It seems kind of unfair seeing anyone under 18 has no way to decide the future of their country. Which they have more stake on seeing whatever decision happen while they are under 18 will be there for the rest of their life.
A hundred years ago an argument could have been made for 16-year-olds being allowed to vote. The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 following the First World War.
Today? Not a chance. High school kids can’t be bothered to read two paragraphs for school, if they can read beyond a forth-grade level, that is. They get all of their information from social media, and are easily influenced by it.
Unfortunately that last paragraph describes much of the eligible voting population in the US as well
The issue of when you are an adult is a trickier question than you might imagine. I have written in a previous answer about how children in North America would leave home around 13 or 14. There would be transitional spaces such as rooming houses or boarding houses before they were fully Independent, but they were fully functional “adults” by 15 or 16.
You can see this in the coming of age rituals for various cultures. The bar/bat mitzvah at age 13, the quinceanera at 15, the sweet sixteen for white folks. I do note that many of these are female centered and signal availability for dating/marriage. Boys just became men without much ceremony.
We still have a gradual introduction of rights and privileges with age. In my jurisdiction courts will consider a child’s wishes in divorce starting at age eight. You can be charged with a crime at age 12, you can work for wages at 14, you can drive at 16, vote at 18. Alcohol consumption is 19 where I live but is 18 in many parts of the country.
So why 18? It matches up with other markers of maturation like graduation from high school. Could it be 17? Probably. Should it be 16? Possibly. But 18 used to be an age of independence. You could expect to be leaving home and starting a life separate from your parents. That has certainly changed. If we were to keep things in alignment maybe we should push the age back into the mid-20s? 😆
FWIW, the UK currently has a bill in place that will lower the voting age to 16 before the next General Election (so, before Aug 2029).
I think it’ll be a good thing. Young people are a good deal more aware of what’s happening in the country than old people are. I mean, the current arrangement has stripped away the housing and career prospects of young people and brought us to the verge of fascism again.
Some states in Germany lowered it to 16. Most of these kids voted AfD (German equivalent of Reform) during the last election.
