Quote Originally Posted by a completely inoffensive name View Post
Well like I said, earlier what you perceive as them being smarter doesn't translate necessarily into a higher political function capability. I think that people probably are better at recognizing what is in their best interests and vote accordingly, but that is only half the battle and imo only progressing to that point and not the second half of voting for the benefit of all of us is just as self destructive if not more so then a completely ignorant person. Which is why I am saying that in terms of actual political functioning in terms of being better for the country, the benefit of the group is not large enough to justify cutting off other people who havent even gotten to the point of knowing who supports their own goals. College is important for the fact that it is a constant application and absorption of scientific, cultural and social facts and concepts and patterns of thinking for 3-4 years which helps many break the stigma of prejudices, bigotry and falsely based assumptions. For many it does not. For the most part, college is successful in specializing people to increasingly complex roles which are needed for the country to keep up technologically and financially with the rest of the world. The true connection of the facts and the break down your own preconceived notions can only happen on an individual level and for many it never happens sadly.
But I think you nailed a big part of it here. The 3-4 years in which people move beyond their upbringing and their parents unfounded beliefs. Having a better conception of the limitations of their knowledge rather than the brash confidence of mirroring their parents politics.

Well what is stopping you from going one step further and simply saying I think 30 is better for the cut off for the voting pool then 25 like DDave said or even saying you dont really know what life is all about until you hit the half way mark and wanting the limit be at 50. I understand where you are coming from, I'm just uncomfortable with the premise behind it that the longer you live, the better the voter you are. I have explained already why I think it is a false premise and why it is "slippery" so to speak when used imo.
But for the slope to be slippery there has to be reason to think that there is a significant difference between 25 and 30. But what is it? I don't see one.
If it did lead to a worse government, well then my justification is that we get the government we voted for. One made on stupid decisions. We need to have our society have a sense of government being important, if not one of the most important things in our lives but as it stands right now we have lots of apathy not just in epidemic proportions among the youth but in large sections of all but the most elderly. Our Federal elections don't nearly get the voter turnout they should, when was the last time even 4 out of 5 people who could vote even vote? It seems...sloppy as a society to not better instill a cultural reverence for voting and making political decisions among the youth and instead we just cut them off until they old enough to learn for themselves. That's my feeling on the situation. Personally, since there is such a really low voter turnout from youth, do you think that lowering the voting age would really flood the booth with ignorant voters? Or realistically would those few young politically motivated be the ones voting?
We should not have a cultural reverence for voting and making political decisions. We should have a cultural reverence for being educated.

I think that last question is a bit unsatisfactory in this case, simply because the only reason that the drinking age is 21 is due to the federal government bribing the state governments with extra highway funds in exchange for raising their age limit. If the federal government wasn't paying these highways funds a lot of states would probably have an 18 drinking age still. I get your point though and all I can say is what is to stop me from saying if we trust them with complicated questions why not let them drink?
Well, I was thinking about the message sent. It seems kind of pervasive...all those "just get out there and vote!" campaigns, those "quick summaries of the issues" pamphlets, the "list of who to vote for" sent by the party. That's all there is to it, they are trying to say. I feel like people are better off if they have the tools to analyze stuff before they dive in and affiliate themselves with a party.