Labour plans to lower minimum age of voting

Mynight · 20 Sep 2014 at 21:47

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/23/labour-voting-age-16-mayoral-elections

What do you think? Good/bad/who the hell cares?

Personally Im not sure if it's a good or a bad idea.

They probably know just as much about politics as your average voter.

Hyburnate · 20 Sep 2014 at 21:49

This has been planned a lot, last session in the houses of parliament there was a bill for this.

Mynight · 20 Sep 2014 at 21:50

I didn't realise it had been on the cards for a while. I assumed it was off the back of the scottish independance vote.

If it's not a "new thing" may as well close the thread apologies.

phonemonkey · 20 Sep 2014 at 21:53

When you consider the things we allow 16 and 17 year olds to do without a vote it seems unbalanced that they can't vote.

We trust them to enlist in military surface, to get married, have kids, have jobs, pay taxes, and drive. I'm sure there are other examples.

Either they are adults in the law or not. If they are adult enough to pay tax they're adult enough to have a say in who decides what those taxes are.

Rroff · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:00

Don't think it makes much odds.

[FnG]magnolia · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:02

Well, it makes a difference in so far as young people are generally idiots and allowing them to make a difference to other peoples lives is craziness.

asim18 · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:02

Mynight said:
Personally Im not sure if it's a good or a bad idea.

It's nonsense. It just makes younger people feel like they can trust the government because they gave them the trust to be able to vote.

This will not change any governmental plans whatsoever.

Hyburnate · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:02

phonemonkey said:
When you consider the things we allow 16 and 17 year olds to do without a vote it seems unbalanced that they can't vote.

We trust them to enlist in military surface, to get married, have kids, have jobs, pay taxes, and drive. I'm sure there are other examples.

Either they are adults in the law or not. If they are adult enough to pay tax they're adult enough to have a say in who decides what those taxes are.

Sums it up well.

Mickie · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:04

Makes sense when you think most youngsters are done over.. they will be able to hopefully vote on something that may change their way of life for the better..

Rroff · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:09

Mickie said:
Makes sense when you think most youngsters are done over.. they will be able to hopefully vote on something that may change their way of life for the better..

By doing what? voting for 3 main parties who will screw them over just as much as any other or voting for parties which lack the experience and might start full of good intentions but pretty much end up just like the others due to various factors including external influence.

There won't be any real changes short of a major shake up of the whole political system.

Judgeneo · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:10

I had fairly developed political views at that age, I don't see why they shouldn't be able to vote.

Obviously there are a lot more political idiots at that age too, but most of them are apathetic to politics in general anyway, and I doubt many would vote.

Monkeynut · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:11

[FnG]magnolia;26933596 said:
Well, it makes a difference in so far as young people are generally idiots and allowing them to make a difference to other peoples lives is craziness.

Would that not also apply to most of the existing voting population?

[FnG]magnolia · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:23

Monkeynut said:
Would that not also apply to most of the existing voting population?

Perhaps, but young people have a particular kind of ignorance that at the time is absent from their view but reveals itself when they become older.

xs2man · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:28

phonemonkey said:
When you consider the things we allow 16 and 17 year olds to do without a vote it seems unbalanced that they can't vote.

We trust them to enlist in military surface, to get married, have kids, have jobs, pay taxes, and drive. I'm sure there are other examples.

Either they are adults in the law or not. If they are adult enough to pay tax they're adult enough to have a say in who decides what those taxes are.

I have to agree with this absolutely.

[FnG]magnolia;26933596 said:
Well, it makes a difference in so far as young people are generally idiots and allowing them to make a difference to other peoples lives is craziness.

This is what I used to think, thinking back to when I was 16. But after watching the big debates regarding Scottish Independence, it was clear that there are a LOT of sensible young adults in this age group. Sure, there were some idiotic statements made and such, but the majority of their questions were very relevant, and quite insightful.

I was certainly surprised at the amount of sense they came away with.

delta0 · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:30

Probably realised they have socialist tendencies. Soon wears off when they start earning more money have more responsibilities as they get older.

Tunney · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:30

If you're old enough to have a full-time job and pay tax, you're old enough to vote.

StriderX · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:30

[FnG]magnolia;26933690 said:
Perhaps, but young people have a particular kind of ignorance that at the time is absent from their view but reveals itself when they become older.

Yet all elderly folk care about is their damn pension...even if they have a foot in the grave, it's disgusting.

asim18 · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:31

[FnG]magnolia;26933690 said:
Perhaps, but young people have a particular kind of ignorance that at the time is absent from their view but reveals itself when they become older.

An ignorance? Bit like half of the adults in GD then?

estebanrey · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:35

phonemonkey said:
When you consider the things we allow 16 and 17 year olds to do without a vote it seems unbalanced that they can't vote.

We trust them to enlist in military surface, to get married, have kids, have jobs, pay taxes, and drive. I'm sure there are other examples.

Either they are adults in the law or not. If they are adult enough to pay tax they're adult enough to have a say in who decides what those taxes are.

To be honest I'd rather we went the other way, keep the voting age at 18 and raise the age for the things you mentioned above.

Afterall is it, is it really a good thing that [with their parents' consent] 16 year olds can get married? I'd highly suspect higher divorce rates exist in that group compared to older people and if they are genuinely set for life then they'll still be together when they're 18 anyway.

Is anyone comfortable with 16 and 17 year olds on the front line? I'm not so would be happy to see full army recruitment raised to 18.

I'd also like to see the age at which you can play the lottery raised to 18 to bring it inline with all other forms of gambling. The only reason it is 16 now is not because of civil liberties but because the lottery is used as another form of taxation in practice (why fund our Olympians when the lottery can?).

In exchange I would also remove income tax for 16-17 year olds which would compensate for lower wages that businesses seem to think they can offer them.

[FnG]magnolia · 20 Sep 2014 at 22:40

StriderX said:
Yet all elderly folk care about is their damn pension...even if they have a foot in the grave, it's disgusting.

That's a pretty sweeping generalisation and I'm unclear on what is 'disgusting' about older people wanting to ensure that they receive the payback for the fund they paid in to.

asim18 said:
An ignorance? Bit like half of the adults in GD then?

I have no idea what this is supposed to mean.