(Took the link from the "Who voted for Peroutka?" thread)
I have mixed feelings on the voting age. At 13, probably more like 9 or 10 actually, I had a better than average grasp on politics, at least for a 9 or 10 year old. At 26, I have an above average grasp than most 26 year olds and probably the average person overall (as I think any one on this site does, otherwise they would not be here). At 10 years old, I supported lowering the voting age down to at least 16, maybe 14. But now after seeing things such as Nickelodeon's Kids pick the President, I realize that the average 10 year old is too stupid to vote and make an informed decision. And I read an article (sorry, I don't have the link off hand) that the average voter is too stupid to make an informed decision. Nader favored lowering the voting age to 16 since many of them "work and pay taxes".
My suggestion: Get rid of age all together. You got some adults who are not smart enough to vote and you got some teens that are smart enough to vote. Require everyone to take some sort of "Vote Awareness Test". Maybe name the position of at least 5 issues of each candidate or something. If you are 16 and can pass it, you can vote. If you are 60 and you can't pass it, you can't vote.
OK. This isn't doable and would not work. It would probably also be ruled illegal like the poll tax and a few other requirements to vote that no longer exist. With that being said age is the only thing they could probably go by but there is no age at which you are too old or too young to research and inform yourself on the candidates and the issues.
And do we really need more
http://www.kidsforkerry.org/ ?
I'll stop rambling.
