Maximum Age for Voting and Running for Office (1 Viewer)

[Dedfin]

No. My kids would make Dan TDM their proxy.

But I might be ok with giving parents one extra vote per minor child. My family would have 4 total votes instead of 2.

Since dogs > people, can I have an extra 2 votes for my dog?

 

[Ilov80s]

I am all for lowering the voting age. Probably around 14 or 15.

 

[Soonerman]

We should take the vote away from anyone on direct government aid.  There goes the Social Security crowd and the young welfare cheats.  Immediate improvement in the electorate.

You're welcome.

 

[Ilov80s]

We should take the vote away from anyone on direct government aid.  There goes the Social Security crowd and the young welfare cheats.  Immediate improvement in the electorate.

You're welcome.

I feel like maybe you don't know what SS is. That SS crowd put money into the system and have a right to get money back and most certainly have a right to vote. I hope your post was a joke.

 

[AAABatteries]

I'm cool with it if we are also limiting the age of our elected officials.  Let's say make the cut-off age 71.

There’s been a lot of talk about the age and mental faculty of Biden, Trump and Sanders.  I definitely think this is something we need to consider

 

[IvanKaramazov]

The electorate obviously can't be trusted not to elect somebody clearly suffering from dementia, so I would be okay with a maximum age for government service.  I had never really considered the idea of a maximum voting age before, but I would support that too if there was empirical demonstration that folks over a certain age (80?) were on average less competent than other voters, which wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Juxtatarot]

  I had never really considered the idea of a maximum voting age before, but I would support that too if there was empirical demonstration that folks over a certain age (80?) were on average less competent than other voters, which wouldn't surprise me.

Banning people from voting because they fall in a "less competent" demographic of any sort seems a very dangerous road to go down.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Banning people from voting because they fall in a "less competent" demographic of any sort seems a very dangerous road to go down.

I strongly disagree.  This is exactly the reason why we don't let 13 year olds vote, and it's also the best argument in favor of felon disenfranchisement.

 

[huthut]

While I agree that there are many "intentionally" short sighted votes along the lines of "I am going to be dead before climate change matters, why raise my taxes" type votes, I feel any sort of voter disenfranchisement will be harmful in the long run because they will just be another method to hinder voting by "those people". Kind of like literacy tests, they make sense if taken straight, but the entire purpose is voter disenfranchisement of voters you don't like.

 

[Phil Elliott]

Seems we are increasing the age for “rights” of younger people, like alcohol and smoking. More restrictions in driving if under 18. I see no reason to lower the voting age under 18.  And no reason to limit the maximum age as there is no age limit to supreme court justices. 

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Seems we are increasing the age for “rights” of younger people, like alcohol and smoking. More restrictions in driving if under 18. I see no reason to lower the voting age under 18.  And no reason to limit the maximum age as there is no age limit to supreme court justices. 

There should definitely be an age limit -- and term limits more generally -- for supreme court justices.  This situation with Ginsberg is unhealthy and ghoulish.  Not her fault or anybody else's fault in particular, but a bad system.

 

[squistion]

Instead of continuing to hijack the Blackburn thread, I thought I'd start a new topic.

What is your opinion on the idea of a maximum voting age?

Personally, I see some good arguments for it but curious what others think.

Blatantly unconstitutional age discrimination.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

Blatantly unconstitutional age discrimination.

Not if we amend the Constitution.

 

[identikit]

Leave everything as is.

My opinion.

Seems like a lame attempt to gerrymander age to try to win elections.

 

[squistion]

Not if we amend the Constitution.

Please, Maurile. Obviously. A lot of things could change if we amend the Constitution. 

 

[AAABatteries]

There should definitely be an age limit -- and term limits more generally -- for supreme court justices.  This situation with Ginsberg is unhealthy and ghoulish.  Not her fault or anybody else's fault in particular, but a bad system.

SC is where I was going next.  My fear with this is we already are keeping people alive longer than ever and many are alive with no mental capacity.  I’m 100% in favor of SC term limits and I’m close to 100 on maximum age to run for certain offices.  I’m on the fence about maximum voter age and think there’s room for discussion.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Not if we amend the Constitution.

The Constitution explicitly allows for age discrimination when it comes to voting.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

The Constitution explicitly allows for age discrimination when it comes to voting.

Having a maximum voting age would require repealing the 26th Amendment.

 

[jon_mx]

Why don't we just eat old people to ease hunger?  Ideas like this is why people don't trust government.  

 

[dgreen]

Please, Maurile. Obviously. A lot of things could change if we amend the Constitution. 

Stating that something is unconstitutional is a good argument why a past action was illegal or a proposal for a soon-to-be action shouldn’t be allowed. It’s not a very good argument against a proposed idea for a future change. 

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Having a maximum voting age would require repealing the 26th Amendment.

You're right -- my bad.