Stage Six

Young Minded Perspective of the U.S.' post "Give Youth a Voice" argues that Americans as young as 16 should be able to vote. While it is true that some under-eighteens take on adult responsibility, I do not feel that lowering the voting age would necessarily be right. Instead, I think it would be beneficial to limit the current responsibilities of minors to match their voting status. While sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds may be as well educated as some adult voters, they have not had as much time to develop the critical thinking skills which are ideally used when making political decisions. Trouble also comes with the assumption that teens who are legally allowed to drive are automatically capable of considering the needs of society; what happens to fifteen-year-olds who have driving permits? Will they arbitrarily be left out of the democratic process as the author feels that older teens currently are? Since some age must be set, and those younger than that age will not be pleased anyway, legal adulthood seems as good a threshold as any.