Posted on 05/05/2017 9:26:27 AM PDT by EinNYC
Political and social activism is surging in America. Protest groups are springing up across the country. Concerned citizens are marching in the streets to support science, women's rights, justice and immigration. Congressional offices are flooded with calls from constituents.
And much of the renewed political and social activity is being carried out by high school students — many of them committed and informed activists, yet still too young to vote.
It is time to give those students a voice in government.
That’s the goal of the New York Young Voter Act, a bill the Youth Progressive Policy Group is pushing with the support of Assemblyman Robert Carroll (D–Brooklyn) and State Sen. Brad Hoylman (D–Manhattan). The bill — A.6839/S.5646, if you want to look it up — would lower the voting age in New York State to 17 in all local and statewide elections. It would also improve the high school curriculum by bolstering nuts-and-bolts civic education with lessons on the history and meaning of the Constitution, plus more intense focus on "genocide, slavery, the Holocaust, and the mass starvation in Ireland," according to the bill.
As a practical matter, the bill would also provide all high school students with the opportunity to register in their classrooms so they’re eligible in time for the next Election Day.
Opponents may contend that 17 year olds are not emotionally or intellectually ready for the responsibility of voting. But American 17 year olds already shoulder many of the responsibilities of adulthood: They can join the military (with parental consent), they can drop out of high school and work to support themselves and their families (80% of American high school students will hold jobs and pay taxes before they graduate), and, of course, they can drive a motor vehicle — one of their most dangerous responsibilities.
Still, these 17 year olds are left with no say in public affairs; they have no say in how their tax dollars are spent, how their public schools are run, how the criminal justice system is administered, and how legislators set their agendas.
Beyond enshrining the adult responsibilities and maturity of most 17 year olds, setting the voting age at 17 would expand and improve dismally low levels of democratic participation and civic engagement. In Austria, Brazil, Argentina, Scotland and one Maryland city, civic engagement soared when lawmakers lowered the voting age to 16. For example, the voter turnout by newly eligible 16- and 17-year olds in the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 was 75% — far higher than the 54% turnout by 18- to 24-year olds.
There is a world of difference between memorizing a driving text and applying it to operating a motor vehicle and deciding on the merits of candidates. You don't have to do much in the way of research or form an opinion based on facts, not rumors, to drive a car.
The adolescent brain is not fully developed--that's a simple fact. Scientists at the McLean Hospital Brain Imaging Center in Boston used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the activity of teenage brains to those of adults. The results from the McLean study suggest that while adults can to use rational decision making processes when facing emotional decisions, adolescent brains are simply not yet equipped to think through things in the same way. The results from the McLean study suggest that while adults can to use rational decision making processes when facing emotional decisions, adolescent brains are simply not yet equipped to think through things in the same way. Dr. Jay Giedd of the National Institute of Mental Health has said that brain scans show that the frontal lobes don't mature until age 25, and their connections to other parts of the brain continue to improve to at least that age. The inexplicable behavior and poor judgments teens are known for almost always happen when teens are feeling high emotion or intense peer pressure, conditions that overwhelm the still-maturing circuitry in the front part of brain.
This is biology. It is not opinion. Teens' brain architecture is simply not physically mature and fully functional at age 17. Nor has the academic input from very likely liberal social studies teachers been tested and evaluated by actual life experiences.
So while this particular young man makes an eloquent plea to be admitted to some of the privileges of adulthood, one must consider the vast majority of teenagers and their level of functionality. Have we not been hearing of daily tantrums from so-called adults about the election of Trump? Of infantile behaviors at colleges and the need for "safe spaces"? Shall we open the gates to admit large numbers of even more immature people, with limited life experiences and a brain not fully developed to help decide who our leaders should be, and what laws should be passed? I don't think so!
Freshly brainwashed kids.
The voting age needs to be raised to 35 or 40 when people are living in the real world with bills and responsibilities and start to get a little common sense.
Bullshit. They say that the brain is not fully developed until age 26 (so no responsibility for crimes committed before 26). Logically, then, the kid should not vote until 26.
The reason for this is that they can full heads with mush and train them to vote left. No other reason.
Still, these 17 year olds are left with no say in public affairs; they have no say in how their tax dollars are spent, how their public schools are run, how the criminal justice system is administered, and how legislators set their agendas.
They also have NO Skin in the Game, Pay NO Taxes and generally depend on others for their daily subsistence. We need to go back to only Property Owners having the Right To Vote
I remember this crap from when *I* was in HS.
Remember the old saying: Sophomores don’t know, they just don’t know they don’t know.
But the dems are probably salivating at the thought of this many stupid idealists who have never seen a paycheck and what the government does to it.
McLean is in Belmont.MA,not Boston.
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Dependent children, who are as has been pointed out not mentally mature, have no basis for having a say in government. They do not support a household, earn a full time living, pay taxes, etc. And they have no life experiences to base decisions on.
Join the US Military and defend the Constitution. Service guarantees citizenship!
Better idea: no taxation until the age of 18.
Only men who are married to and living with the mother of their children should have a vote.
People who are still on their parents insurance shouldn’t be allowed to vote!!
“We need to go back to only Property Owners having the Right To Vote”
There are a lot of hard-working contractors that have to rent.
I worked a large part of my career doing contracts all over the U.S. and even abroad.
Not right to suggest that these taxpayers have no right to vote.
If the Dems hadn’t killed all their babies, they wouldn’t be so desperate for new voters.
Robert Heinlein had the right idea: no citizenship (voting rights, candidacy for office, welfare etc.) without proving one is WORTHY of citizenship. In his novel, that meant two years of volunteering to serve in the military.
“Only men who are married to and living with the mother of their children should have a vote.”
You left off the “/sarc”.
Now that flooding the country with illegal Democrats is in jeopardy, Democrats are seeking new ways to tip the electoral scales. This is just one more insane idea by those who only care about acquiring power at any cost and by any means.
anybody can do RAT math\logic
17 ? can’t drink\can’t smoke\can’t vape
In New York State, a person who is under age 16 but older than 13 years old can consent to sex with a person who is no more than 4 years older;
so let’s make it 14 years old to vote...
No, the Constitution is clear, 18. All high school students would do is spout the nonsense of their teachers. Not helpful or meaningful.
“We need to go back to only Property Owners having the Right To Vote”
Absolute nonsense.
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