I'll be on Fox News Tomorrow

[Atahualpa]

Cool the minimum age for enlisting in the military is 17, but you need to be 21 for a handgun and 18 for a rifle

What do they fight with?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by MrFun
If Ozzy insists that 16 year old Americans should be entitled to the right to vote, I would like to know if he insists that 16 year olds need to take with that right, all the ADULT obligations of citizenship??

Only if you deny the vote to people on welfare

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by MrFun
If Ozzy insists that 16 year old Americans should be entitled to the right to vote, I would like to know if he insists that 16 year olds need to take with that right, all the ADULT obligations of citizenship??

You mean like getting charged as an adult for crimes, getting the death penalty, joining the military or being taxed? Oh yea, youth already have that.

But no, I wouldn't oppose making other obligations lower, but I think there are plenty there already. If you want to lower ALL the responsibilities of adulthood (and there aren't many that youth don't yet have), then by all means lets lower ALL the rights of adulthood like drinking, handgun ownership, the right to run for office, renting cars, fair insurance rates, etc.

[Jon Miller]

there are a lot of responsibilities of adulthood that youth do not have defacto

like the fact that there parents still have to take care of them when they are 16

JM

[OzzyKP]

Good, then give teens the right to leave home with no hassle at 16.

[MrFun]

It's very unusual for 16 year olds to work FULL-TIME while going to high school though, isn't it?

[Kontiki]

I don't really see the reason for lowering the voting age. Ozzy, your arguments seem to rest on the exception rather than the rule. You claim that youths are tried as adults in court, make significant tax contributions, can join the military, etc, but you're painting with really broad brush strokes. What percentage of 16 and 17 year olds facing criminal charges are tried as adults? Of the $9.7 billion paid in taxes by teens, how much of that is by 16 and 17 year olds vs. 18 and 19 year olds? What about all the sales taxes paid by 13-16 (or even 10, 11 and 12!)year olds - why don't you want them to vote? The minimum age to join the military is 17, so that cuts out 16 year olds right there. And even at that, what's the average age of enlistment?

Frankly, I'd rather see the drinking age lowered and the age of enlistment raised to 18 and leave voting where it is.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by MrFun
It's very unusual for 16 year olds to work FULL-TIME while going to high school though, isn't it?

Many teens work even during the school year, and everyone pays SS and medicare tax.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Kontiki
I don't really see the reason for lowering the voting age.

I don't really see the reason for keeping it at 18.

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

Originally posted by Kontiki
I don't really see the reason for lowering the voting age.

I don't really see the reason for keeping it at 18.

You know what they say: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Kuciwalker]

So if it were, say, at 33, you wouldn't have a problem either?

[Kontiki]

At the end of the day, it's an arbirtrary line anyway since there's no magical "coming of age" event that happens at any age. Eighteen make sense though, because that's when most people graduate high school and are considered adults in many other facets.

Don't take this personally, Kuci. I have absolutely no doubt that you could make a more informed choice than most voters. But for every 16 year old like you, I would have no problem finding 10 or 20 that should not vote.

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
So if it were, say, at 33, you wouldn't have a problem either?

But if the voting limit were 33 it would be broken so yes I'd have a problem with that. 33 is obviously too high. But IMO, the limit is not broken at 18.

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by OzzyKP
Good, then give teens the right to leave home with no hassle at 16.

no

parents wuld need the right to kick their children out at 16, no hassle

instead, society and government expect the parents to take care of their chlidren well into their 20s

as long as that is the case, than children should not get the right to vote

JM

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by The diplomat
But if the voting limit were 33 it would be broken so yes I'd have a problem with that. 33 is obviously too high. But IMO, the limit is not broken at 18.

IMO, it is