• 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      Old enough to raise a whole ass human, slaughter edible living things, slaughter edible flying living things… but not old enough to decide what changes affect your community.

      Wow.

          • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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            1 year ago

            The NOFX song about Minnesota applies to Wisconsin I believe…

            It’s 3 o’clock at the Triple Rock Another round of watching Paddy talk It’s where you wanna get snowed in when you get Snowed in, outside it’s 10 below, is it day or night, we don’t care or know What we know is that we don’t wanna be Anywhere but here, please don’t make us leave When in Minnesota and you got a drinking quota

    • JeffCraig@citizensgaming.com
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      1 year ago

      I actually don’t think most of our society is qualified to vote.

      Voter rights should be determined by whether or not you know anything about what you’re voting for, not based on your age. People should have to pass a test every year.

      • Baphomet_The_Blasphemer@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The problem with this line of thinking is who would set the standard for the test? The current controlling power would skew things so only their supporters are now qualified to vote. In order to have a free and fair election every citizen needs the right to vote, otherwise we might as well just go back to the days that only white male landowners get to vote.

  • Veedem@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Man, the GOP just loves making the core tenet of Democracy inaccessible to anyone and everyone who isn’t rich and white.

    • athos77@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Let’s be honest: if youth these days were inclined toward the right, Republican contenders would be fighting to ‘defend’ youths’ right to vote from non-existent left-wing ‘threats’.

    • billy_bollocks@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I wish someone would propose limiting voting to people who’ve passed a citizenship test.

      I guarantee these yokel conservatives would think it’s a great idea to further marginalize people but I guarantee most of their electorate couldn’t pass a citizenship test lol

  • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’d rather go the other way and restrict voting to folks under 70. At least 18 year olds are going to have to live with the consequences.

  • Billiam@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Misleading headline. What it should say is:

    GOP Contender Vivek Ramaswamy Thinks Voting is A Privilege to be Earned

  • Osirus@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Yeah definitely and anyone above 70 is too old to vote too. Why get to make decisions about the world you aren’t going to be a part of… I don’t really think 18 is too young to vote btw…

    • CoderKat@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, while I don’t want to restrict anyone’s voting, any logic against younger people voting is not nearly as strong as logic against older people voting. It’s not just that they won’t be a part of the world for as long (that said, it’s entirely possible a 70 year old gets another 2 decades, so I don’t think that’s necessarily compelling reasoning). Mental decline is also an issue and arguably more relevant.

      The alt right doesn’t like young voters because they claim they’re too immature. But senility is very similar on the opposite end of the spectrum. Senile voters can be simply disconnected from reality and thus unable to make good choices.

      That said, you can’t just draw an age limit and expect that to cover senility, since one person can be 65 and senile while another is 90 and of sound mind. So I don’t think we should be restricting voting on either side of the age range (though we should let people as young as 16 vote – we already trust them to do dangerous things like drive).

  • YaaAsantewaa@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    Can go die in a war at 18, but can’t buy a gun until you’re 21

    Can’t drink beer until you’re 21, but can vote in general elections at 18

    We need to just pick one and go with it, either 18 or 21

    • davidgro@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I was in a US history class in high school when the teacher said that the drinking age used to be 18, and the voting age used to be 21, but they switched places. He then asked “Why?” And started calling on random students.

      When I got picked, my answer was “Fewer drunk voters?”

        • CoderKat@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Education isn’t a requirement to vote, so doesn’t make sense to play a part in age restricting voting. A now-30 year old who dropped out of high school at a young age is allowed to vote.

  • gegs@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Wasn’t there this whole defining thing for America? Something about taxation without representation, right? So the 18 year olds have to pay taxes on the wages they earn by working and therefore should be able to vote. The retired, however…

    • rbhfd@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The idea that the right to vote is tied to your tax contributions is very flawed.

      Paying taxes without the right to vote is absolutely ridiculous (so either link the right to vote to the age you’re allowed to work, or tax exempt any work done under the voting age), but the inverse is ridiculous as well. People, above the voting age, that don’t pay any taxes for whatever reason, should not have their voting rights stripped. This reasoning gets dangerously close to a plural voting system, where you get multiple votes if you’re rich enough.

      If you want to disenfranchise retired people, use some other reasoning (like decline in cognitive abilities), not because they are no longer actively paying taxes.

      Note that I am not in favour of disenfranchising anyone. Keep the lower limit for voting age, or even reduce it, and no upper limit. Also make voting as accessible as possible.

      • gegs@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Alas, I’ll have to learn to indicate the right level of cynicism more explicitly on here.

        As cynical but slightly more in earnest: if voting rights were only given to those who can prove basic reasoning abilities, it might actually make a difference. Since there is no reliable way to prevent authorities from abusing such a criterium, I see no other option than to have no restrictions on any generic criterium. Perhapa a voting obligation would be more effective.

      • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Students - all non-wage-earners - shouldn’t be able to vote by your logic?

        Plenty of high schoolers and college students have jobs. Many before the age of 18.

      • relevants@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        Students - all non-wage-earners - shouldn’t be able to vote by your logic?

        I don’t know how you could possibly derive that conclusion from what they said, unless you lack a very basic understanding of how to interpret logical statements.

  • Remmy@artemis.camp
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    1 year ago

    Coming from the guy who never voted until he was 30. Who has never had any experience in politics at all…