Honestly, your honest opinion. Should we really be letting 18 year olds vote?

Question

In the myspace generation which we have now, do yuo honestly know a lot of 18 year olds who you would trust with deciding the fat of the country for 4 years at a time? Honestly, not that a LOT of 18 year olds do vote but especially in times like this where they can so easly be swayed by their only information souce (THE LIBERAL MEDIA AND THE INTERNET) to vote for something which if you look deeper may be the wrong choice? I mean a lot fo 18 year olds havn't eevn graduated high school yet and yet they can vote?

I know I know, old enough to die in a war old enough to vote and I agree if your in the armed forces that you should be allowed to vote because you are more in tune with what the world is really about. But honestly at least in my town (and i'm only 21) I know a lot of 18 year olds and I wouldnt trust any of them to vote for the right thing, instead I would suspect they would vote for whats popular or what the TV tells them to.


Does anyone agree with this?

EDIT: For all you homos who want to note my typos and be like "Luks lyke U shldnt V0t3 because ju Caanot spellzorz"

Go to hell beacuse no one likes the spelling Nazis. I am at work at trying to type it fast.

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"I know a lot of 21 year olds that don't know enough to vote.

Heck, I know a lot of 30 year olds I wouldn't trust with a vote.

But you have to set a line somewhere and stick to it. "


You know I gotta agree with this, although i study a lot on politics and read a lot and am an active member of the US Army so I feel I know enough to vote, a lot of other 21 year olds I know from my hometown are no better than the 18 year olds. I agree maybe we do have to jsut set a line and stick to it and 18 is right.

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@ Sassuk

"they can fight the wars so yes,and they should be able to buy a drink also. "


Amen to that brother, we should lower the drinking age to 18, if they can vote and join the armed forces we should let them have a drink.

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@ Kimmy

"Should illiterates be able to vote?? How about mentally handicap people???"

No illiterates should not be able to vote and no seriousely mentally handicapped people should not be able to vote. We need good decisions being made, not ones fromt eh uneducated and the uncapable.

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@ Arewelotr2

"Yes, there are some rational 18 year old out there. I am 18 years old right now. I don't have a myspace. I am drug and alcohol free and I am strictly conservative."




You are part of a dying breed. You are making the right choices and trust that you will be rewarded for them in the future. Also on a side note, a little drink never hurt anyone lol.

Answer 1

I don't think 18 year olds should be allowed to vote. And I don't think they should be allowed to go to fight in wars either. They're just teenagers!

This doesn't apply to all 18 year olds but most. Most are mature, I know. But if I had to make the decision, I would be against 18 year olds voting.

My answer has nothing to do with maturity. It has to do with experience. A few more years (until 21) makes a huge difference in their opinions.

Answer 2

And how do you vote then? Who but the media would let you know whats happening? Do you make your decisoin by just walking into the booth and pulling which ever lever you see first?
Why should a 48 year old idiot be able to vote when a 17 year old genious cant? Why do we let people who are so out of touch rule the country? I mean come on I know many people under eighteen that could bring the world to nucklear war with a wireless labtop if they so desired scarry thought isnt it? Especialy for those politcians that think the internet is made up of tubes. I think we should have an age limit for voting to stop the old senile people from voting and buggering up the country. You know why the rest of the world views us as idiots? Because an old person would rather see that their car be filled up for a few bucks and pay no taxes rather then supporting the school systems. Old people can ruin the world and not be bothered by it because they'll be dead in a few years leaving the younger generations, you and me, holding the bag. At least we know that what we do now will affect us down the road and our kids. I say let those with a stake still left in the world after three years controll it.

Answer 3

why not ?? I'm 17 soon to be 18 years old and i believe i totally have the right to vote and i will ,,, i think i know in politics more than some 40 year olds , beside if u don't let them vote now , when will you ?? when they are 50 ? come on don't you think u need to get youth involved with all of this and feeling part of the society and take responsibility for their action , and for whom they voted for ???? i don't know what else i should say ..?? but if u don't want them to vote cuz u know a bunch of silly 18 year olds , then this is different ? what makes u believe that they will vote from the first place ??? i know bunch of 30 year olds and I'm not sure that they will pick the right person ? but wouldn't he be right from their point of view ?? that what makes us a Democratic country ?? isn't it ??

Answer 4

I disagree because you could make the same argument about anyone. Pretty soon anyone who is old can't vote. And anyone who is handicapped can't vote.

Moreover...adults (over 21) get their info from a variety of sources and you could make the argument that you're making about any one of those sources (fox news and ann couilter).

Who's to say what a good information source is these days anyways. It's completely subjective.

As far as I'm concerned everybody including kids should be able to vote. For example..16 year olds pay taxes and our tax money certainly is allocated towards kids. Why is 18 a magic number...it's completely arbitrary.

Just because you wouldn't trust an 18 year old in your town...doesn't mean they don't deserve the right to vote any more then you do.

Answer 5

Unfortunately here age is truly irrelevant. Just watch late night TV for each show's "man of the people" version of let's test the American public's knowledge... More people can name all seven dwarfs than can name a single Supreme Court Justice. More people know the details of the Anna Nicole custody debacle than know who the Vice President of America is. It is mind boggling that grown adults could not pass a 7th grade civics test. As to your point about 18 year olds - it is regretable that they appear to be horrible unaware and highly suggestive and influenced by the media, hollywood and the internet. It's this popularity contest in Minnesota that was largely responsible for the election of Jesse "The Mind" Ventura. One of the things you fail to acknowledge in your question is that it is a constitutional right to vote in this country at age 18. One of the rights so often abused, misused and ignored by the populace is the one of the greatest rights on this planet.

Answer 6

I voted at 18 and couldn't wait to vote. The vote I made was based on misinformation published by the party I voted. It was a stain on my hand that I never forgot. It made me a better citizen and a better voter.

It might surprise you how many 45 year olds vote for what's popular on TV (the media) or on who their party chooses without even researching the issues, if they even bother to vote at all. Some even just troll on Y!A and take no other political action.

So, No, I don't agree.

Answer 7

The voting blocks that dominate American politics are actually older voters. The AARP and the boomers (and the two are starting to overlap). 18 year olds don't have a high rate of participation, and there aren't really that many of them, since Americans have been having fewer children, later in life, for some time now.

So, it's a non-issue.

Answer 8

The problem with our Democracy isn't that 18 year olds, who are old enough to die in Iraq, vote. The problem is that too many of us don't even bother to vote. We claim to be bringing Democracy to Iraq and half of us don't bother to participate in our own Democracy.
And I do remember something from the Bible about a child leading us. Maybe we should turn everything over to the kids.
How could they possibly do any worse than us?

Answer 9

Nope, 18 year olds should be allowed to vote. But, The reality of the situation is, that 1/10th of less than 1 percent actually do so. Most voters are late 20's to 60's.

PS. P-Diddy and several others tried to get higher numbers with his "vote or die" campaign during the last election. And I do admire him for trying, anything to get people to vote. But it did turn out to be a dismall failure.

Answer 10

I know a lot of 60 year olds that only vote for whomever their church tells them to vote for. Should they also not be allowed to vote? The reason 18 year olds are allowed to vote is because they are adults, capable of participating in our democracy. And why do you say people in the military are more in tune with the world? I know non-military people who are pretty in tune with the world.

Basically you are trying to restrict voting to fit with your narrow view of the country's population.