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Originally posted by asleepathewheel
Its fairly common to have a voting restriction for someone mentally disabled.
that article is a few years old, so perhaps things have changed a bit since that I am unaware of.
Its fairly common to have a voting restriction for someone mentally disabled.
that article is a few years old, so perhaps things have changed a bit since that I am unaware of.
Heck even a refutable presumption of incapacity would be a step forward. Currently there is no flexibility at all with the standard we use. No matter how many college degrees someone has, or what their IQ is, or how mature and responsible they are, if they are 17 years and 364 days old they can't vote. Nothing they do besides waiting will change that.
btw, a comment on another blog on this issue struck me as interesting, so I'll post it. Not because I'm saying we should lower the voting age to 5, but just to demonstrate the point that most of the people here really don't have honest, unbiased views of youth. Either we relate to them on a parent-child power dynamic that prevents us from seeing their true self (though there are many parents who are able to mitigate this), or we see them from afar as screaming teens on MTV or stereotypes on tv shows, or as random, impersonal examples passing on the street. Worse yet many of the impressions people here have of teens is their own hazy memories of how things were 10 or 20 years ago for them and their friends.
My experience has been that when you relate to a teen as an equal and discuss matters with them openly, candidly and as anyone else in society you'd really have to make an effort to remember they aren't your peer in every way. Cause honestly, they are.
Anyways the quote, simply a balanced observation:
I have a five year old. In my conversations with him, I think he sees some political and social issues surprisingly clearly. I honestly do not believe that the cognitive ability required to vote is beyond any human being with a basic grasp of language, frankly; if they get the idea that words represent things, and that words allow them to communicate with others, then they know that who they vote for can make a real person be in charge, and they understand the basics of relationships between individuals and society. Moreover, *as* children, they have a very immediate grasp of the complexity of issues involved in power, leadership, and fairness--more so than a lot of adults, who in their day-to-day life don't really have other people setting rules for them directly.
Having said all that, PK also can't read: so he wouldn't be able to read a ballot. And he relies for his understanding of political issues on his parents' explanations of current events and how the relationship between the three branches of government works, etc. But when that stuff is explained, he *does* get it. The cognitive ability thing isn't the issue; the issue is simply a version of the same issue with adults, which is that the *ability* to understand and make an informed decision doesn't necessarily mean that a given individual *will* bother to educate him- or herself, or that the sources he or she relies on for education will be reliable or accurate.
Having said all that, PK also can't read: so he wouldn't be able to read a ballot. And he relies for his understanding of political issues on his parents' explanations of current events and how the relationship between the three branches of government works, etc. But when that stuff is explained, he *does* get it. The cognitive ability thing isn't the issue; the issue is simply a version of the same issue with adults, which is that the *ability* to understand and make an informed decision doesn't necessarily mean that a given individual *will* bother to educate him- or herself, or that the sources he or she relies on for education will be reliable or accurate.
What else ?
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