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Post by Phillip Badger on Apr 2, 2014 10:19:43 GMT
At 16 you can get a job, move into your own accommodation, pay tax, and be treated as an adult. Acting with your society but not being part of its governing structure is contradictory which is why we believe 16 and 17 year olds should be able to vote too. Evidence shows that the earlier people start voting the more likely they are to continue doing so.
Do you want to see the minimum voting age reduced, or do you want to see it increased?
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Post by Karl John on Apr 2, 2014 12:22:34 GMT
Quite simply, if you are old enough to pay tax, it is common sense that one should be able to vote. Also, people are developing at a younger age.
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Post by domjohnson on Apr 6, 2014 17:03:19 GMT
As someone having just turned 18, I'm not sure it would be good idea to reduce the voting age. I'm not against it, I'm just unsure - both sides have valid and invalid arguments. Certainly, it is only since around the age of seventeen or so that people have begun to genuinely discuss with genuine feeling and valid ideas about politics. This might be because they realise they are soon able to vote; or it might be just simply maturing.
I don't agree with the idea that a person of seventeen years and ten months is somehow less able to than someone of eighteen and two. Even when the boundaries become more stark and significant - I don't believe that a sixteen year old is likely to be less mature/well-informed than Bob down the pub who votes for UKIP because "them immigrants are taking our jobs and theres thirty million of them coming from Romania". (not an actual quote, thankfully, and a slight hyperbole but nevertheless, some people are far too easily indoctrinated by the media)
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Post by Karl John on Apr 9, 2014 11:00:03 GMT
My feeling is that if you are old enough to pay tax, then you have a RIGHT to influence the management of your money, by being able to vote.
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Post by hairyloon on Apr 9, 2014 12:22:34 GMT
I am not convinced. We have enough of a problem with uninformed voters and younger people are less likely to be well informed.
Also there is a significant risk that they may be improperly influenced by their parents.
They already have the right to influence how their taxes are used: they can write to their MP, which probably has a substantially greater influence than voting.
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Post by drew2202 on Apr 9, 2014 18:00:23 GMT
I am not convinced. We have enough of a problem with uninformed voters and younger people are less likely to be well informed. Also there is a significant risk that they may be improperly influenced by their parents. They already have the right to influence how their taxes are used: they can write to their MP, which probably has a substantially greater influence than voting. I feel the problem is lack of education, there is no politics education available until a level and even then it isn't compulsory. i think if we lowered the age and added education to the curriculum then it would be perfect. and i live in a safe tory seat and my MP doesn't give a **** about anyone who isn't over the age of 50 and tory |
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Post by hairyloon on Apr 9, 2014 21:23:51 GMT
I cannot argue about the lack of education, but I am pretty sure that back when I was at skool, I would have had almost zero interest in the subject.
However, an occurance in my home town did give me an idea...
They had failed to fill a seat on the town council because nobody wanted it.
My thought was to run it as a skool project. The school, like many is divided into "houses"; each house should recruit and campaign for a candidate for the council.
The kids would not just learn about politics: they would be engaged in it, and the council would not just fill the vacant seat, they would fill it with someone well connected to a good slice of the local community...
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Post by Karl John on Apr 10, 2014 7:39:51 GMT
An occurance in my home town did give me an idea... They had failed to fill a seat on the town council because nobody wanted it. My thought was to run it as a skool project. The school, like many is divided into "houses"; each house should recruit and campaign for a candidate for the council. The kids would not just learn about politics: they would be engaged in it, and the council would not just fill the vacant seat, they would fill it with someone well connected to a good slice of the local community... Sounds like an interesting idea, what happened to it |
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Post by hairyloon on Apr 10, 2014 10:01:16 GMT
An occurance in my home town did give me an idea... They had failed to fill a seat on the town council because nobody wanted it. My thought was to run it as a skool project. The school, like many is divided into "houses"; each house should recruit and campaign for a candidate for the council. The kids would not just learn about politics: they would be engaged in it, and the council would not just fill the vacant seat, they would fill it with someone well connected to a good slice of the local community... Sounds like an interesting idea, what happened to it I suggested it to the skool, but never got a reply.  They eventually recruited a councillor in the normal way. |
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Post by Phillip Badger on Apr 10, 2014 10:10:35 GMT
Drew is right that education is an issue when it comes to Politics generally.
This is not something we have properly addressed in the manifesto, with only a vague mention of it in 8.6. There are many options to apply politics into education from a relatively early age so could this be something incorporated into a National Curriculum? This would then aid people on leaving secondary school to make sound(er) judgements when voting if the age was reduced to 16.
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