Why does the government feel that an 18 year old is old enough to make the ultimate sacrafice for his country, but isn't old enough to be able to drink responsibly? It just doesn't seem fair!
for the same reason that your spies are loyal to their paycheck rather than morality, justice or the constitution. the government is corrupt with power and the way to stay in power, is to build a military. the easiest way to increase your military, is to allow more people to join. and its not just america where this goes on. even here in peaceful littel new zealand, people can join the army 2 years before they are elegble to vote or drink. which in my opinion is even worse than not being old enough to drink. they think 16 year olds are incapable of deciding who should rule, yet they are perfectly fine to have them defending the rulers from invasion or revolution.
It's just a law and laws can be changed. Are you personally making any effort to have it changed? If so, good for you. If not, then don't complain about "fairness." Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
well if you want to get the message out there once your speech is prepared, contact your local green party member, the greens are always willing to help people get their voice out there. ill see if i can get someone over here to give me some contact numbers or something, but since rod died my biggest link in the party is closed.
Before you go to too much personal effort and trouble, you should check on some of the same/similar efforts of the past. Many times in the USA, this issue has come up and it's always defeated ...you should check to see why and how it was defeated. Baron Max
In Scotland we can join the British Army at 16 years old. We can smoke cigarettes at 16 and have sexual relationships but we can not vote who we want to run the country or drink alcohol/enter a public house/club until we are 18. It makes no sense. We can fuck, die and smoke ourselves to death but we cannot decide who we die for/listen to or drink ourselves to death until 2 years later?
Well, DarkThorn, it may not make any sense to you, but it does to the many people who already vote and those that have been voted into office. So one should question ones own ideals a bit closer ...perhaps some of those very people grew up and realized that kids of 16 didn't know enough to vote. And I'm surprised that in Scotland, an 18 year old can vote ...my experiences with 18-yr old kids has not been the most favorable experiences! But you should also remember, and take into account, that while YOU might be perfect capable of being informed enough to vote, what of all of the other 18-yr olds that you know??? Are all 18-yr old kids capable of being well informed enough to vote? Baron Max
No Baron you have a point. I don't think 18 year olds should vote or if they are going to vote they should be informed of politics in high school so they know what they are doing. I also think people of 16 and 18 are still too immature to make a decision on whether or not to smoke, drink or have sex. Underage sex, teenage pregnancy are huge problems for Scotland and England, Wales, Northern Ireland. Education needs to be reformed so kids are better informed about everything. The age limits need to be considered and set. Laws should be followed. I don't smoke, drink or take drugs (anymore) and i did have a child before i was 18 which was [as much as i love her] a really stupid thing to do.
Umm no that's not how it went.... 18 yr old boys are old enough to fight in wars, therefore they should be able to choose the leaders who send them to these wars. Yes, they should be well-informed, and they are. Students in US are required to take courses in gov't and economics. Do they understand everything well? They understand things as well as a 50-yr-old would, or maybe even better, in some cases. Should 18-yr-olds be drinking? Well, they are drinking and smoking since 5th grade if they're smart enough, so, um, no problem there. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I second that thought my good man, there is a bit of inconsistency and to an extent lack of common sense. Common now, do you really need high school programs to be informed of politics? If subjects like mathematics can be thought to adolescents surely politics can too. Moreover adolescents are just like any other population; a few smart ones and a lot of lackadaisical ones, this including adults. The only problem with adolescents is their lack of interest in politics, not that they don’t know what is going on, certainly not today’s kids. And if you look carefully the same ratio applies for working and consenting adults. Hell! Most adults don’t know the capital of Norway as we speak. Nonetheless much of these same teenagers grow into the adults, its not like adults come from the unknown dimensions. The adults are the one’s messing things up. They are the one’s creating and distributing the drugs and alcohol; our children are the representation of our society and nothing more. So maybe it’s the adults who should not be voting! Children are molded into what the society is shaped into, so by all references they should have a say since they partake in a larger part of the society. In fact every parent’s ambition is to work for the children, every advertisement is targeted at children, every culture is designed to fit the leaders of tomorrow, and every new idea is usually adopted by adolescents first. Besides you don’t need to be mature to vote, exactly what’s so mature in voting? Last I remember most adults envy children because of their radical and free reasoning, not some biased and humanity-bypass thinking like adults, Shucks! Most adults in America don’t even have a mind of their own anymore. To me if anybody is going to fight for you they surely deserve a say on the socio-political, otherwise that’s surely not democracy but slavery. If we really wanted it we can initiate our kids into politics but I think the real reason why we refuse is because it’s just one of those adult only things for no reason. Those were the days when technology and reason were flawed I suspect. What are these grounds? My totem is when you have a dog and the dog doesn' t like you do you keep the dog anyways becuase it lacks the ability to reason like you? Not much fun is it?! unless you really don't give a shit yourself. And by the way children emulate adults, so if children should not be voting adults surely shouldn't either. A mesed up child is a messed up parent or guardian and a mature child is a mature mentor. It's a two way street and the issue is too unfair.
If you are looking for a spark to change the world you have to look in children, and politicians all conservative by nature do not want this. Look at the Mao chinese revolution for example, constructed, implemented, and flawlessly executed by the younger population of China.
Wasn't it the Mao communists who put children to work in slave factories in order to produce the necessary products for the rest of the Chinese nation? And you call that "flawless"? Hmmm? Baron Max
This doesn’t change the fact that the younger generation did something about the failing socio-political environment. Besides, these communists who used children as slaves are they not adults? How can you expect children to emulate that kind of action? Is this the kind of example we want children to follow or vote for? Yet some adults somewhere is telling children not to vote. Last I remember Western multinationals still use third world children in modern day economic slavery. And since we are talking about slavery, when somebody fights and dies for your country he or she regardless of age deserves a voice for that country; and slavery doesn’t get any worse than that. Adults are just as fucked up as children. However adults do have responsibility and who is better at electing someone of great responsibility than someone who knows about the issue like adults. Notwithstanding many children assume a lot of responsibilities at an early age as well; they just lack the experience, which I think is the final destination difference between them and adults. But In my opinion they should be allowed to vote from 16, the society and its future depends on only them, let them assume some responsibility by doing this otherwise we would be spoiling them.
Yeah, and turned the nation into another socio-political failure! And you call that successful or "good"? Well, I don't. The greater majority of kids under-18 aren't responsible enough to be a major factor in national and/or international politics. And thankfully, most voters understand that, so it's likely that kids won't ever be given the right to vote! Baron Max
I also have a similar opinion on porn, at 16 you can legally get married and have kids, but you have to be 18 to buy pornography! Ridiculous huh??Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Those are two totally irrelevant situations. How can you compare getting married, to buying porno???? Baron Max
Dont presume ignorance with me Max, i know quite well you can see the connection i made, however let me explain; poliwog said I then, picking up on the lunacy of this i.e. Not able to drink, but can die 'defending' his country, and compared it to this, As in you can legally fuck a girl, marry her, have kids.But you go into your local newsagent, and cannot buy some pictures of naked women...i was pointing out the stupidness of this, and of relating it to Poliwog's post, it was to do with the whole age relating thing, im sorry if you cannot see this.
Actually no, because of their actions China is now more open socio-economically. This is part of the reason why China is today growing at 6 % per year and economists comparing them to the U.S already. A good example of the previous flaws was China's iron rice bowl policy. Common now you aren't making much sense now. Are adults really that more mature than kids, even if they are they have far more frequent lapse in reasoning. Who better to be voting that someone in his intellectual prime and attending school? I bet you 7 out of 10 adults don't know the square root of 64 or capital of New York. Besides just what is so mature about electing some dirt bag into office? If you can get a drive license and mature enough to drive then go right ahead and vote. Take your household for example, do you not do everything to make your kids happy, in fact the future and functioning of the society usually inclines towards kids so I can't understand how all of a sudden they make no difference. They make no difference yet they are fighting for people like you in Iraq so you can make idiotic comments like the one's you are making. Wait, two dirt bags come and TV and says "vote for me" in the most theatrical manner. By all indications which ever I pick should be a mature choice given that both candidates are mature and know what they are doing, get it? And if adults are stupid and childish enough to let immature and inept candidates run for election, then maybe its the adults fucking things up. And what is actually wrong with allowing young people express themself, no wonder we have lots of criminals and psychopaths in the society. Not expressing yourself at an early age and lack of responsibility leads to destructive behavior in future, and by telling young adults not to vote we are indirectly telling them not to express themselves by inhibiting them from electing possible role models.
