Representative Grace Meng(D) from New York introduced a bill to the House Committee on the Judiciary that would lower the voting age from 18 to 16. The description on the congress.gov website reads as follows:
“Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States extending the right to vote to citizens sixteen years of age or older.”
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States extending the right to vote to citizens sixteen years of age or older.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESAugust 3, 2018
Ms. Meng submitted the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States extending the right to vote to citizens sixteen years of age or older.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification: “Article —
“Section 1. The twenty-sixth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
“Section 2. The right of citizens of the United States, who are sixteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
“Section 3. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”.
There is little chance of this bill hitting the floor of the House. However let’s say for arguments sake it does. This is an insanely bad idea.
For those of you that are for it and preparing to send me hordes of hate mail, I ask you a simple question. How many 16’s year old people do you truly know. Now I am not talking about your peers if you’re 16 and reading this. I mean people who have the ability to vote and change these things. 16 year old’s are emotional and moody and prone to over make more of things than they truly are.
They can’t drink or smoke and can’t enlist in the armed forces without consent. Simply put we don’t trust them to make the right decisions when it involves these things….but we’re going to allow them to vote in federal elections?
They also have a tendency to do things in a pack mentality. My best friend is doing this therefore I too will do that. Without any real regard of the issues, teenagers can be easily influenced to vote along with their friends. They may also just vote because they can or vote a certain way because they’re parents do.
Don’t worry I promise we’re going to come back to the bill in just a moment.
If the question is maturity then quite frankly, we need to raise the voting age, not lower it. A child’s brain is not fully matured until the mid 20’s according to most researchers. I’m not a scientist but I have raised teenagers. I agree with this assessment.
Someone once made the comment that it’s not fair adults make decisions that affect the children but not let have the children have any say in those decisions. It’s the parents responsibility to make the best decisions for the child until the child is old enough to make those decisions for himself. Not limited to what curfew to have or what tv shows to watch, this also includes when voting in elections, making those decisions that will be best for our children down the road. Then when children are old enough to vote, the cycle continue
His premise that children don’t have a say is completely false. While they may not have a right to vote, they certainly have a right to speak their mind and I would actually encourage them to do so. Write or call your Representative or Senator and tell them how you feel. Start a blog or a website or post on social media. Take for the moment Kyle Kashuv. His name has become a household name simply because he was not afraid to take to social media or news networks and tell them how he felt. Good for him. I applaud anybody who does this even I disagree with their points of view. Yes, David Hogg, I am talking about you.
No seriously I promise we’re going to come back to the bill in just a second.
I think that kids today, 16 or otherwise, have far more of a voice than they ever did before in history. The open internet has seen to that.
Lastly, we have the draw the line somewhere. We change the voting age to 16 and then 14 year old’s will feel they also should have a voice. They also should be able to vote in national elections.
Now back to the bill. I know only the basics on how a bill is made. I’m just a regular guy who decided to use the power of the internet to have a voice. I don’t know the specifics but I question that part that says
“The twenty-sixth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Does this mean that there will be no more 26th article. Does repealing it with this language change other constitutional law?
Lets look at section 2.
“The right of citizens of the United States, who are sixteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
First thing that pops out to me : The right of CITIZENS of the United States. Ok so, if you’re 16 or older AND a citizen, you can vote and we won’t stop based on age. Why not just leave off the “on account of age.”
Lastly, the third section:
“The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”.
This makes sense. Fairly certain this allows congress to make laws such as felons cannot vote. I could be wrong. . The way things are now are the way things should stay. 18 year old’s have the right to fight for this country. This is why they should have the right to vote on how it’s ran. 16 year old’s, well they cannot and there fore they should not.
Jay For those who want to follow along with the progress of this bill, the link is below. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-joint-resolution/138/text