When we think about responsibilities we quickly think about age and at what age certain responsibilities and opportunities people should have. Mostly (in the US) it’s around employment, ability to buy cigarettes and liquor, and driving. But have you looked at a chart on how others around the world view those same issues?
Let’s look at voting: What do North Korea, Sudan, and Indonesia have in common? The legal voting age in those countries is 17. What do Austria, Brazil, Nicaragua, and CUBA have in common? The legal voting age in those countries is 16. The rest of the world follows their former occupiers lead mostly and keep to the 18 rule that the USA and The UK have had for some years. In some places it’s as high as 21 still. What got my blood going was the age of marriage because it is split for men and women and obviously the world has a particular view about women. On our side of the world the lowest we find for women to get married is 14 and for men it is 15. On the other side the lowest is 12 for both men and women in only one country, no age limit in about 3 countries, but generally women at a much younger age than men.
I bring that up because in the US the view on marriage, in general, is that it is a serious commitment (with the exception of Hollywood) and one can take that on at the age of 18. Across different states some allow marriage to take place legally at 16 with proof of consent from parents and so forth. So with all of that information what is the RIGHT age for anything? Let me tell you that I do not have an answer but I do have feelings about it.
When I watch the presidential debates and see grown people take jabs at each other like they were in a school yard it makes me wonder why we don’t have 16 and 17 year old voting. Not to say that youth handle things in that way. What I mean is that if a youth were to hear some of the jabs that are thrown these youth are more likely to jump online to see if the jab has any validity to it. As adults we kind of just shrug our shoulders and might remember to look at it later but base our likes and dislikes on political parties first then on how the person smiles. I don’t mean to simplify things but it really is simple to make a decision on voting. How simple? By informing yourself.
Yesterday I wrote about a shooting at a high school outside of Cleveland and unfortunately the third student has passed away. While the shooting was occurring students quickly jumped on their phones and began to text. So many calls and text were going on that many did not go through so some quickly jumped on the computer to email. Our youth today are thinking and reacting quicker than many of us did when we were in high school. Now, I’m not that old I’m still in my thirties but as a kid I remember having friends that were not up to par when it came to thinking on the spot. Today it’s different our youth want to know what’s going on as it’s going on and can do some amazing things with any phone or computer.
Information is the basis of any election, or at least it should be, so it is important for the people to have as much of it as possible. Politicians spend a lot of money getting their versions of a truth out to the voters and these days it’s harder to lie because an educated voter can get on a computer and figure it out. So with the need of information the need of correct information has become top priority for everyone. Think about the last time you voted, did you research anything to make a decision for who you would be voting for? For those of you that have youth in your daily lives, how many times do you tell them to do the research? Does it add up for you? Why don’t we go out of our way to truly pick a candidate that will do the best job? It really has come down to who has the most money raised and the better smile.
Historians say that if the general public knew that FDR was in a wheel chair many wouldn’t have voted for him. They also say that JFK won based partially on how he was viewed on TV against Nixon. Our president now is a cool guy to watch in action because he knows how to work a crowd but a wink here and a fist pump there and we’ll vote for him again regardless of what we might need. I’m not saying go vote republican what I am saying is that we need to encourage the best people around us to run for office. With all of that said doesn’t it seem like we are picking a Prom King/Queen rather than a political leader?
Our youth today have an insight that we are unable to have and voice that needs to be heard and respected. If we open doors to our youth to drive possibly marry, employment, and many other things at 16 why can’t we have their VOTE? I believe that many adults would not welcome it because they will make the mistake of saying “when I was that age I didn’t know a thing about politics…” But they didn’t have the internet, tablets, and iPhone either and they got used to it.
Peace/AMOR
Gerardo
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