The first time I ever paid any attention to any "issue" was back in high school. Youth rights, the right of teenagers to not be treated like babies, was what got me fired up. Of course, there was a degree of self-interest in that, and I was angry at the world. (Still am, though now it's because of all of the manifest failures of humanity than any particular injury done to me.) But I still think that if you expect young adults to act maturely and give them the tools and opportunities to do so, most of them damn well will.
So, it's interesting to see someone in the mainstream media bring these issues up. And of course, it would be in Slate. http://www.slate.com/id/2199258/ The only thing that irritates me is that Mr. Saletan's argument seems to hinge at the end on the idea that restrictions on young adults are bad insofar as they lead to restrictions on legal adults. But whatever.
He acknowledges that young people are disadvantaged politically because they lack the franchise, which is a crucial fact. Most often, when I brought this up to people, they counterargued that the parents' vote would represent their children's interested. But that's just not how a representative democracy/republic works. Everyone is supposed to be able, if they wish, to have their voice heard. If you want my view, abolish the damn voting age and require people to pass the citizenship test in order to vote. But I don't think that'd be very popular. Ah well. Baby steps.
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