted shouldn't coincide with the first time they can vote because they have no say in what happens to them. However, I don't believe the answer is lowering the voting age--I believe that the answer is raising the draft age to 21. How can we force a person into the military who is not even old enough to drink? You aren't completely "legal" until you are 21 anyhow, and it shouldn't be legal to draft you until then either. As for taxation without representation, in theory your parents represent you until you are 18 (21 in specific cases). They make all your legal decisions for you, even if you disagree with them (once again, there are exceptions). So it is not exactly taxation without representation, it's more taxation with your gaurdian representing you.

Answer 3

That is a question that would need to be addressed by constitutional amendment. 40 years ago, after the age was reduced to 18 participation was not that great. I suspect that the voter participation of 14 year olds would not be that great, and for that reason it will probably not happen.

There is some irony in the 18 year limit. How can people at 18 be responsibile enough to choose the leader of the free world, but not to drink responsibly?

Answer 4

Unfortunately that's about the mental age of most voters,although I have met 14yr olds with more sense.I do feel that if you are old enough to join the army at 17as some do it seems then you should be able to vote.Underage workers do pay taxes already.deductions are taken from their checks.
Its a lot like the old theme of our young country in Boston.Taxation without representation.but I do agree that 14 is too young to vote .Welfare and human rights affect children as much if not more than older people.More than half of children under the age of 14 live under the poverty level.

Answer 5

on an identical time as that is genuine that some human beings under the balloting age could be very qualified electorate, many human beings over the actual balloting age are not. i think of the present age is a outstanding stability. Requiring a attempt for eligibility finally leads to systematic discrimination. What if somebody votes with thoroughly distinctive values than others? If somebody votes purely for black human beings, that's their stunning, inspite of the undeniable fact that no longer unavoidably a outstanding theory. they had probable fail certainly one of these attempt in the event that they chosen solutions in accordance with that. Democracy's super flaw is that the opinion of the fool is properly easily worth the comparable as that of the professor. attempting to grant purely professors the skill to rule isn't an progression, however.

Answer 6

It doesn't matter if you lowered it to 14 or to 4. The reality is that most laws are written for older people (income tax, medicare, welfare, human rights) and younger people are tuned out. As it is, the people 18 to 24 vote less frequently than any other group in America.

So, you can lower to voting age to whatever you want. The fact is, statistics prove they won't show up!

TX Guy

Answer 7

No. 50% of the population is currently too stupid to vote, why would you want to let a bunch of stupid teenagers vote too? With "taxation without representation" it is understood that this applies to adults. Children don't have a say in most aspects of their lives, and should not, as they are too young to make a properly informed decisions.

Answer 8

No, I think we should raise it to 25, maybe even 30.
When you make the money & pay the real taxes & have children in school to worry about or health care, then you can vote about it. Even in college most of us had others pay - our parents, scholarships or goverment loans.

Write a journal on your political feelings & go back to after age 25 & see the difference.

Answer 9

HELL NO! And I'll tell you why. At 14, I was stuck blindly following what my parents had taught me. That was right before I rebelled, went the opposite way, and then came back. But I'm still more moderate than my mom could ever be.
The first election I could have voted in was in 2000. I didn't feel that I was informed enough to make a decision one way or another. Didn't know WHAT to make of Bush, and couldn't stand Gore. So then I voted in 2004, after researching each of the candidates for months.
A fourteen year old is not equipped to make such a decision. Period. There are mature fourteen year olds, but they're few and far between. Sorry.
As for the "taxation without representation", man, you sound like I did in high school! If a person is working, most of their money is going into social security. That is not taxation without representation. Yeah, taxes are steep, but...I'm too damn tired to even get into this. Let's just say that it doesn't mean what you seem to think it does.
I don't even think eighteen year olds should be able to vote. I think the age should be raised to 21. Or 25. Yeah. Twenty-five would be good.

Answer 10

How many teen agers are making enough money to actually have to PAY taxes?

I don't really think a 14 year old (generally speaking) has enough of a grasp of what's going on to vote responsibly.