I generally agree. I think it’s reasonable to restrict young children from voting (though I think we should lower the voting age to 16) because they aren’t mentally prepared for the implications of voting. I also think that at a certain point old people start losing those capabilities and also shouldn’t vote. On the upper end its going to widely vary so I don’t think there’s a reasonable way to formulate a just exclusion criteria… but I agree with the general principle.
I don’t think a 16 year old is not mentally prepared. It’s more that they are still mostly brainwashed by their parents, churches and a general desire to fit into a “team”. Fuck, maybe we shouldn’t the average American vote. Lol.
Given how we keep coasting along on ancient stupid laws (or even resurrecting them in certain cases - cough AZ cough ), I don’t think it’d be wise to start instituting short-sighted age-related laws, in the event that life extension starts to rear its head in ways that start quickly invalidating expectations of the past. The only way something like this might make sense is if it there is an objective way to actually measure cognitive ability.
Though I bet cons would fight this tooth and nail, because I have a feeling a lot of their voters and candidates might not pass such tests…
Yeah, I could think of all kinds of ways to rationalize invalidating various age ranges based on stereotypes with a given age range. 18-25? They might be too busy with education to be informed of politics to actually vote responsibly. 25-30? Possibly still living with their parents, and don’t have their own house or they are raising small children, and/or trying to start that corporate ladder climbing, so no time to be informed. 30-55? Too busy trying to bust their asses to pay off student debt and support older children, still no time to be informed. 55-70, kids boomeranged home because housing is so expensive, maybe even still paying student loans in addition to trying to help out with their kids’ student loans, and so still working/came out of retirement to try to keep a roof over everyone’s heads. Probably consuming total nonsense uber-far-right nonsense like Faux and OAN and hate radio in the car, or just merely slightly right wing corporate outlets like MSNBC, so they cannot have the vote, either. 70 and up - probably run out of the workforce by that time and so if you ain’t working, you don’t matter any more…
I generally agree. I think it’s reasonable to restrict young children from voting (though I think we should lower the voting age to 16) because they aren’t mentally prepared for the implications of voting. I also think that at a certain point old people start losing those capabilities and also shouldn’t vote. On the upper end its going to widely vary so I don’t think there’s a reasonable way to formulate a just exclusion criteria… but I agree with the general principle.
I don’t think a 16 year old is not mentally prepared. It’s more that they are still mostly brainwashed by their parents, churches and a general desire to fit into a “team”. Fuck, maybe we shouldn’t the average American vote. Lol.
Given how we keep coasting along on ancient stupid laws (or even resurrecting them in certain cases - cough AZ cough ), I don’t think it’d be wise to start instituting short-sighted age-related laws, in the event that life extension starts to rear its head in ways that start quickly invalidating expectations of the past. The only way something like this might make sense is if it there is an objective way to actually measure cognitive ability.
Though I bet cons would fight this tooth and nail, because I have a feeling a lot of their voters and candidates might not pass such tests…
Yeah, I could think of all kinds of ways to rationalize invalidating various age ranges based on stereotypes with a given age range. 18-25? They might be too busy with education to be informed of politics to actually vote responsibly. 25-30? Possibly still living with their parents, and don’t have their own house or they are raising small children, and/or trying to start that corporate ladder climbing, so no time to be informed. 30-55? Too busy trying to bust their asses to pay off student debt and support older children, still no time to be informed. 55-70, kids boomeranged home because housing is so expensive, maybe even still paying student loans in addition to trying to help out with their kids’ student loans, and so still working/came out of retirement to try to keep a roof over everyone’s heads. Probably consuming total nonsense uber-far-right nonsense like Faux and OAN and hate radio in the car, or just merely slightly right wing corporate outlets like MSNBC, so they cannot have the vote, either. 70 and up - probably run out of the workforce by that time and so if you ain’t working, you don’t matter any more…